Delta Skymiles Shopping Review How Many Points for a Flight

One of the largest airlines in North America and the world, Delta Air Lines operates hubs at eight U.Southward. airports: Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Common salt Lake City and Seattle-Tacoma. It is besides a member of the SkyTeam brotherhood and has more 25 international airline partners.

If you live in a Delta-dominated metropolis or you fly the airline regularly, you should check out the airline's frequent flyer program, Delta SkyMiles. The program is free to bring together and lets yous earn Delta miles, achieve aristocracy status and more.

How do Delta SkyMiles work?

Beyond serving as the loyalty plan name, SkyMiles are also the currency that members can earn and later redeem for flights with Delta or partners, hotel stays and other rewards.

You lot can generally earn miles by flight, spending on credit cards (Delta has several co-branded cards for its loyalists), traveling with partners, or dining and shopping through designated programs.

Delta SkyMiles exercise not expire, which is great news for infrequent travelers or those who have loyalty across multiple airline programs.

How much are Delta SkyMiles worth?

Based on the virtually recent analysis, NerdWallet values Delta Air Lines SkyMiles at 1.three cents apiece. To determine the value of reward miles, we compared greenbacks prices and reward redemptions for economy roundtrip routes beyond several destinations and dates. We divided the price of the greenbacks ticket by the price of the reward ticket to make up one's mind a "cent per mile" value for each flying, and then averaged this value across several flights and dates. Read more about how we arrived at these figures .

This is therefore a baseline value for Delta miles, based on existent-world data collected from hundreds of economic system routes; information technology is not a maximized value. In other words, yous should aim for award redemptions that offer 1.iii cents or more in value from your Delta miles.

How to earn Delta SkyMiles

Flight on Delta and its partner airlines is the easiest way to earn miles. But there are ways to rack up miles besides flying, such every bit using a Delta-branded credit menu or spending money with Delta partner companies.

The Delta SkyMiles you earn never elapse as long every bit your business relationship is open up; this is different from how things work with another frequent-flyer programs.

Flying on Delta and its partners

Flight on Delta: Although they accept "miles" in their proper noun, the number of SkyMiles you earn on Delta flights is based on how much you spend, non how far you fly. The base earning charge per unit is v miles per $1 spent, simply you lot earn higher rates depending on whether y'all take elite status, which Delta refers to equally "Medallion" status. (We'll accept more than on Medallion levels later — or y'all can jump alee to that function at present .) Equally of Dec. ix, 2021, yous will no longer earn SkyMiles on whatsoever bones economy tickets.

Status	Rewards earned
Bones SkyMiles membership	5 SkyMiles per $1 spent.
Silvery Medallion	7 SkyMiles per $1 spent.
Gilded Medallion	8 SkyMiles per $1 spent.
Platinum Medallion	9 SkyMiles per $1 spent.
Diamond Medallion	11 SkyMiles per $i spent.

You earn SkyMiles simply on the base fare and fees imposed past the airline. You don't earn whatever rewards on taxes or authorities-imposed fees that are rolled into the cost of your ticket. So if you lot are a basic SkyMiles member and spend $150 on a flight, $50 of which is fees, you'll earn 5 x 100 = 500 SkyMiles.

Flying on partner airlines: Each partner airline has its ain rules for earning SkyMiles. In general, the rewards yous earn on partner airlines are based on the distance of the flight — so they actually are "miles." Y'all can earn bonus miles based on the fare class (such every bit economy, business concern or commencement) and your Medallion status.

Spending on the correct credit cards

Delta offers co-branded credit cards with American Express.

Our favorite Delta credit card is the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card . The menu gives you 2 SkyMiles per dollar spent with Delta. When you pay for tickets with the card, you get the first checked pocketbook gratis for you and up to 8 other people traveling on your reservation. Terms apply.

