need to redeem my Delta SkyMiles
 

Hi. I only have a few thousand Delta SkyMiles that expire in December. Since I have no plans to travel before then, I wanted to see if there was a place to use these miles up. I remember getting magazine offers and things like that a while back but can't seem to find anything like that now. Any help would be appreciated.

A few thousand miles isn't much but how about donating them to Make A Wish Foundation?

The obvious answer: Contact Delta directly. Its website is:<BR>http://www.delta.com<BR>You can access Skymiles there.

Here is what I would do. Delta is offering their Delta Amex Skymiles gold card free (no fee year one). I think you also get a few thousand free miles for opening the account. Apply &amp; get the card and charge everything on it until the first year is about to expire so you don't have to pay the annual fee for year 2, yet you keep the miles earned. They have a promotion until the end of the year where you earn double miles on ALL weekend purchases and always double miles at gas stations, supermarkets and certain other purchases. You will then be a lot closer to a free round trip ticket. Beats a $10 magazine subscription.<BR><BR>That card earned me a free RT ticket to Europe!

Also, I think MCI also offers up to 10,000 free delta skymiles if you switch your long distance to them. Keep the service as long as you need to to get the 10,000 miles then switch back! Vegas, here you come!

Sounds good, except Angie's miles expire next month. So do mine. I haven't thought of anything except the magazines.<BR><BR>HOWEVER!!!! My in-laws got a notice from a company that wanted to trade them magazines for their Delta miles. The offer said it expired at some date about a month after they got the notice. Careful reading showed that it was the OFFER that expired in Dec, not the miles. Seems miles acquired before a certain date (I've forgotten exactly..but several years ago) NEVER expire. Turns out that was the case with my in-laws. I thought that advertisement was very misleading.<BR><BR>So....Angie, check the website to make sure when your miles really expire and if it is really next month, you can link to the magazine deal from there.

Call Delta and ask them if you get their gold amex skymiles card and make one charge before the end of the year, will your skymiles expire. I know if you travel on Delta once at least every 3 years, they never expire (at least mine dont). Not sure about card charges on their card though.<BR><BR>Worth asking them.

MCI and Delta are no longer partners - it's now AT&amp;T, and you can only get 5,000 miles, but it's better than nothing. We also took advantage of the Amex credit card offer, and they offered me an extra 2,500 if I had another family member sign up under my primary then a bonus of 7,500 points if I charged $7,500 by July. The total amount of miles we will earn is 20,000 without even counting the actual charges accrued on the card. Use some of these methods to keep your account open and before you know it, you'll have a free flight.

Thanks for the help everyone. I did check Delta's website, and my miles are expiring. I only flew Delta once a few years ago so that makes sense.<BR>I will check into the credit card option and some others mentioned. <BR>You're right - I'd rather have a ticket than a magazine!<BR><BR>Thanks again.

Thanks for the help everyone. I did check Delta's website, and my miles are expiring. I only flew Delta once a few years ago so that makes sense.<BR>I will check into the credit card option and some others mentioned. <BR>You're right - I'd rather have a ticket than a magazine!<BR><BR>Thanks again.

Any tips for redeeming the miles, I've tried twice to use them for trips and was told the seats were already taken. I would like to use them to go to Italy next Sept. or Oct. I have enough miles now for one ticket and in a few months will have enough for two. How far in advance do you have to book them? I probably won't go unless I can use them.