a question about skymiles...
 

Hi. :) I'm really new at this and I have no clue what I'm talking about and I'm probably going to sound like a complete idiot to most of you, so please bear with me. I've tried finding info on the internet, but I don't really even know what to look for. Please help me!

So...how do Skymiles work?? If we have enough, does that mean we can use those in place of money to get tickets? And how many does it actually take to go somplace?? My fiance and I are planning a honeymoon to St. Lucia in July and are wondering how many Skymiles we'd need or if it even works that way.

Also, what about all these people who sell them on ebay? They say it's legal if they sell you an envelope or a pen or something and "give" you the Skymiles as a gift. Is that a scam?

Sorry for my complete lack of knowledge. :)

Thanks!

Tiffany

Aloha, theophania, and welcome to FlyerTalk!

Please click on this link to the Delta SkyMiles forum, and see if it doesnt answer your questions! http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368794

Have fun on FlyerTalk, and the Delta SkyMiles forum!

welcome to our community :)

for your convenience, I move that thread to the delta forum.

if you need any assistance, don't hesitate to contact the moderator staff. we're looking forward to your contributions

regards

chrissxb
co-moderator
communitybuzz!

theophania, welcome to FT. You earn the miles a number of ways, primarily by flying or by using a credit card which gives reward miles. SkyMiles is the name of the mileage program of Delta; other airlines have similar programs, but with different names. Here's the chart from the Delta website on how many miles you need for different destinations. (it's a .pdf file). For example, for a flight within the U.S., it's 25,000 miles round trip in coach, 45,000 in biz class.

They have a tool on their website to search for award seat availablilty. On some routes it's easy to find seats, on others it can be near impossible. Depends on lots of factors- date, popularity of the route, how many seats they allocate for awards, etc.; they don't always make it easy, but if you read up the info on this site (especially the "stickies" at the top of the forum display) you'll learn the ins and outs.

The miles sales on e-bay are strictly against the program rules, and if you or the seller gets caught the miles can get cancelled. I'm sure a lot of people get away with it, but I'm also sure a lot of others don't.

Welcome to Flyertalk, Tiffany

It is illegal to buy and sell skymiles on the open market. You run the risk of not flying, or flying to your destination and having to buy a very expensive ticket to return home.

There are legal ways to acquire skymiles. You get them from flying on Delta and its partners. You get them from purchasing things with your Delta Skymiles American Express Card. They can also be transferred from another account (this costs the donor). They can be won (rarely). They can be purchased (done when you're just a little shy of an award). Buying them on Ebay is a bad idea.

A coach seat to St Lucia is 30,000 Skymiles minimum. Even though July is hurricane season in the Caribbean, you may still have trouble finding award seats. There is a function on Delta.com that will help you see if they are available. If you don't have a skymiles account yet, you're better off buying a ticket unless you want to pay for a huge wedding with an AmEx card. :D

Thanks, everybody, for all the info! Very helpful. OK, now what about the AmEx SkyMiles card that says you can get 17,500 miles (15,000 as a bonus and 2,500 for adding an additional cardmember) and the rewards card that comes with 10,000 points (points can be converted to miles, right?) If we got both of those, that would put us at 27,500. Would it work like that? Then, after we finish buying several things that we still need for the wedding, we'd surely be well over 30,000. Is that possible? Would that cover tickets for both of us, or would we need that many miles each? :confused: Arg. :p

Hey, you're already thinking like a FlyerTalker!!!

Yeah, you need 30k miles each, so if you each apply for the two cards, and each add an additional cardmember and make a few purchases, than you're both in there and going to St. Lucia "for free"! Best wishes!!!

https://www.delta.com/marketing/partnerbonus/index.jsp

I just got the above via email from Delta regarding up to 25000 bonus miles for using SkyMiles partners, flowers, luggage, dining, etc.

It would be a hassle to do something with 25 different partners, but you would not have to spend much with each one.

Not sure if this was a targeted email, but there is an "enroll today" link if you're not a member. So it looks like anyone could play...

Anyway, something else you can try to get that trip.

Congrats, and good luck

PS. You can probably add each other for the additional card members

Everyone here is assuming that you are in the US. Is this true? If so, the award ticket cost in coach is 30K each. If you give us more details on your projected plans and your current skymiles status, people here can give you more specific advice. Also, welcome to FT!:)

Thanks again everybody! Yes, I'm in the US. We're planning to fly out on July 8th and return on the 15th. I don't know how to find out if there are rewards tickets available then or if they'd still be available after we'd be able to rack up our miles...every time I try to click something on the Delta site, it says "Whoops, our page had a hiccup," or something to that effect.

I don't currently have any miles at all, but if we could each get 27,500 from the cards, would they show up in our account in time? Also, I don't know who all the partners are, but as I said, we still have a good bit of things we still need to buy for the wedding, which would put us over 30K.

As an FYI to the OP and others, Delta does not have a lot of seats into St. Lucia and I have found their reward availability to be poor. Last trip, I used US Air miles instead.

Can you interpret this for me? From the T&C:
only one SkyRewards partner (e.g., SkyMall, LATHER, Organic Bouquet, Vinesse, Great American Days, Samsonite and Java City) activity is allowed

No not really, looks like "SkyRewards" is grouped together like a hotel chain/family.

I just posted what looked like an easy way to get some extra miles, sorry. Maybe someone else with more Delta experience can clarify the rules.

Tiffany, It sounds as though you are very excited about getting Delta rewards and are about to get the AMEX Delta Skymiles card. Are there any other airline programs that would meet your future travel plans? Before you get too invested in any program, especially Delta, you should do some research. Suggest you search the first couple of pages on this forum for the thread entitled "Switching from Delta-Skymiles are worthless." Also, go to the forum entitled MILES BUZZ and read the thread entitled "Report-FFP mission now profit...." You need to be aware of the limitations and problems with reward point redemption before you commit to ANY program. It simply is not as easy as the credit card companies and airlines would have you believe. Good luck.

Oh, don't apologize! It was certainly a welcome information tidbit...I was just confused about that part of the terms, and was hoping you or someone else could clarify.