belwynn

Good evening all,

While I am relatively new at redeeming miles, I have been accumulating them in a few places, and am attempting to figure out the best way to pay for an upcoming flight. The cash cost would be $716 before baggage [two people, one checked bag each, both ways]. Skymiles would be 59,000 + $22.40 and Chase Ultimate Rewards would be around 47,700 if redeemed through their site.

I surmise this might be the time to get a Delta Gold AMEX for the bag fees alone, but as for the rest.... I commonly hear Skymiles roughly value at 1.2 cents, which lines right up with the cash value; Ultimate Rewards at 2.0 cents [still trying to figure how to get there], so probably not that way.

Are there redemption options I am missing? Pay through the new AMEX if there is a Delta credit [currently being offered the 60k for $2k spend with $50 Delta purchase credit and no 1st year fee]?

Thank you for your time and advice.

-belwynn

PHXflier

I typically redeem miles only if there is good value (>$0.02/mile), and those occasions do occur via sales, partner arrangements, etc., actually more often than you might think from reading this forum. I always check both miles and $ amounts when I book, and sometimes there are 10K R/T fares that would cost $200+ to buy, or 30K miles R/T fares that are $750 if bought with money. So, maybe you want to hang on to your miles a little longer until there is a better redemption value.

CPMaverick

It depends on how many miles you have, and your future travel plans.

While your current scenario may be a 'decent' value, it isn't extraordinary. If you have lots of points/miles to burn, or don't forsee any need for points in the near future, it would make sense to use them now. If you would spend all your points/miles on this itinerary, and have other future travel where points/miles would be an option, it may not be as good a decision.

If my balance is small (say, 50k or less), I like to save it for emergencies or redemptions of a significant value. For example I have some AA miles stashed away, last month I needed to get from MEL-CLT as quickly as possible to see a client. It made sense to buy a one-way on AA LAX-CLT, but AA wanted $950 for this flight (short notice, and the normal one-way extraordinary cost). I was able to get it for 12,500 AA miles plus $82. Saved me a ton of money and/or time. It's rare that this happens, but it is nice to have enough miles 'in the bank' so you can take advantage when it does.

Jma12

Skypeso are usually good for last minute economy class for partners, because of the no last minute fee. On DL metal it will depend on the cash value which is usually high for last minute.

MSPeconomist

Frogbone

Transfer your Chase UR points to cash into your account and buy the ticket. You will earn MQM's and MQD's.
I just went through this myself. Even though Chase says they give you 25% more value if you use UR to book travel, I found that they charged more for a BE fare than Delta did for Main Cabin fare.
Might be worth looking at that option.

Jon_R

Gig103

How much flying do you typically do per year? Booking the flight with your Chase points is considered a revenue ticket for earning towards elite status (MQM, MQD). Make sure that the UR portal is selling the ticket you want (i.e. if you don't want Basic economy, make sure you can get a main cabin ticket).

The Delta Amex cards are worth it for the bags, but going back to my question on frequency of travel you may want to look at the Skymiles Platinum card which adds more MQM as a sign up bonus, plus the waived bag fees. I would rather earn Chase points than Skymiles though, as you can see they're worth more, so even if you get the Amex you might want to have it more on hand for the perks than spending.

xliioper

Doesn't look like OP actually has or cares about status. When you don't care about such things, it can change the equation a fair amount as MQM's and MQD's have no relevance.

travelhive

Using UR points is the same as paying cash. I have always received MQMs when redeeming them for Delta tickets.

belwynn

I appreciate everyone's replies and input! Correctly assumed, status is not something I can reach at this time, although years ago I could and did. While I am concerned about Skymiles devaluation, it sounds like there are plenty of opportunities to get better value than this opportunity affords. The gold card sounds worth it for the perk of bag fees alone, but perhaps paying with the Chase credit card to get the UR may be the best play - although as suggested I will check again before purchase to see which way the winds are blowing on that particular day.

Thank you all again, and here is hoping to find a Skymiles deal later this year.

Gig103

I might be misreading this portion of your post (so apologies if this is not useful). ​​​​​
​But if you sign up for the Skymiles Amex card you don't need to use it when purchasing flights in order to get the free bags. The perks are tied to your Skymiles account. You can pay with UR, or with your chase card, or even a Skymiles award flight, and still get your baggage allowance. The only "trick" is that for your companions to also get the baggage allowance they need to be on the same itinerary which can make using skymiles more difficult.