Welcome to FT!

For travel a month out, especially around Christmas, there aren’t many great deals to be had. It used to be where the further out you could book, the better you would be. I would often book trips 250-300 days out (330 is the max). But now I’ve found that greater than 6 months out leads to the highest fares. The 6-3 month range seems to be the sweet spot, with fares generally creeping up again 3 months out. This isn’t a hard and fast rule that applies to every market, but just a general observation.

Miles aren’t the best value anymore, but do have some value still. For example, earlier this year a roundtrip from Anchorage to Paris was $7800. In miles it cost 350,000, so roughly the equivalent of $3500. Definitely a decent redemption compared to the cash price.

At this close in I would keep checking to see if any fare offered, be it economy or delta one appears reasonable to you. If so, you can cancel your existing trip and either rebook with miles as there is no cancellation fee, or rebook using an ecredit if you paid cash. Any residual value would be returned to you in miles if it was an award ticket, or ecredit if it was a cash ticket.

As far as upgrades go, they may or may not be available on each flight. And if they are, no guarantees of a good deal. There’s no set upgrade offer cost. I’ve seen some great ones, and some absurd ones. Best thing is to just check daily and be ready to jump
on it if you see something that works for you.

Hope this helps and let us know if you find something that is a good deal for you!