This certificate is valid for qualifying oneway travel on flights operated by delta air lines and certain delta connection operated flights in markets where medallion complimentary upgrades are available, including first class and the domestic delta one experience, for the named skymiles certificate owner or a travel companion who is a skymiles member pursuant to the terms and conditions of this offer. If you would prefer to use gift cards, or get one for someone else, theres the option to do that. Skymiles members can now use the fly delta app to purchase a seat upgrade using miles instead of cash. In a nutshell, muas allowed you to use miles to upgrade on most deltaoperated flights and on certain virgin atlanticoperated, air franceklmoperated and aeromexicooperated flights. Deltas previous way of upgrading with miles was too complicated, so this presents a really easy way to upgrade.
If you wanted first class on the way there, you could redeem 55,000 skymiles for it, and then book 12,500 miles in the main cabin on the return leg. Skymiles upgrade to first class with delta vacations. All the ways to upgrade no matter your departure or destination, skymiles offers ways to make the journey enjoyable with different ways to upgrade your ticket beyond using money. To put things in perspective, skymiles domestic coach awards start at 25,000 miles roundtrip, so youd be using more than that just to upgrade a oneway flight to first class.
Delta now lets you upgrade seats with skymiles online. Its ironic, then, that no kind of upgrade elite status, upgrade instruments, or miles is possible if you purchase one of deltas basic economy fares in the e fare class. These miles can be redeemed for flights on delta, continental and northwest airlines. Best ways to book delta one using points stepbystep. The sameday standby upgrade option allows you to upgrade your flight for a small fee, provided space is available and your ticket is eligible. In order to use delta skymiles, you must book your flight through the delta air lines website or with a delta ticket agent.
A round trip jfk to atl will cost 25,000 miles in the main cabin or 92,500 miles for first class. Business travelers may find this useful, if for instance their company only allows the purchase of. Delta offers many options for upgrades, including upgrading with miles, complimentary and instant upgrades for medallion elite members, companion upgrades, and the ability to purchase an upgrade on the day of departure. If an upgrade is available, you will see an option to select seats for money or miles. If youre referring to mileage plus miles which is uniteds program, the second link below indicates that the upgrade in each direction for discounted economy tickets would cost. A point me to the plane reader has successfully confirmed a ticket, booked yesterday, in china easterns private first class suites, using 170,000 skymiles. Once selected, use miles to upgrade all passengers in your reservation. Delta skymiles members wanting a little extra leg room or the premium delta. How delta is making it easier to upgrade using miles. Delta, internally, does still use the now hidden delta award charts. Previously, you had to call customer service to upgrade using skymiles to get a better seat or even move to a premium cabin. Thanks to the powerful delta website, you can also search and book award travel in china southern online.
Delta is very flexible when it comes to nonstandard itineraries. Its always been possible to pay to upgrade to first class or comfort plus when flying delta even when the prices are exorbitant. You will be spending 42,500 extra, but 67,000 skymiles is still less than 92,500. Before getting into the details, ill give you some general information about delta s frequent flyer program called skymiles, which is a prerequisite for most types of upgrades. It is permissible to book an award trip with a single multiday stopover at a skyteam hub such as new york or paris. How delta is making it easier to upgrade using your miles delta. It appears that delta has quietly increased their mileage upgrade prices for skymiles members looking to upgrade to the first or business class cabin. Delta now allows seat upgrades with skymiles, but its a. Delta how to upgrade to first or business class using miles. Pick an available seat in the seat map and complete your purchase. Delta also has internally published the new higher priced skymiles award upgrade charts but did not share them with us when they emailed about the skymiles program changes. On certain flights, delta flyers can upgrade from regular economy to premium economy, all the way to the business class.
If youre a frequent traveler on delta or its partner airlines, and you have a skymiles account thats built up enough miles, you can upgrade your ticket to one class higher. Delta skymiles removes restrictions on using upgrade. Using miles to upgrade your seat can be a moneysaving strategy if you prefer to fly firstclass with delta airlines. Deltas hidden internal skymiles business class point. Delta partners with so many chinese airlines to get you to asia region for 85,000 skymiles in business class each way. These are no longer available on domestic routes and have been replaced with using miles for fcm buyups at slightly over 1 cpm see the fcm thread important details. Delta now allows seat upgrades with skymiles, but its a bad deal.
