What to do with my SKYMILES?
 

I have 8342 SKYMILEs that will expire at the end of the year. I never fly Delta anymore, so my question is: What can I possibly d0 with these right now? Can they be 're-juvenated' or traded for something else?

Any ideas are appreciated.

I know that you dont fly Delta anymore but if you just fly one segment before they expire your Skymiles will be valid another 3 years(right?)

Signing up with Site59 at http://www.site59.com/ (unless that promotion is over), or a similar bonus opportunity would give you 500 miles plus another 3 year extension on the expiration date of your SkyMiles.

dave_SEA, you could also transfer your points to the Hilton HHonors program and redeem them for free hotel stays, merchandise or other travel awards.

While you can only move 5,000 of your miles, HHonors will give you 10,000 points which would be good for at least one free weekend night or a 15% dining discount at one of the hotels or a coupon good for a car rental upgrade.

There may be more redemption options in the HHonors program, it's best to check out their website for full details. If you stay at any Hilton hotels, then these will simply be "bonus" points on top of your balance with the HHonors program.

The bonus miles promos may not post in time to save you. You may want to look on theCoupon Connection board and find a FTer who is willing to trade for a 500-mile Delta certificate, such as the ones that are issued through Greenpoints. Those generally post fairly quickly (and I assume would buy you the extra 3 years), and a nice letter to go along with it surely would not hurt.

You might also try opening a Clickmiles account and making a small purchase. They usually have something available for a decent bonus (e.g. PlanetRx purchase for 500 miles), which posts almost immediately, then transfer the ClickMiles to Delta.

[This message has been edited by cactuspete (edited 12-19-2000).]

If you sign up for clickrewards through this link, http://www.clickrewards.com/delta , and make a qualified purchase at any site in the ClickRewards network by January 31, 2001, you will instantly get 750 bonus miles.

Not all bonus activity restarts the 3-year clock, but SkyRewards certificates do. I know because I used them for this purpose on some of my children's accounts. They do post reasonably quickly, but if your miles are expiring at year-end 2000, you are in trouble! Getting a certificate and getting it posted by year-end is likely impossible. A cheap flight may be the only solution. Try a weekend Shuttle fare.

Bruce

Any activity on your Skymiles account (be it flights, bonuses, or even withdrawals) will reset the 36 month expiration. So if you transfer 5000 miles to HHonors the balance of the miles will get a 3 year life. Also if you donate some miles, the remaining will get a 3 year life.

Get a Delta Skymiles AMEX card. Use it for 1 year to get to an award level (25k is a free coach ticket domestic, 30k to Hawaii) and then cancel the card. You may even be able to find one that drops the fee for the first year. Also, the Gold and Platinum cards offer substantial bonus miles for startup/first use.

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Time..... is on my side.

Dave_SEA, I have a DL cert from the Healthy Choice promo. If you don't figure out anything by Dec. 26, let me know-- maybe we can trade something. I say Dec. 26 because it's at home and I'm taking off for Christmas this PM straight from work, but I'll be back Tues. AM. E-mail me at [email protected]

Have you considered donating your SkyMiles fragments to an official Delta Airlines charity? You'll generally find charities listed in your monthly statement stuffer.

Are you in Amex MR rewards? If so, you could transfer miles into your Delta account, and that would start the 3-year clock reticking (plus, you might want the increment to 10000, eg, for a future upgrade, perhaps). Or, if you don't want to fly Delta, you could take a UA flight before the end of the year and have the miles credited to your Delta account. Or you could probably order flowers (I think Delta's got a flowers partner) and get Delta points that way. Or stay at a Delta partner hotel and credit the miles to Delta.

[This message has been edited by rfrost (edited 12-21-2000).]

Thanks. I jus tmade a purchase on PlanetRX and should see some clickmiles in 1-3 days hopefully. After that, how do I go about transfering them to Delta? Do I have to set it up with clickmiles in advance?

Removed due to misreading the miles actually in the account

TW

[This message has been edited by Tolarian Wind (edited 12-22-2000).]

If you have only accumulated that many miles over the years you will probably never have enough to get a free trip. Have you considered donating them to charity? Delta offers several options at their site at
http://www.delta.com/skymiles/sm_pro...wish/index.jsp

It's better then having them expire, and certainly better then doing nothing at all with them but have them sit there for another three years.