vulnox

Hi all!

I have been reading here for a while and slowly earning up points because we have a few trips coming up this year and next. The first of them is in June. June 19th-23rd, from DTW to DEN.

I have about 150,000 MR, 120,000 UR, 75,000 Delta Miles, and $400 in Delta GCs from CC credits. I also have an AMEX Delta Gold card.

The problem I am facing is there are three conventions happening in Denver when we are traveling, of course, but we are going to CO for my sister's wedding so dates are super flexible. Can maybe go a day earlier, but that's about it. Because of those conventions, award points seem to range from about 70k-90k for Main Cabin/Comfort+. I am 6'3" and my wife is 5'11", so was hoping for the added leg room, but it's not a super long flight so could survive I am sure.

So I started looking at points + Cash, since we have the GCs. My current thought is to do Main Cabin by way of Points + Cash, that comes out to 46,000 points + $382.40. If I use $350 of the GCs, plus points, and put the remainder on my Delta Gold card, I would have lower cost, plus by putting some of it on my Gold Card, I would get priority boarding and first bag per person free.

46,000 points is still a lot, but I don't seem to have a ton of alternatives. Would like to use the Delta GCs too. Points + Cash on Comfort+ is 51,000pts, $582.40 cash. I think a better point value as an upgrade, but the extra $200 may wipe it out.

Would love to hear any thoughts or alternative ideas! Also wanted to mention we want to keep it NonStop flights, and trying to stay with Delta. I looked at Southwest/Frontier/etc, but end cost or point values didn't really seem like a better proposition. Especially since the premium due to the conventions is there for all of them.

Thank you!

xliioper

You don't need to use your Gold Credit card to pay to get the priority boarding and first bag free benefits on Delta. F9 is only $212 roundtrip with non-stop's. Even with stretch seats purchases and such, seems like you'd still come out ahead.

I see availability of 2 main cabin tickets on Delta non-stop for 65,000 total and $22.40 in taxes. You are paying $360 just to preserve 20K miles with Miles+Cash option. Not really a good deal in my book.

vulnox

Even if that $360 is from gift cards I can only use at Delta? I could sell them sure, but figure I will take a 20% hit from most places to do so it seems.

Either way, thanks for the reply!

sky_priority

xliioper

You are preserving the 20K miles for future travel, why not just preserve the gift cards for future travel instead. Don't really see the difference. It'll generally be pretty challenging to get more the $300 of value out of 20K miles. The DTW-DEN flights going for 65K miles are going for about $800 in cash. That's about 1.25CPM or $250 in value for 20K miles.

vulnox

Ah I gotcha, good point. Thank you again!

Auston

I'm not sure you can use GCs with the Pay with Miles option.

vulnox

Once you select Miles or Cash and see results, you can then see a third options, Miles + Cash. As far as I can tell that allows GC usage for the Cash portion.

Auston

From the T&C ... "Not combinable with certificates, eCredits, vouchers, or with any other discounts."

Here ... https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...es.html/#terms

This has frustrated me in the past.

tearex

One problem I could see with F9 is in the case of scheduling and delays/ops issues. I only see one non-stop on OP's dates and a few with 1 stop.

F9 - $222 + $65 (carry on and checked bag) = $287 x 2 = $574
DL - $364 x 2 = $728 for lowest MC fare, other scheduling options more $

This would be an unpopular opinion to some here, but I would get the DL flights using the GCs and paying the balance with cash. I am not flush with miles as others on this forum and I know can sit on the points waiting for an award sale and get better redemption that way. Consider it a net of $164 per r/t ticket OOP, which is fair (to me). This may not jive with OP's travel habits.

OP, another consideration is that you are limited to 3 GCs per purchase in the event you have 8x $50 GCs. You can get around this by purchasing you and your wife's ticket separately, but your wife will not get Zone 1 boarding or a checked bag since you are not on the same PNR.

As an aside, my partner is 6'3" and does fine in main cabin. It is a matter of proportions though, he is longer in the torso rather than the legs, so his knees do not touch the seat in front.

xliioper

OP is not proposing using Pay with Miles, he's looking at using Miles+Cash which is a different program. Miles+Cash seems to list Gift Cards as an option on itins, but I'm having issues selecting it on my browser, so maybe it's not.

vulnox

Thank you so much! A lot of great info. I know there is a 3 GC limit, but Delta says on their site if you want to use more to call an 800 number. I tried finding actual experiences by people who used more than 3, all I could find was people either had no trouble, or had the CSR tell them they could only use 1, for whatever reason. May just have to try and see!