There'southward a nifty welcome bonus for new cardholders, too: Earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $i,000 in purchases on your new Bill of fare in your commencement 3 months. Terms Utilise. The annual fee is $0 intro for the first year, then $99

» Bound ahead to other credit cards that earn SkyMiles

Other ways to earn Delta SkyMiles

Delta's non-airline partners include:

• Hotels and Airbnb: You lot can earn SkyMiles at thousands of properties in most major hotel bondage. In some cases, yous earn a apartment number of points per stay; in others, you earn points based on how much you spend. You can also earn miles at Airbnb. See hotel partners and earning rules here .

• Auto rentals and Lyft:  Several major rental agencies take an option to earn SkyMiles. And if you lot adopt rental car alternatives , here's a bargain from Turo: Delta SkyMiles Members who link their SkyMiles number to their Turo profile volition be able to earn 2,000 miles on their first Turo trip and 500 miles on every trip thereafter. Yous tin can besides earn miles using the Lyft ride-hailing service. Details here .

• Dining :  Register your credit menu with SkyMiles Dining and earn up to v miles per dollar when yous use that carte at thousands of participating restaurants. (Y'all can utilize any credit card; it doesn't take to be a Delta-branded card.)

• Shopping:  Earn miles at hundreds of online merchants through the airline's shopping portal, SkyMiles Shopping .

Purchase SkyMiles

You can buy boosted SkyMiles through the Delta website, only this more often than not isn't a expert value. SkyMiles cost 3.5 cents apiece when purchased like this, which means yous're paying more than than three times what the miles are worth on boilerplate.

How to redeem Delta SkyMiles

If your top-of-listen question is: "How practice I use points from Delta SkyMiles?", y'all've come to the right section of this Delta guide. Know this: Not all redemptions are created equal. Keep the following tips in mind to become more than value out of your Delta SkyMiles redemptions.

Expert redemption options

SkyMiles are redeemable for flights through Delta Air Lines and its partners. In most cases, you lot redeem by booking through Delta's website. Go to the booking tool and choose the option for seeing the cost in miles. And then enter information well-nigh when and where y'all desire to travel, and cull your fare form: Basic economy, main cabin, Delta Comfort+ (premium economy), first class, Delta Premium Select or Delta One.

How many SkyMiles are needed for a flying? Information technology depends on your destination, just SkyMiles members can redeem equally few as 4,500 SkyMiles for a domestic short-booty flight.

Virtually Delta tickets and fare classes

• Basic Economy: This is a no-frills fare. You sit down in a standard seat and get free drinks and snacks. Nevertheless, you don't get to choice your seat, you're the last to lath the plane, you can't go upgraded fifty-fifty with Medallion status, and there are fees of $99 or $199 to change a flight. You cannot volume Bones Economy fares with miles and you lot cannot earn whatsoever miles on Basic Economy fares.

• Master Motel: This is a standard economic system seat. You get gratuitous nonalcoholic drinks and basic snacks, plus seatback entertainment when available.

• Delta Comfort+: This is substantially "economy plus." Yous get 4 inches of extra legroom and dedicated overhead carry-on storage.

• First Course: You get a bigger seat with more than legroom; free alcoholic drinks, snacks and meals on longer flights; dedicated storage and flying attendant service; and priority boarding.

• Delta Premium Select: This is start class with actress-comfortable seating and amenities, available on select international flights.

• Delta One: This is offset class with lie-apartment seating, available only on select long-haul flights.

Dissimilar some other airlines, Delta doesn't publish an honor chart showing you exactly how many miles you need for a given flying. You have to figure it out the difficult way — by entering your flight information and seeing what it costs in terms of miles.

Delta advertises that there are no blackout dates for award travel.

Yous can also use miles to buy seat upgrades; membership to Delta Heaven Clubs airport lounges; vacation packages; sectional experiences; merchandise, souvenir cards, hotel stays and car rental in the SkyMiles Marketplace; or donations to charity through Delta SkyWish. See details about these and other options here .

