1. Get Amex CC. Link

2. After miles post, and because you have the necessary CC to convert DL miles to cash, book a refundable ticket for more than $450.

3. Cancel the ticket within the same billing cycle. The cash over $450 comes back on your card, but the miles used are refunded as a DL e-cert, good for 1 year. $450 will better suit some peoples needs than 45K DL, which normally gets you 9/10 of a domestic RT. Link

Not a bad credit card sign-up bonus.

See delta.com under uses of miles for how the miles convert to an e-cert.

And if you were involved with Suntrust, you'd get an e-cert for $1700.

I'm a little confused....

Do we book a cash+miles refundable ticket for more than $450? Or any refundable ticket for more than $450? Can you give more details on the conversion process?

How does Suntrust yield a $1,700 Ecert?

I'm confused why one would want to do this... maybe I need to be spoon fed. I'm guessing if you were going to sign up for the Delta card, get the points, then cancel the card this would be useful as you would no longer be able to use the pay with miles feature.

But why in the world would you want a $1,700 e-cert? If you had 100k skymiles you can get a roundtrip ticket to Europe in first/business. Which usually brings the worth of the skymiles over 1 cent per mile. Wouldn't the only positive of using this method would be if you were planning to cancel the card or would the e-cert be able to allow one to earn miles on flights purchased with the e-cert?

I think OP is referring to the fact that you could have gotten the business check card from Suntrust and obtained bonus miles for each card you got for your "employees"

just adding the reminder that for those who've yet to get the DL AMEX card, act fast

the application due date is MONDAY Dec 20th

Interesting post ....I am interested in using Delta for RT domestic flights from RDU to NYC (usually offered for around $150 or so+tax). Are you saying I can use 45000 miles for a e-Cert that I can redeem for ~ 3 RT tickets? If this is the case.. for me, these skypesos wouldn't seem so bad. Could I also use the other Skymiles in my account to book a refundable ticket, and get E-certs (using the same logic above)?

This sounds too good to be true (hence the post for clarification

Great post! Thanks.

Stealph, Upon reading the "Pay with miles" link provided by OP, as long as you have the right credit card, you can pay with whatever skymiles you have in your account.

"Pay with Miles is an exclusive benefit for SkyMiles� members with a Gold, Platinum, or Reserve Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express."

I suggest reading thru the link carefully in case I missed something.

OK, pardon my being dense...I want to make sure I understand the process.

After getting the card, meeting spending threshold and receiving the miles, I would do the following:

1) buy a refundable ticket for more than $450

2) choose the option to pay with miles (using up the bonus miles I was just given)

3) cancel the ticket after issue, request a refund

4) instead of just crediting back the miles, Delta will send me an Ecert with a value of $450 which I can apply towards future travel without using the 'pay with miles' option

Why would Delta issue an Ecert with monetary value instead of just crediting me back the miles?

So you can buy revenue tickets and get MQMs (elite qualifying miles) and upgrades when you fly. If it wasn't Delta, I probably wouldn't have posted it.

I've talked with people that just flat don't want DL miles, and I understand their frustration with Dl awards.

I'm not saying this is for everyone. It is certainly for some a much better value proposition than getting a double connect DTW-LAX award like DL offered me as a "Gold with enhanced availability", for more than 25K.

Yes.

They are obviously motivated to get Amex to buy their miles and have incentivized their system to get people to consider their card. I'm guessing they are selling the miles at more than 1 cent each and are happy to redeem them for 1 cent and make a profit. Or, their research indicated a majority of Amex miles either go unused or for rulebuster awards.

Everything you need to know, and that I know, is in the Ts and Cs.

I just wanted to add the twist of the miles converting to dollars for those not currently considering the card for the miles.

Is this something that will work for somebody who already has a Delta Amex?
Or is it just for taking out a new one?

Ah, I guess it would make sense if you were only looking to use them on domestic travel. What is the turn around time... Say I buy a refundable ticket today... how quickly can you cancel and then receive the e-cert? Just wondering if anyone can confirm that this has worked for them?

Seems like a pretty big loophole to me if this actually works. I know that many deals like the mint can handle large amounts of people doing the deal, but any fears that if this does work that it might quickly get shut down. This basically allows people an easy way to earn MQMs and skymiles on what otherwise would be award travel.

Most people will not do this because they think they will get a great value out of intl business.

Even those who won't.

I just don't see a great take rate on this, even though it makes more sense than holding onto DL miles that people may or may not EVER find a use for.

I think there are valuable uses for DL miles. I just don't think most people have the stick-to-it-ness required to find the elusive, yet valuable awards.

It's nice to know the option exists, and if I had no status with DL and wanted out on whatever miles I had accumulated with them (or that my wife or SO had), this would be the exit strategy.

won't this work for existing cardholders with large mileage balances? say I buy a $500 refundable ticket, pay $50 on my card and 45K in miles, when I cancel the ticket, I'll get the $50 back on my card and a $450 ecert? If so, I'll be doing this for all my future PWM travel, once I got the logic with mqms and upgrade potential. sweet deal.

Here are the "Pay With Miles" refund/Reissue rules from website:

Refunds/Reissues:
Except for tickets refunded under Delta's Risk Free Cancellation policy, miles redeemed with Pay with Miles cannot be re-deposited in the member's SkyMiles Account - even for fully refundable fares. In the event of a ticket being reissued, any residual dollar value between the original price of the ticket purchased using full or partial Pay with Miles and the reissued ticket price, can only be returned as a non refundable e-credit valid for future transportation. E-credit will be valid for 1 year from original Pay with Miles ticket issue date. Residual e-credit value will follow current Delta e-Credit rules and will not be applicable on non-transportation fees. Pay with Miles unused tickets can be used as an e-Credit when it is a primary exchange document. All Pay with Miles terms and conditions will apply to any ticket purchased using an unused Pay with Miles ticket.

In the event of a refund (including fully refundable fares), only the paid portion of a refundable fare will be credited back to the credit card, the Pay with Miles portion of the fare will be returned as non-refundable credit equivalent to the dollar value of the portion of the ticket redeemed with Pay with Miles. Credit may be used to purchase future travel and Pay with Miles terms and conditions will not apply to such tickets.

In the event of a valid ticket cancellation under Delta's Risk Free Cancellation policy, Pay with Miles portion of the fare will be redeposited into the member's SkyMiles account and the paid portion of the fare will be credited back to the credit card.

Miscellaneous:
Any miles you use will be automatically and permanently deducted from your SkyMiles account at the time of the redemption. Except for mileage accrual, upgrades, and form of refund for refundable fares, all other fare rules for the ticket purchased apply. All SkyMiles program rules apply. To review the rules, please visit Membership Guide & Program Rules.

I believe the AA75K is better isn't it?