Originally created in 1981 as the delta air lines frequent flyer program, this program has been rewarding loyal delta air lines passengers for over 30 years, offering complimentary miles for every eligible transaction that. Delta rolls out new mileage upgrade for skymiles members. Now that you know the best ways to book delta one, lets check out some of our favorite flights to book. On the international front, delta is making s, h, q and k fares eligible for mileage upgrades, but some of these amounts are even more absurd. You can connect to toronto on saver delta award seats, but the delta search engine will not show you connection options.
Delta has rolled out a new feature on their website, where skymiles can now upgrade their tickets using skymiles online. All skymiles members can use miles to upgrade during and after booking on delta. Fly china southern business class to asia for 85,000 skymiles each way you probably start seeing the patterns here. The points guy talks about how to use delta skymiles for upgrades and when it is a good deal. How to book international first class with delta skymiles point. How delta is making it easier to upgrade using your miles. The upgrades are booked in ro inventory, are subject to availability and are valid with most published fares on delta air lines dl and deltadesignated codeshare flights with ro inventory. Delta eliminates upgrade award chart for flights in. You can now easily redeem delta miles to upgrade one mile at. Frugal travelers can also upgrade their flights using points and miles as well. Click on the my trips tab on the side of your skymiles page. Delta charges a lot of miles for the privilege of an upgrade, often almost as much as an award ticket on its own. One person who used to be a frequent flier of delta air lines in the days when the top tier of elite level status was called royal medallion prior to the change in name of the frequent flier loyalty program to skymiles recalled the days where she would pay to upgrade to the premium class cabin.
Heres an example of what that looks like for a flight later this week from orlando to new yorklaguardia. Delta skymiles has just announced their latest policy change. We now know that it is possible to book first class china eastern awards using skymiles. Skymiles is the official frequent flyer program of delta air lines, one of the largest airlines, and according to forbes magazine, the most admired airline in the world. Eligible connections do not exceed 4 hours for domestic routes or 24. Complimentary upgrades to first class will not earn additional mqds or mqms. Delta has started allowing flyers to use their skymiles to upgrade to comfort plus or first class seats. Delta air lines upgrades everything you need to know. How to use skymiles to upgrade your delta flights the.
The only delta skymiles award chart travel is free. How to upgrade to businessfirst class on delta air lines. The airline plans to start selling checked baggage fees in skymiles. And while it may be tempting to use miles rather than cash to get a bigger seat upfront, its a poor use of your skymiles. Eligible tickets are those ticket booked in kclass or higher. And even if you could pull it off it wasnt always a great deal since youd have to buy a more expensive fare class to be eligible for the best upgrade award prices in the first place. The international delta skymiles skyteam award chart click to expand.
How to book international first class with delta skymiles. No more free travel using skymiles from delta air lines in. Deltas relatively new upgrade with miles program allows you to confirm an upgrade from coach to first class by using miles to cover the difference between the prices of the two classes of service. With muas gone, youll be spending many more skymiles to end up in a delta one suite. You get perks like main cabin 1 priority boarding and a free checked bag. Delta eliminates mileage upgrade awards the points guy. How to redeem delta skymiles rewards for the most valuable. Its not just for first class or business class either main cabin passengers can upgrade to comfort plus or first class.
Below, we highlight some of our favorite delta cobranded. My take on this we know that delta does everything in their power to sell first class, rather than offer complimentary upgrades. But delta started rolling out the ability to upgrade seats online using skymiles on friday delta ceo ed bastian hinted at this development a few months ago during a quarterly earnings call. Skymiles international first class award ticketed and confirmed. While delta currently sells just 57 percent of its firstand businessclass cabins, the company said in december that it will boost the figure to 70 percent by 2018. Delta does not offer upgrades at the gate on international routes. Upgrading with delta and skymiles ive found it ridiculously annoying trying to upgrade with miles. But ive tried at least 10 times to use miles and upgrade on atlwest coast flights with no luck. On friday, delta started allowing flyers to upgrade to first class on certain. Delta skymiles members wanting a little extra leg room or the premium delta experience can now purchase that upgrade using miles instead of cash on after booking their ticket. First find award seats on jet airways using deltas search engine. Upgrading with delta and skymiles flyertalk forums.