If you happen to have at to the lowest degree 2.5 1000000 SkyMiles in your account — and who doesn't? — you tin redeem them for private jet travel. According to Delta , those ii.v million points are "plenty to take upwards to four passengers round-trip from Atlanta to South Florida."

Bad redemption options

For the virtually part, using SkyMiles for anything other than flights volition result in beneath-average redemption values. Delta and its partners might push promotions for these unorthodox redemption options, but don't take the bait. Unless the offer is actually extraordinary, yous're nearly always meliorate off using miles for flights.

Nerdy tip: Because Delta ties the cost of honor flights very closely to the cash cost, you might see some very high honour prices when cash prices are loftier. Although these are non necessarily bad options, it does hateful yous should double-check that the value you lot're getting from miles is equal to or greater than the value you're getting by just paying cash.

Delta SkyMiles Medallion status

Anyone can join the Delta SkyMiles program for free, just to move upward from bones membership to aristocracy condition (where the existent perks are), you need to wing the airline regularly.

Changes for 2022

Flyers tin earn elite status credits on Delta award flights in 2022. Usually, only flights booked with cash would qualify. The number of credits earned depends on the booking class and some other factors — come across hither for consummate details.

SkyMiles Medallion program levels and benefits

The SkyMiles Medallion programme has iv levels. We'll start by looking at what you become at each level, then how to get there.

All Medallion members go priority check-in and priority boarding. All levels above Argent get priority security lane admission and priority baggage service at select airports. Boosted benefits include:

	Silverish	Aureate	Platinum	Diamond
SkyMiles earned per dollar spent	7.	8.	9.	11.
Upgrade eligibility*	Complimentary upgrades to First Form or Comfort+ seats starting 24 hours before departure.	Gratuitous upgrades to Commencement Class or Comfort+ seats starting 72 hours before departure.	Complimentary upgrades to First Course seats starting 120 hours earlier departure and to Comfort+ seats presently after ticketing.	Free upgrades to Get-go Class seats starting 120 hours before difference and to Comfort+ seats presently after ticketing.
Fee benefits	Waived luggage fees.	Waived baggage fees. No fees for aforementioned-day flight changes.	Waived baggage fees. No fees for same-twenty-four hour period flight changes. No ticket reissue fees. No fee to redeposit awards when canceling a ticket paid for with miles.	Waived baggage fees. No fees for same-solar day flight changes. No ticket reissue fees. No fee to redeposit awards when canceling a ticket paid for with miles.
Status on SkyTeam partner airlines**	Elite.	Elite Plus.	Aristocracy Plus.	Elite Plus.
*For all statuses, companions on your reservation get the same upgrade eligibility every bit y'all. **All levels above Silver too get access to SkyTeam lounges

For Platinum and Diamond condition merely: Choice benefits

Medallion members at the Platinum and Diamond levels are eligible for "Delta Selection Benefits," in which they choose the premium benefits they want from a listing.

See Delta Choice benefit options

• Platinum members tin can choose 1 of the following:

  • Parcel of four regional upgrade certificates.

  • Single voucher for Global Entry application fee (worth $100).

  • 20,000 bonus miles.

  • $200 Delta travel voucher.

  • Souvenir of Silver Medallion status to a friend.

• Diamond members tin choose 3 of the post-obit:

  • Individual membership to Delta Sky Clubs (unlimited access for self; guests pay a fee).

  • Executive membership to Delta Sky Clubs (unlimited access for self and 2 guests) — This option counts as two choices.

  • Package of as many as eight upgrade certificates (eight regional, four global, or two global and four regional).

  • 2 vouchers for Global Entry awarding fee (worth $100 apiece).

  • 25,000 bonus miles.

  • $200 Delta travel voucher.

  • Souvenir of Gold Medallion status to a friend.

