Know what you’re getting into when it comes to investing in Delta miles and don’t crop dust where there ain’t crops and other Delta dangers
In Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” Roger Thornhill, played by Cary Grant, gets chased by a crop dusting airplane. This happens moments after a local man watches the crop duster circling nearby and the following exchange takes place.
Man: That’s funny.
Thornhill: What?
Man: That plane’s dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops.
Which brings me to Delta, a carrier that grew out of the world’s first crop dusting company, Huff Daland Dusters.
I find that interesting because, to put it bluntly, when you’re a Delta SkyMiles loyalist, you’re collecting miles that are of limited value because it’s so hard to find low-cost award space.
In other words, you’re dusting crops that aren’t there.
The More Partners the Merrier?
Not in Delta’s Case
In theory, flying with an airline alliance that has a lot of partners increases your chances of using miles to get the dates and routes that might work for you. But that’s not the case with Delta.
As a part of the SkyTeam alliance, Delta buddies up with major airlines such as Air France, Alitalia, KLM, Korean Air and many more. And, separately, it also partners with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.
While using SkyMiles with Delta’s partners potentially opens up new routes and availability, often you’ll find award space that shows as available on the partner airline’s site does not show as available on delta.com. This is because many of those partners release much less availability to their partner Delta than they release to their own mileage program members.
The Delta Helter Skelter
Let’s dive in further to this Delta “deception” to see exactly where you stand and with whom.
Less Availability: Delta partner airlines that generally release less space to Delta than to their own mileage members: Air France and Virgin Atlantic.
Much Less Availability: Partners that rarely have available seats: Alitalia, KLM, and Korean.
Access to First Class with Delta Miles
No crops whatsoever: Access to First is not possible with Delta miles, as its partners with a First Class (Air France and Korean Air) do not release any of it to Delta.
Shelter from the Delta Storm?
What to Know.
Now you know why we don’t write many reports on how to use Delta miles. They don’t exist! Even though Delta is one of the three major U.S. mileage programs (the other two are American and United), it’s not a great option for using miles or finding low-cost mileage awards on its own flights or partner flights.
Dust For Evidence First
- Know what you are getting into with Delta miles.
- Know that using miles for Delta’s own flights for low-cost mileage awards is difficult to find.
- Know that using miles on Delta’s major partners for low-cost mileage awards is difficult to find.
- Know that you have no access to First Class mileage award redemptions.
The solution? Adopt FCF’s flexible “Upgrade Mindset.” Forget about being married to one mileage program and having all your miles there. Play an expansive game and choose a mileage program that offers value via partner award redemptions such as the American or United mileage programs. Your chances of redeeming miles on their partners is usually much better than with Delta. Plus, you’ll have access to First Class award redemptions, on many airlines.
A final word. We don’t like “grounding” an airline like this, but that’s what our thorough research shows. As a 100% independent organization with not a cent of paid advertising support from airlines or credit card companies, you can rely on us to give you the real, sometimes ugly, picture. We’ll always call it as we see it—especially if it prevents you from dusting crops that aren’t there.
Related FCF Exclusive Reports: