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It’s no secret that air travel can be expensive. But fortunately, there’s a solution — travel rewards. And thanks to the current welcome bonuses from Delta Air Lines, that much-needed vacation is even more feasible.
With the current Delta offers, you’re not just limited to redemptions with the Atlanta-based airline. Delta is part of the SkyTeam alliance, meaning you can use the Delta SkyMiles earned from these credit card offers with partner airlines like Aeromexico, Air France, KLM and others. These partnerships let you visit almost any destination imaginable.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the current Delta credit card offers and discuss five of the best ways to redeem SkyMiles for flights.
Earn up to 80,000 bonus SkyMiles with these credit cards
There are seven different Delta credit cards — four personal cards and three business cards — where you can now earn between 10,000 and 80,000 bonus SkyMiles, depending on the card you apply for.
These are the current offers for personal Delta credit cards:
- Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card: Earn 10,000 bonus SkyMiles after you spend $1,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $0 annual fee (see rates and fees).
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: Earn 50,000 bonus SkyMiles after you spend $2,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 (see rates and fees).
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: Earn 60,000 bonus SkyMiles after you spend $3,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $350 annual fee (see rates and fees).
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: Earn 70,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $650 annual fee (see rates and fees).
And these are the current offers for small business Delta credit cards:
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card: Earn 60,000 bonus SkyMiles after you spend $4,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 (see rates and fees).
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: Earn 70,000 bonus miles after you spend $6,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $350 annual fee (see rates and fees).
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $10,000 within the first six months of opening the account. $650 annual fee (see rates and fees).
Get more value from your SkyMiles with TakeOff 15
Even better, the Delta Amex Gold, Platinum and Reserve cards — and their small business equivalents — are eligible for the relatively new TakeOff 15 benefit. This benefit provides a 15% discount on the SkyMiles required for Delta-operated award flights.
For example, if you want to book a flight that requires 11,500 SkyMiles, it will only cost 9,700 SkyMiles with the discount.
The TakeOff 15 discount will appear automatically in your flight search results if you’re an eligible card member and logged into your account. You must pay the flight’s taxes and fees with your eligible Delta Amex to receive the discount.
Get great deals on domestic flights
Delta doesn’t have a fixed award chart, so the cost of a flight using SkyMiles varies by route, date and other factors. For example, a flight from New York to Los Angeles could cost a different price depending on the day you book.
That said, you can often book flights throughout the US for as few as 4,500 SkyMiles, plus taxes and fees. These deals are even sweeter if you pair them with the TakeOff 15 discount.
At the time of writing, you can book a flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) for 3,800 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes if you have an eligible Delta credit card. With up to 80,000 SkyMiles in your account, you could fly this route 14 times round trip.
We also found one-way flights from New York-JFK to Atlanta (ATL) on many dates for just 6,300 SkyMiles with the TakeOff 15 benefit, plus $5.60 in taxes and fees.
The lowest fares are usually in basic economy, which means you can’t pick your seats ahead of time. If you want to guarantee that you and your travel partner or family are seated together, consider spending extra SkyMiles to book a Main Cabin award ticket instead.
Keep an eye on Delta’s flight deals page
If you don’t have a specific destination or date in mind, following Delta’s flight deals page can help you book a vacation for even fewer SkyMiles. These deals change regularly but often provide excellent value.
All you have to do is enter your departure city and all deals on both paid fares and bookings using award SkyMiles will appear. Offers change quite a bit, so we suggest visiting the page often as Delta typically populates the page with travel dates for the next three months out.
There are some excellent deals to be found here. At the time of writing, we found flights from New York-JFK to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (PLS), for just 22,000 miles round trip, plus $119 in taxes and fees. That’s before the TakeOff 15 discount.
There are also flights from New York-JFK to Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF), available for just 66,000 SkyMiles round-trip, plus $47 in taxes and fees. Again, that’s before the TakeOff 15 discount for eligible card holders.
Fly to the Caribbean for under 10,000 SkyMiles
With about a dozen destinations in the Caribbean, such as Aruba, Grand Cayman, Montego Bay, Nassau, San Juan, St. Thomas and others, redeeming SkyMiles for sun and relaxation is incredibly easy.
The number of SkyMiles required to redeem a free flight varies based on your destination and the time of the year you want to travel. But, as an example, we found flights from New York-JFK to San Juan (SJU) for as few as 7,600 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes one-way with the TakeOff 15 discount.
Plus, we also found flights from Boston (BOS) to Grand Cayman (GCM) via Atlanta (ATL) for as few as 8,500 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes and fees this September with the TakeOff 15 discount.
Heading to the beach — all on SkyMiles — might be the perfect opportunity to relax. And with the SkyMiles earned from the welcome offer, it’s easy to fly you and a friend or a spouse round trip to the Caribbean for a much-needed vacation in the sun.
Cross the border to Canada
Flights to Canada present another great SkyMiles redemption opportunity. You can fly on Delta or its partner WestJet, and flights can often be booked for as few as 8,000 SkyMiles one way.
If you’re looking to fly to Montreal or Toronto from the East Coast, you might be able to score a flight for minimal miles in basic economy. For example, New York (LGA) to Toronto is just 8,000 SkyMiles plus taxes after the TakeOff 15 discount.
Meanwhile, you’ll find that cross-border flights on WestJet almost always cost 12,500 SkyMiles in Main Cabin, including this flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Calgary (YYC). However, this flight is not eligible for the TakeOff 15 discount as it’s operated by a partner airline.
See more of Europe with Air France and KLM
If you’re planning a tour of Europe, consider redeeming SkyMiles for flights around the region. Intra-Europe flights start at 10,000 SkyMiles on Air France, KLM and other European SkyTeam partners. This can be useful during peak travel times when flights within Europe are expensive.
For example, this flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Prague (PRG) costs just 10,000 SkyMiles plus $79.31 in taxes and fees. Meanwhile, a standard economy ticket costs $208.60 on this example date. Again, this flight is not eligible for TakeOff 15 as it’s operated by KLM.
You can sometimes find extremely cheap intra-Europe flights on budget carriers like Ryanair and EasyJet. Make sure to compare intra-Europe award tickets with these fares, as it might sometimes be a better idea to save your SkyMiles for a more lucrative redemption.
Bottom line
If you look in the right places — and at the right routes — you can find true value in redeeming Delta SkyMiles for nearly free flights. And with the current Delta credit card offers, you might be able to turn a single welcome bonus into thousands of dollars worth of airfare for your next trip.
Looking for a travel credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored Money chose as the best travel credit cards currently available.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Blue Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Gold Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Business Gold Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Platinum Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Business Platinum Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Reserve Amex.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Business Reserve Amex.