How to earn SkyMiles Medallion status

To earn Medallion status, you'll need to understand the terms MQD, MQM and MQS:

• MQDs are Medallion Qualifying Dollars.  You earn 1 MQD for every dollar you spend on Delta flights. This includes the fare and airline fees, but non taxes and authorities fees.

• MQMs are Medallion Qualifying Miles. You earn these based on how far you wing and the fare course of your ticket. With regular economy form tickets, you earn 1 MQM per mile flown. For higher classes, it may be 1.v or ii MQMs per mile flown.

• MQSs are Medallion Qualifying Segments. You lot earn these based on how many takeoff-to-landing flights yous fly. A nonstop flight from Seattle to New York, for example, would earn ane MQS. Just if you changed planes in, say, Minneapolis, then you would earn 2 MQSs.

Y'all earn condition by spending a certain amount of money (that is, earning MQDs) and earning either a minimum number of MQMs or a minimum number of MQSs. Note that, as of Dec. ix, 2021, travelers won't earn MQDs, MQMs or MQSs on whatever basic economy fares.

	Silver	Gilt	Platinum	Diamond
To earn this condition, you must have MQDs of at least:	$3,000.	$six,000.	$9,000.	$fifteen,000.
AND EITHER this many MQMs:	25,000.	l,000.	75,000.	125,000.
OR this many MQSs:	xxx.	60.	100.	140.

Medallion status for a given twelvemonth is earned based on action in the previous calendar yr. Your status is generally expert until January. 31 of the following year. For instance, your Medallion status for 2021 is based on your activity in 2020 and volition terminal until January. 31, 2022.

MQMs gyre over from one year to the side by side. Say you earned 65,000 MQMs in 2019. That'due south enough for Aureate condition (which requires 50,000 MQMs) but non for Platinum (75,000). The "unused" 15,000 MQMs roll over to 2020 to give you lot a head start on your side by side year's earning.

Status matching

Delta too offers to match your status in another airline loyalty programme. You must have current elite status with a qualifying airline, and yous cannot accept used the match in the previous three years. Once yous're accepted in the lucifer program, you lot get gratis Medallion condition for iii months. To keep it for the rest of the year, you need to earn it during those 3 months:

• Silver: six,250 MQMs / 8 MQSs and $750 MQDs / MQD waiver

• Gold: 12,500 MQMs / fifteen MQSs and $i,500 MQDs / MQD waiver

• Platinum: 18,750 MQMs / 25 MQSs and $2,250 MQDs / MQD waiver

Delta's airline partners

Delta is one of 19 airlines in the international SkyTeam brotherhood, which allows yous to earn and apply SkyMiles on flights aboard carriers other than Delta.

The other SkyTeam airlines are:

1. Aeroflot.

2. Aerolíneas Argentinas.

3. AeroMexico.

4. Air Europa.

5. Air France.

6. China Airlines (Taiwan).

7. China Eastern (China).

8. Czech Airlines.

9. Garuda Indonesia.

10. ITA Airways.

11. Kenya Airways.

12. KLM Majestic Dutch Airlines (Netherlands).

13. Korean Air.

14. MEA (Lebanon).

15. Saudia.

16. TAROM (Romania).

17. Vietnam Airlines.

18. Xiamen Airlines (Communist china).

Delta also had partnerships with these non-SkyTeam airlines:

• Hawaiian Airlines.

• Virgin Atlantic (Britain).

• Virgin Australia.

• WestJet (Canada).

Credit cards that earn Delta SkyMiles

Delta'due south credit cards are issued past American Express. All of the cards offer unlike spending rewards.

Personal cards

• two miles per $1 spent on purchases directly from Delta.

• ii miles per $1 spent at eligible restaurants.

• one mile per $one on all other eligible spending.

• Annual fee: $0 .

Terms utilize.

• 2 miles per $1 spent on eligible purchases made straight with Delta.

• 2 miles per $1 spent at eligible restaurants and U.S. supermarkets.

