deltaflyinglawyer

MY SPG account shows miles request made on Feb 8, 2013.
But, I don't see any mileage credit in my SM account.
Should I be worried?

idahost

The idea that someone would use the most valuable frequent flyer currency to transfer into Delta Sky Pesos is a complete aberration...

RealHJ

Sometimes. Rarely, but sometimes, SlyMiles are a good use and one can get upwards to 5cpm.

For the majority of cases yes, I agree completely. But not necessarily always so.

martabakeju

depending on where you live as well. I still could get 3cpm and less stopover. That helps when you travel with a kid =).

flannbarr

Ok I am reconsidering transferring Starwood points to Delta miles.

We are doing a British Isles cruise thru Southhampton in June 2016. So we have to fly RT from DTW to London. There are 3 of us flying. The non-stop price per ticket in June is close to $2,000.

We currently have about 85,000 Delta Skymiles. We also have about 100,000 Starwood points, 100,000 Hyatt points and 200,000 Marriott points.

If I transfer 100,000 Starwood points to Delta, I get 125,000 miles with the bonus offer. I then end up with ~ 200,000 Delta Skymiles which gets me 3 RT flights between DTW and London.

Next I analyze the cost/benefit:
100,000 Starwood points = 5 nights in a nice W hotel in Times Square which probably is worth ~$2,000.

100,000 Starwood points = 125,000 Delta Skymiles = 2 RT flights from DTW>London which equals $4,000.

It sure seems like the transfer makes sense and I still have Hyatt and Marriott points for other hotel/resort vacations.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

ATLawyer

The schedule just opened up, I can't imagine the price will stay 2k+ If you are booking with cash, I'd wait for a better price.

As for miles, 60k miles saves you $1800 (60k miles plus $200, so you only save 1800). Value of 3cpm is decent, but you can easily exceed that with spg.

An example, I stayed in London over New Years 5 nights for 80k points (remember, 5th night is free on award bookings). Hotel was booking for 750 minimum over those same nights. So 80k points = $3750 in that instance. It is easy to find other similar valuations

KyRoamer

Best use for Starwood points is one that has a value of 3 cents per point or better. Highest values usually come from booking better hotels or business/first class flights.

If I were you I'd either book your flight and find a lower cost hotel or enjoy a grand hotel on points and pay for your flight. I'd try to limit my out of pocket cost to $2,000. On hotel costs, be sure your price includes all taxes and fees.

Also Starwood has a points and cash option. Consider it if available as long as the saving in points justifies using the cash. I usually consider the cash cost as buying the saved points. Usually if that is more than 2 or 2.5 cents a point, I pass.

flannbarr

Thank you. I don't need a hotel on this trip except for a couple of night pre-cruise and I will use my Hyatt points for that.

If 100,000 Starwood points combined with my current 100,000 Delta miles can get my $5,400 worth of airfare, it seems worthy of consideration.

KyRoamer

Not a bad value. At first glance it looks like 2.7 cents per mile but since your free ticket gets no miles it effectively is closer to 2.4 cents per mile. For your Starwood points with bonus you are getting about 3 cents in value per point.

Beware of a couple of issues. Transfers of Starwood points are not instant. They can take from a day to over a week. Second there is a daily transfer limit of 99,000 points. If transferred you would only get a 20,000 mile bonus. So to get your full 25,000 mile bonus transfer 80,000 points on day for a 20,000 mile bonus and 20,000 points the next for an additional 5,000 mile bonus.

pbd456

did u check to make sure u can get low level business class ticket?

emrdoc

He isn't looking at business class...

javabytes

Sounds like he is looking for economy tickets, not business.

pbd456

low level economy is there?

flannbarr

Yes basic economy is available.