why can't he advance the points? of course you can?
the stuff about india being expensive is interesting. at the end of the day do what's good for you.
however, i will tell you that delta has always been very fair with me, and i've found great awards like 60k to europe with great flights from dtw including stops and 100k in biz etc, also 35k last minute to caribbean and i just booked 40k to hawaii and 85% chance i get UG to LAX at least and then Exit row to Hawaii.
so put down the SM all you want, from DTW they are Au