smartcookie

I wanted to get some ideas of what you have found is the best way to use about 25K Delta miles (piles). As discussed often on this forum, 25K doesn't seem to get you an actual flight anymore. I've checked at least 5 flights now, even those that are going for $219 (NYC-Buffalo), and they still want 40K for them. The only flight I found for 25K was a $155 flight from LA to SF, and the times available for that price were inconvenient (the rest were 32.5K+ miles)

I don't want to earn any more miles on Delta due to the bad redemption rate (sticking with American and United) and am trying to figure out the best way to get rid of these 25K. What have you found gives you the biggest bang per mile?

Right now, I am finding an economy car rental I need in Charleston is about 23K miles for 4 days. The same rental via Hotwire is $95 after taxes and fees. It still doesn't seem like a good deal.

Any other better options? Do you get a better redemption for hotels? What else?

Thanks!

AndyTLe

Use it to upgrade a K+ Domestic Ticket?

thebigfish

Start the Bar-b-Que?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

TBF

SpinzCity

Two nights at a nice hotel through Skymiles Marketplace (depending on your destination, possibly even three nights):

https://travelmarketplace.delta.com/travel/arc.cfm

ffI

Keep them for car rentals, and use 1k for each rental. Pay rest in cash. They bring down the price of car rental as the taxes and fees are waived as this is a reward and not a sale. Try booking cars on the skymiles marketplace.

example Using 1k miles saves you 30$. But note that the second reservation is non refundable.
Base Rate - Fullsize SUV (USD)
(1) Time & Distance ($505.29/Week) $505.29
(1) Extra - Time & Distance ($84.22/Day) $84.22
Subtotal $589.51

Pay with a Combination of Miles and Money
Look to see the number of miles and dollars needed to redeem for this itinerary.
Move the slider to update the number of miles you want to use. Or enter amount in the miles box. The dollar amount will update automatically.
Proceed with your booking. If you want to adjust your combination of miles and money later, you can do so on the Payment page.
1,000 miles + $557.28

smartcookie

I'll continue looking. I don't really plan to fly Delta anymore, so there would be nothing to upgrade. I only have one 2-hour flight left to complete on Delta.

The hotel deal sounds like it may be an option. I'll look into that. I'm just wondering whether I'll get any more than $150/25K redemption for that.

The car rental I'm looking at right now is 24.5K miles for a 4-day rental which is sold for only $95 incl taxes on Hotwire. So it may seem like a deal if you compare to regular car rental rates, but it's not really compared to Hotwire where rates are about $15/day...

Did I mention how much I hate Delta now? The only reason I have these miles is because they converted me from NWA. Ugh. When I had to fly them before, I earned miles on Continental instead. No wonder Continental ran away from that program.

beckoa

Where are you trying to fly from? If on the West Coast, there are some pretty good redemptions on AS, take a trip up to Alaska

Jaimito Cartero

Less than 1 cpm is almost like throwing the miles away. If you're that desperate get some gift cards or something. Depending on status and if you have an Amex card, I think it's 5k for $50, 6k or 8k for the same.

I think if you look around a bit more, you mind find a nice trip for the 25k. Unless the miles are going to expire, I wouldn't just throw them away on nothing.

I certainly understand the frustration of trying to use DL miles. I'm still sitting on a lot, and most of the time when I want to use them, it's hard to do at low levels.

dd1612

You may want to consider booking an airfare on Delta and using the Paywith Miles option to pay the 1st $250 off your ticket.
That will give you a $0.01 per mile redemption.

DLdweeb

I would keep looking for a domestic RT. I'm pretty sure you will eventually will find something. International redemption with SM is, shall we say, a challenge, but I've had good luck with domestic redemptions at low levels.

You may want to check for something close-in as DL has temporarily eliminated the <21 day redemption fee. A day or two before travel DL does open up some seats for awards.

CJKatl

Gift them to a complete, but deserving, stranger from the FT board. For more information, and my SM#, PM me.

Seriously, you can donate the miles to charity. There are many people and organizations that can put the miles to good use. SkyWish will take care of getting your miles to one of many charities. You choose which one. More information can be found here: http://www.delta.com/skymiles/use_mi...ties/index.jsp

fti

You don't even need to be on the west coast. AS flies from several cities in the midwest, south and east now.

And you can visit two cities in Alaska for the same 25K miles. I am going to ANC and ADQ this summer. If you want to see bears, go to ANC and AKN. If you want a remote experience combine ANC or FAI and BRW. Just the round trip within Alaska from ANC and back will be worth >$400, not to mention the value of the ticket from the lower 48 to ANC.

smartcookie

I live in NYC now. So not on the west coast. So far, I haven't seen any flights at all for 25K miles, even those nearby to Charleston for example which only cost $220.

I do a lot of international travel, so my vacation is all booked already for the next 10 months. And it doesn't seem I can use just 25K for holidays such as Labor Day when I don't need to take days off work. I'd love to use these to go to Toronto for example, but no such luck with only 25K.

I don't have a Delta Amex card, so can't use PWM.

The miles don't expire for a while. So I'll look around. I'm from the West Coast originally, so maybe some friends want to go to Alaska.

Haha. Thanks, but I'm not desperate to use up 25K. Just trying to find a way that gives me the most for my buck. Though if anyone wants to donate 15K, I'll gladly take them off your hands and pay for the transfer since I can use 40K for my flight .

hazelrah

I would not say never because never is a long time. If you are flexible apparently there appear to be 25K awards that Delta makes available at the last minute.

40K is the new 25K.

judolphin

+1