I know Randy usually advises against it, but
 

but I'm consider transferring 5k airline (DL) miles to get 10k Hhonors points. I've got 6100 miles on DL, all from one flight. I live and work in WAS, and my flights tend not to be places where DL has a lot of flights. (I've flown on one DL flight in the last 13 years.) Since this is essentially an orphan account for me, if I transferred them to Hilton, I could get some use out of them (I've got over 46k on Hhonors at the moment, and am saving for a Hawaii award, possibly). But who knows, perhaps my flight patterns will change. Basically, I'm hesitant to do the xfer because I know I'll lose value, and maybe someday I'll fly DL again. What do people advise? (ps, i thought about posting this on the DL or Hilton board, but was interested in other people's thoughts as well). thx tls

[This message has been edited by thelostshark (edited 02-12-2002).]

what's the rush? you could always do this if you found you were going to have a specific need for extra HHonors points.. otherwise, you might just find a reason to add some miles to that orphan acct and get a real award seat out it.. assuming you could book one on DL http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Why not? I did the same with 5,000 of my "orphan" DL miles several months ago. We're not talking about 50,000 or 100,000 miles' worth of "lost opportunity" here, after all.

Post 9/11, I have shifted a lot of my bonus-earning activity into currency such as Starpoints and Goldpoints, which can be converted into many different airlines' miles (as well as hotel stays and other miscellaneous things). I recently got a Starwood Amex, for example, and it's going to be my primary card from now on (except when staying at HHonors hotels, when of course I'll use my HHonors Amex). Thus, if I ever decide I must book an award flight on Delta or some other airline that I rarely use, I'll have a big fund of Starpoints with which I can do that (and 20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 miles on most airlines). So I don't worry too much about the 5,000 DL miles I converted away.

Kathy

Good point (depending how serious you're last statement is http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ) tls

I think your concern's about Randy are about transfering hotel points to airlines. You usually loose big, but from airline to Hilton is a winner if you can't use the points.

I think your concern's about Randy are about transfering hotel points to airlines. You usually loose big, but from airline to Hilton is a winner if you can't use the points.

I say hold on to the Delta miles as there are several easy ways to earn more of the same so you can attain a Delta award. Delta is the only airline that only charges 30K miles for a free R/T coach ticket between the continental USA and Hawaii (most other airlines charge 35K) and as someone else already pointed out it is very easy to earn more Skymiles without actually setting foot on Delta metal (Goldpoints and Starwood come to mind).

Where did Randy advise against it?

Well, I don't remember exactly. I've seen him advise against it in response to people's questions somewhere (more than once). Perhaps FAQs on the main Flyertalk site? tls

As a fellow Washingtonian, I'd recommend you hang on to them for a little while.... you can add United miles to a Delta account, and United has plenty of flights from their hub at Dulles.

The Hilton option will always be there..... I don't see why you need to rush. You still have 3 years to do something with the DL miles.

Perhaps, you meant to say that one can earn DL miles on UA domestic flights.

Hmm, the FAQ has this quote from Randy:
so I don't think that Randy advises against it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

And often advise has to be given on a case by case basis, so it may very well make sense for someone and not make sense for someone else to do the transfer.

[This message has been edited by PG (edited 02-12-2002).]

I think what Randy is advising against, and I agree with him in that, is using Hilton as a vehicle to move miles from one FF program to another, except as a last resort if the miles would otherwise be worthless. The reason is that you lose most of their value. (How much you lose depends on how many miles you move at a time.)

However, the value of the HHonors points you get for your miles is about what the miles would be worth. The loss pretty much all happens on the way out to the second airline. If your objective is to get HHonors points to use as such, I don't see a problem. While I can't speak for Randy, from reading what he's written on this subject I don't think he would either.

This is, and the other post saying that you can use UA miles on DL, are intriguing. I've got over 44k miles on UA (and i have virtually the same amount on AA) and have been hoarding them for an int'l trip. Is there any way I can combine the 2 accounts for an int'l trip? (Particularly to southern Africa.) Having read everyone's comments, I think I'll let the miles stay where they are unless/until I get close enough to a Hilton award that it would make the difference. Thanks for all the help. tls

Not really. You can't combine miles from two different airlines.

One possible option for you to consider is to break your trip into two parts on two separate award tickets from two different programs.

Another option is to transfer all those "orphan" miles into HH points and request an airline award from HH (it will be quite expensive though, for more information see http://www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/rewards/airline.jhtml ).