It can get you pretty far, just need to make sure you are flexible and understand Delta's award system which allows up to 8 segments per award ticket, 1 stopover, and 1 open-jaw. For example, here's what I recently booked for an upcoming trip over Thanksgiving week in J:

JFK-FCO on Alitalia (18 hour layover in FCO)
FCO-ATH on Alitalia (2.5 days in ATH as it's my final destination)
ATH-AMS on KLM (23 hour layover in AMS)
CDG-JFK on KLM (3.5 days in Paris as it's a stopover, coupled with the open-jaw from AMS)

All for 100,000 pesos plus $241 in taxes, not bad in my opinion.