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Update 8/20/15: Delta now advertises this fare sale and says the deals must be booked by tomorrow August 21, 2015.

Screen Shot 2015-08-20 at 3.45.16 PM

This page also lists some of the fare sale city pairs, though definitely not all.

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Yesterday, Delta started selling awards to Europe for 21,000 miles each way in economy and 43,500 miles each way in Business Class. These are huge discounts off the “normal” price of 30,000 miles each way in economy and 62,500 miles each way in Business Class. (Though “normal” is tough to say since Delta deleted its award charts.)

At the time, the awards were only open to Delta elites and credit card holders. Now these discounted awards are bookable by everyone.

I did a lot of searching this morning, and I think I’ve sussed out the rules for these discounted awards to Europe.

  • Who can book the awards?
  • Where can you book from?
  • Where can you book to?
  • Which partners can be booked at discounted rates?
  • What dates are discounted?

Now Open to Everyone

Yesterday Delta said that elites and credit card holders were getting a one day pre-sale. That pre-sale has ended, and everyone can access the discounted awards in this post without even signing in to delta.com.

Discounted Region

The only discounted awards I see are to Europe. It would be nice if other regions were included in this deal! Let’s see if Delta adds other regions.

Discounted Routes & Partners

Yesterday, screen shots of discounted partner awards (flying KLM and Virgin Atlantic) surfaced. I cannot recreate those today. In fact, I found no discounted partner awards in my many searches. Please leave a comment if you can find a discounted partner award today. Until we find a discounted partner route today, it looks like the sale is for Delta-operated flights only.

Not all Delta flights/routes can be booked for the discounted prices. I’ll give a lot of examples of discounted routes in this post, but let me first give some routes on which I found no discounts:

  • New York to Madrid
  • Atlanta to Madrid
  • New York to Rome
  • New York to Nice, France
  • New York to Barcelona
  • Los Angeles to London

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.47.33 AMScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.47.36 AM

The warm-weather lover in me notes that, other than Los Angeles to London, those destinations are in Southern Europe, which would be the most pleasant place to visit during this Fall and Winter sale.

If the route you want to fly isn’t mentioned in the excluded or included section, a search will quickly reveal if it has discounted award space.

Let us know the excluded/included routes you find in the comments.

Discounted Dates

Across all the routes I searched, the discounted awards all fall between October 20, 2015 and February 29, 2016.

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.14.08 AMScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.16.09 AM

Let me know if you see discounted awards outside those dates in the comments.

Discounted Prices

If you fly all Delta flights during the discounted dates on included routes, you can get the following award prices:

  • From the Eastern and Central time zones plus Alaska to Europe for 21,000 SkyMiles each way in economy
  • From the Eastern and Central time zones plus Alaska to Europe for 43,500 SkyMiles each way in Business Class
  • From the Mountain and Pacific time zones plus Hawaii to Europe for 24,000 SkyMiles each way in economy
  • From the Mountain and Pacific time zones plus Hawaii to Europe for 50,000 SkyMiles each way in Business Class

I am not 100% sure that the break down is by time zone, but all the examples I found fit that pattern. If you find a discount that doesn’t fit that pattern, leave it in the comments, and maybe we can improve our understanding of the pricing.

Other Notes On Pricing

These awards are available one way. Roundtrip awards cost double. Mixing a discounted award with a partner award leads to the price you would expect. For instance, here is New York to Paris roundtrip in Business Class. One way is at the discounted price on Delta flights (43.5k) and the other is on a partner (62.5k). The total price is the sum: 106k.

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 12.15.47 PM

Delta awards originating in Europe, whether one way or roundtrip, include fuel surcharges. Here is Paris to New York for 43,500 SkyMiles + $335 in Business Class.

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 12.04.11 PM

Examples

Here are the screenshots from which I drew the above conclusions.

Atlanta to Amsterdam for 21k/43.5k

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.14.01 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.16.47 AM

JFK to London for 21k/43.5kScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.17.14 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.19.03 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.19.10 AMScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.20.03 AM

Detroit to London for 21k/43.5kScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.25.05 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.25.10 AM

Charlottesville, Virginia to London for 21k/43.5kScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.25.35 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.25.39 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.26.06 AM

Los Angeles to London for 30k/62.5k

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.26.50 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.26.54 AM

Minneapolis to London for 21k/43.5kScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.27.12 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.27.17 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.27.56 AMSalt Lake City to London for 24k/50k

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.29.16 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.29.37 AM

Houston and Dallas to London for 21k/43.5kScreen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.30.40 AM

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.30.45 AM

 

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