• one mile per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.

• Almanac fee: $0 intro for the offset yr, then $99 .

Terms apply.

• three miles per $one spent on purchases straight from Delta.

• 3 miles per $1 spent on eligible hotel purchases.

• 2 miles per $1 spent at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets.

• 1 mile per $ane spent on all other eligible purchases.

• Almanac fee: $250 .

Terms utilize.

• three miles per $1 spent on purchases direct from Delta.

• i mile per $ane spent on all other eligible purchases.

• Almanac fee: $550 . This includes access to Delta Sky Clubs airport lounges.

Terms apply.

Pocket-size business organisation cards

• Earn two miles on every $1 spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta.

• Earn ane mile on every $1 spent on other eligible purchases.

• Annual fee: $0 intro for the first yr, and then $99 .

Terms utilise.

• Earn iii miles on every $ane spend on eligible purchases fabricated directly with Delta and on every eligible dollar spent on purchases made straight with hotels.

• Earn 1.v miles per $ane spent on single eligible purchases of $5,000 or more.

• Earn 1 mile on every $1 spent on other eligible purchases.

• Annual fee: $250 .

Terms apply.

• Earn 3 miles per $1 spent on Delta purchases.

• Earn 1 mile per $ane spent on all other eligible purchases.

• Includes benefits like gratis checked numberless and complimentary access into Delta Heaven Clubs and AmEx Centurion Lounges (or Escape Lounges) when flying Delta.

• Annual fee: $550 .

Terms utilise.

Is the Delta SkyMiles program right for you?

We've covered all the bones details of the Delta SkyMiles program, including how to use Delta SkyMiles for maximum value. But if you lot still aren't certain whether a frequent flyer program is worth the attempt, see our beginner's guide to frequent flyer programs .

Often asked questions

Can I transfer my Delta miles to some other person?

You can technically transfer your Delta SkyMiles to another person's account, but information technology's near always a bad idea. Delta charges one cent per mile and $30 per transfer, which wipes out the value of the miles.

Delta SkyMiles do not expire, merely they might lose value over time.

How much does it toll to purchase miles on Delta?

Delta SkyMiles cost 3.5 cents each when purchased directly, far more than their typical value . That is to say: Buying Delta miles is generally not a practiced move.

MQM stands for Medallion Qualification Miles, which are required to earn Delta Medallion (elite) status . MQMs differ from standard SkyMiles in that they cannot be used to book flights, yet both MQMs and SkyMiles can be earned by either flying on Delta and its partners or using a Delta co-branded credit bill of fare .

Generally, you cannot buy Medallion Qualification Miles directly; however, Delta occasionally runs promotions that allow you pay to upgrade your existing Medallion condition tier.

Tin I transfer my Delta miles to another person?

You can technically transfer your Delta SkyMiles to another person's business relationship, but information technology's well-nigh always a bad idea. Delta charges 1 cent per mile and $30 per transfer, which wipes out the value of the miles.

Do Delta miles elapse?

Delta SkyMiles practise not elapse, but they might lose value over time.

How much does it cost to buy miles on Delta?

Delta SkyMiles cost iii.5 cents each when purchased directly, far more their

typical value

. That is to say: Buying Delta miles is generally non a good move.

What is a Delta MQM?

MQM stands for Medallion Qualification Miles, which are required to earn

Delta Medallion (aristocracy) condition

. MQMs differ from standard SkyMiles in that they cannot be used to book flights, yet both MQMs and SkyMiles can exist earned by either flying on Delta and its partners or using a

Delta co-branded credit card

.

Can I buy Delta MQMs?

More often than not, you cannot buy Medallion Qualification Miles straight; however, Delta occasionally runs promotions that let you pay to upgrade your existing Medallion status tier.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what's important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2022 , including those all-time for:

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Source: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/delta-air-lines-skymiles-program-the-complete-guide

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