MKE-LGA-BOS, with the second segment clocking in at under 1 hour.

Award Redemption

I booked this entire trip with Delta miles, spending a total of 14,000 miles, which turned out to be a pretty high-value redemption.

For the detailed award pricing rules, see our article Introduction to Delta SkyMiles (2) – How to Find U.S. Domestic Award Flights and the Latest Award Promotions.

So where did my miles come from? Credit card welcome bonuses!

  • Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card — I earned 50,000 miles from this card at the time. It now has a historically high bonus that can be churned: 70,000+$50 (after spending $2,000 in 3 months)
  • Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card — I earned 70,000 miles from this card at the time. It also currently has a historically high bonus that can be churned: 70,000+$100 (after spending $2,000 in 3 months)

If you especially like Delta Air Lines miles or want to earn even more of them, you can also take a look at this card:

Delta Reserve® Credit Card 70,000 (after spending $4,000 in 3 months), and it also comes with unlimited Delta Sky Club access.

If you’re interested, you can also check out this article on our site: How to Get the Best AMEX Delta Welcome Offer Without a Lifetime Limit on the Official Site (No Plugin Needed).

Here’s an overview of this trip:

MKE - LGA

Flight: DL 3517

Aircraft: Embraer 175

Route map for this segment.

As you can see above, this flight departed very early. I got to the airport at around 5:30; here’s the MKE airport sign I photographed then.

I selected seat 4A for this flight. What I liked most about this aircraft was the 1-2 first class layout. If you’re traveling alone, the single seat by the window is great: you get the view and it’s easier to get up to use the restroom. That said, because this is a small and relatively old aircraft, the seat itself was still pretty bare-bones even in first class.

Here’s what the seat map looked like when I picked my seat.

And here’s what it looked like in person. You can see that the seats behind me, even in Delta Comfort+, felt much tighter. My oversized armchair-style seat definitely lived up to its reputation.

From my seat, I took a photo of the four rows of first class seats. There were still quite a few empty seats.

The paired seats on the other side.

One thing worth mentioning is that because the aircraft is small, the overhead bin above the single seats is tiny and can basically fit only a very small bag. Larger bags and carry-on suitcases have to go in the overhead bins above the paired seats, where the bins are normal-sized.

Maybe because it was so early, during the flight I only got this bag of nuts and two rounds of snack service where the choices were “cookies, chips, or candy.”

A photo I took shortly after takeoff of the Wisconsin shoreline.

After that, I dozed on and off until I reached my connection in New York. Out of boredom, I also connected to the onboard wifi and checked the flight path. The interface looked pretty dated.

Flying over New York and the welcome sign after arriving at the airport. The Big Apple really is busy.

Landed at the airport—welcome to New York, the Big Apple!

LGA - BOS

Flight: DL 6054

Aircraft: Embraer 175

During my short connection in New York, I only had time to grab a burger and call it a meal. After eating, I headed to the gate and boarding started almost immediately.

I picked seat 4A again. It was the same aircraft type as the previous segment, and the first class seat layout was exactly the same too, so I didn’t take more photos.

A Delta plane next to us before takeoff.

You can really tell how busy LGA is—every plane ahead of us was waiting for takeoff. I remember that right around this turn, I was so tired that I completely fell asleep. XD

By the time I woke up, I could already hear the announcement that we were about to land.

I’ll end with a nice photo I took at BU Bridge.