Delta - new way to use your FF miles
 

While talking to Delta rep. earlier tonight, she told me that effective 2/12/08 you will be able to use your FF miles towards a purchased ticket as a price reduction [for Gold and Platinum AMEX Skymile cardholders]. If I understood her correctly: if you are buying a ticket for, let's say, $400 you can reduce the cost of your ticket at the rate of 10,000 miles worth $100. So with 10,000 miles and $300 you get the ticket.

Deb

Morning Deb -

So this is good for only AmEx cardholders or for all that have FF miles? That would be a great change, for once!

Nice of Delta to come up with SOME way to use your FF miles. I am so frustrated with Delta. The fact that you need to buy a MUCH higher fare COACH ticket to even be allowed to use your miles to upgrade makes me so upset. I mean really, to spend $900 on a $300 ticket just to be granted the right to use miles to upgrade is insulting.

So let me see. If I were buying a $7000 business class ticket to Europe, I could give them 90,000 miles and it would reduce my cost to $6100 for the ticket, instead of getting the entire ticket for free like I do with American Airlines FF miles? This is a good thing?

I guess it's better than not letting you use them at all, but wow!

Well Patrick, I just gave Delta 90,000 miles two weeks ago and they gave me my March roundtrip to Pisa for free.

I guess it's all about availability . . .

This topic is dealt with today in some detail on Flyertalk.com by RealDLInsider.

It is for Gold or Paltinum AMerican Express Delta Skymiles cards.

It is far from perfect, but at least it may help you to lower purchase price of a ticket that you can't get as an award ticket.

Sure, it's great IF you can score that $7000 ticket in Business to Europe but it is getting increasingly difficult to do that, even with 330 days advance.

I found this out because I called to fix my award tickets which had been changed for the second time in 2 months so that on 2 legs I arrived AFTER my next leg had DEPARTED!

This won't be the last time either. I was told to check my itinery monthly online to watch for other changes. They do not email any changes to you unless it is within one month of departure.

Deb

Forgot to mention that my ticket is Business/First. In mid-January, there were plenty of awards seats available for the entire month of March for JFK/Pisa in both coach and business. Between March travel dates and being a single traveler, I think that's how I could find tickets on such short notice.