Delta is an industry leader in offering this simple selfservice option via its website, with the same functionality coming to its awardwinning fly delta app. Skymiles is the name of the delta frequent flier program and the miles earned through that program those miles cannot be used to upgrade flights on united. In the meantime, enjoy the newly updated delta award chart. Delta to cut first class prices after making skymiles. Yes, first class purchases before and after ticketing will earn medallion qualification dollars mqds, medallion qualification miles mqms and applicable mileage accruals when a skymiles number is included in the purchase transaction. In this post, ill share how to upgrade to first class or business class using miles, upgrade certificates or money on delta airlines and its partners. Delta skymiles mileage upgrade award prices increasing. Delta eliminates their upgrade award chart in the past, finding and booking a delta mileage upgrade award wasnt an easy process. If you arent able to upgrade your seat using miles on, delta reservations may be able to help you upgrade. However, delta flights still vary a bit, even on some international routes.
Delta upgrade awards same day paid standby upgrades. Starting january 22, 2018, upgrade certificates, which are available exclusively for. Skymiles are not just useable for paying for flights. Before getting into the details, ill give you some general information about deltas frequent flyer program called skymiles, which is a prerequisite for most types of upgrades.
While it does take a considerable amount of time to accumulate enough miles to redeem, it is relatively easy to redeem delta skymiles. Check on the class of your flight to determine if it is possible. Despite not having an award chart, skyteam flights with delta miles are very consistent. As delta no longer published their award or mileage upgrade charts online, the only way you can find the prices is by calling their reservations team. There are many ways to earn delta skymiles, including flying delta or one of its skyteam partners, using a cobranded delta credit card, spending with skymiles partners like airbnb and hertz, shopping, dining and more for example, when you fly one of deltas partners like aeromexico, air france or hawaiian airlines, you can credit your flight to your delta account. Delta has combined business class and first class into a single cabin they. Flyertalk has now leaked those charts in a wiki above the official company post.
In tpgtv, travel expert and founder of brian kelly showcases the. If you are a skymiles member but dont have elite status, you can upgrade using the options below for nonmembers, as well as using miles to buy an upgrade see skymiles and medallion upgrades below. How to upgrade delta flights with miles comparecards. The only way to use mileage to upgrade to business elite is to purchase a ticket in fare class b, m, or y, and there must be available seat inventory to then upgrade to biz elite for 25,000 miles each way. Delta skymiles is a program for members to accumulate miles through flights, partner hotel stays and some credit card purchases. My favorite alltime trips include yangon, myanmar, chiang mai, thailand. Redeem your miles to reduce the cost of delta tickets on. Use the delta air lines skymiles calculator to determine how many miles and medallion qualifying miles, medallion qualifying dollars, and medallion qualifying segments for elite status you will earn on your next flight with delta or a partner airline. If your reservation is eligible, youll see the option to upgrade with miles in your trip summary before you complete your purchase. Wouldnt it be great to fly in korean air first class using delta skymiles. How many skymiles do you need to upgrade to business or. You can now easily redeem delta miles to upgrade one. This thread is about mileage upgrade awards, which are sky miles upgrades that upgrade your coach seat to first class, delta one or premium select.
Plus, all medallion members are eligible for complimentary upgrades, with diamond and platinum medallion members also having access to upgrade certificates through exclusive choice benefits. The new app functionality comes on the heels of overwhelmingly positive customer feedback to delta launching the postpurchase upgrade payment option on in december since launching on, more than 60,000 members have chosen to. Systemwide upgrade certificates upgrades using mileage. First, both paid cash fares and award tickets booked with skymiles are. The ultimate guide to delta air lines upgrade rules.