Amex Delta Pay with Miles Program
 

I am looking for some information about the Delta American Express Gold credit card program that allows you to pay with miles. My main reason for considering this this card is to be able to purchase non-stop flights from San Francisco to Amsterdam with the miles I have accumulated. The program says that there are no blackout dates. The flights I am interested in are operated by KLM , but have a Delta (DL) flight number. Based on my searches for various flight dates though out the year at delta.com these non-stop flights seem to be blacked out for the regular sky miles rewards program. The cost of the flights for next July are currently around $1,500, so my understanding of this program is that I will need to use about 150,000 miles to pay wish miles for the flight. Can anyone tell me if these flights are eligible for this program. In the terms and conditions of the programs it says:

No blackouts means that Pay with Miles can be used for any eligible flight available at delta.com on any day of the year. No inventory restriction means that Pay with Miles can be used for any open seat on any eligible domestic or international flight available at delta.com.

In all but a few cases, "pay with miles" is not an efficient way to use miles. You could probably get a full Skymiles award ticket (maybe even a BE ticket) for less than the 150,000 miles you're looking to spend through Pay With Miles. And I haven't seen any true blackout dates with Skymiles. I've seen certain time periods with no "low tier awards" but you should always be able to get a mid or high level award. Although it may be different for flights on KLM.

However just to compare value, you can get a J Award to Australia for 150,000 miles, and J tickets to Australia can be $5-10K. Much better return on investment than spending those miles through Pay With Miles on a $1500 ticket.

PS: Once you use any amount of Pay with Miles, your ticket no longer accumulates any miles (redeemable miles or MQMs).

You can possibly go with 100k in business class what would you use that lame option

You can't use pay with miles on klm flights. It has to be a flight operated by delta. You can go thru a connecting city and pay with miles. I.e. SFO-ATL-AMS

Thanks for your response. I know this is not the most efficient way to use my miles from an ROI perspective, but the main thing I am concerned with is trying to getting my daughter and me on the same non-stop flight my wife takes to Amsterdam for her work activities. If not the same flight at least another non-stop KLM flight from San Francisco to Amsterdam. I just want to know if this AMEX credit card is truly no blackouts even for Delta (DL flight number) flights operated by KLM. Couple of questions on your response. What does BE stand for and what is a J Award? Sorry, but I know very little about frequent flyer programs.

Thanks Hertzfan. That is the info I needed.

We like to use a lot of shorthand and jargon on Flyer Talk (FT).

BE is Business Elite. J is a common reference to business class (as is C) since many airlines use this as the fare code/letter when referring to it.

Before you spend a penny per mile you could look for an award ticket booking agent. I don't have any to recommend, but for a flat fee an agent, who does know a lot about FF programs, should be able to explore all your options. You could spend months on this forum and learn to do it yourself, but an agent can save you a lot of time.

Please don't spend 150,000 miles for a coach RT USA-EU. It's a horrible deal.

I spoke to someone at customer skymiles service who seemed knowledgable. They told me that the AMEX Pay for miles program could be used for any delta flight. They said this would include a DL flight operated by KLM. Can anyone confirm whether this correct or incorrect.

No, you can't. It has to be a Delta coded and Delta operated flight (which includes Delta Connection, but not partners like KLM).

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...ith-miles.html

I also just did a test-booking. Flights on Delta show PWM eligible. Flights on partners do not, even if it is a DL codeshare.

You sure about your interpretation of that quote? Even though delta.com clearly shows that mileage earned on AS does not earn a fare-class MQM bonus, I still earned a 50% MQM bonus on my last AS flight on an M fare because it was booked as a DL-coded flight. The way I read it, any DL-coded flight booked through delta.com qualifies.