SALE: Delta Discounting Domestic Economy Award Travel

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Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.

Delta domestic economy and Delta Comfort+ award tickets are on sale for as little as 5,500 miles one way.

• Book by June 7, 2016
• Travel August 23 – November 16, 2016 (except September 1 – 8)
• Fly one of 8,000 routes on sale (although only a few dozen are listed)

I searched for Columbus to Los Angeles and found the sale price widely available in economy and Comfort+; interestingly the sale price was available on nonstop and connecting routes.

(Also interestingly, on connecting routes that are partly on planes without Comfort+, that is made clear on the results page.)

On the Columbus to Los Angeles route this represents a 1,500 discount in economy over the price before Delta deleted its award charts. Comfort+ is new since the deleted award charts, so I don’t know how much of a discount this is.

By the way, Comfort+ is economy with a little extra legroom and a few more perks.

Is This Delta Sale a Good Deal?

I value Delta miles at 1.3 cents each, far below its competitors because Delta award space isn’t great, its partners aren’t as useful as most programs’, and it collects fuel surcharges on many awards.

At such a low valuation, domestic economy awards can be a good use of miles, but before booking, look up the price of the cash flight. Remember that 11,000 mile award from Columbus to LAX? That same cash flight is $123.

That means you’d only get about 1.1 cents of value for your 11,000 SkyMiles if you booked the award. No thanks. I’d book this as a cash ticket. (Or better yet with the $250 Air Travel Credit on my Citi Prestige.)

Bottom Line

Delta is offering discounted economy and Comfort+ awards on 8,000+ domestic routes. Book by June 7 and fly late summer and early fall.