British Airways Avios devalued earlier this year, and even the cheapest awards within the U.S. now cost at least 7,500 miles. That has taken a lot of shine off Avios as a go-to option for short-haul flights. But there are still plenty of alternatives, and today OneMoreDay is introducing one of them: Delta miles and their own “short-haul sweet spot” potential.
As many readers know, Delta miles do not have a standard published award chart. That gives Delta a lot more flexibility in deciding how many miles each route will cost. Within the U.S. in particular, Delta miles can still surprise us: some routes price as low as 5,000 miles one-way, which is not far off from pre-devaluation Avios pricing. Even better, these great-value Delta awards depend on your origin and destination cities and can apply to both nonstop and connecting itineraries, unlike Avios, which are limited to nonstop flights. Domestic pricing may look random at first glance, but after a lot of digging, OneMoreDay has more or less reverse-engineered the chart. Let’s take a look.
[1/19 Update] Travelisfree offers a very convenient Delta miles calculator tool. Enter your home airport and it will show how many Delta miles are needed to fly to other airports within the U.S. For example, entering LAX shows the mileage required from Los Angeles to the following airports:
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Domestic U.S. Award Chart
First, we divide the continental U.S. into six regions:
- Southwest: Nevada, California, Utah, Colorado, Arizona.
- Northwest: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana.
- Mid-South: Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Missouri.
- Mid-North: Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Kentucky, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin.
- Southeast: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi.
- Northeast: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia.
If you are not sure where these states are, the map below shows each region clearly:
These six regions almost make you wonder whether Delta’s staff are NBA fans. Note that this regional setup does not include DC’s two airports, IAD and DCA (the two small white dots in the Northeast on the map). Meanwhile, nearby BWI is in Maryland, so it belongs to the Northeast region. Here is the award chart below. Keep in mind that it could change at any time, since it is not an official chart:
| Southwest | Northwest | Mid- South | Mid- North | Southeast | Northeast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest | 5500 | 7000 | 9000 | 11,000 | 11,500 | 12,500 |
| Northwest | 7000 | 7000 | 10,500 | 11,500 | 11,500 | 11,500 |
| Mid- South | 9000 | 10,500 | 12,500 | 12,500 | 10,000 | 12,500 |
| Mid-North | 11,000 | 11,500 | 12,500 | 10,000 | 10,000-12,500 | 12,500 |
| Southeast | 11,500 | 11,500 | 10,000 | 10,000-12,500 | 9500 | 12,500 |
| Northeast | 12,500 | 11,500 | 12,500 | 12,500 | 12,500 | 7500 |
Based on this chart, Delta miles are especially attractive for two groups of travelers: people living in the western U.S. (the Southwest and Northwest regions) and people living in the Northeast.
- Within the Southwest region, one-way awards like Los Angeles-Salt Lake City or San Francisco-Denver cost only 5,500 miles, and connections are allowed. Flights to the Northwest region cost just 7,000 miles one-way, and flights to Texas and Missouri cost only 9,000 miles.
- If you live in the Northwest, such as Seattle or Portland, flights within the western U.S. cost just 7,000 miles one-way (and Seattle also gets special promos to California and Alaska, which we will mention below). Even flights to Miami in the Southeast cost only 11,500 miles, which is still a much better deal than using AA, UA, or AS miles.
- Within the Northeast, one-way awards cost just 7,500 miles, which is still very reasonable. Compared with Avios, there is at least no nonstop-only restriction, making Delta a more practical redemption option for travelers living in smaller cities in the Northeast.
Promotional Exceptions
There are some exceptions to the chart above, because Delta occasionally runs promotions on certain routes. You can view Delta’s mileage redemption promotions on its website here. That page is not perfectly accurate either—for example, it lists LAX-SLC at 9,000 miles one-way, when in reality it costs only 5,500 miles. Many of the routes there match the chart above, so below we list only the routes that require fewer miles than the chart would suggest:
Region-to-Airport Promos
- Flights from the U.S. to Canada cost just 9,500 miles one-way! This applies only to major airports and does not fully apply to smaller U.S. airports. One especially notable example is YYJ near Vancouver: flights from YYJ to airports on the U.S. West Coast cost only 5,000 miles one-way, and flights to other major U.S. airports cost no more than 8,500 miles one-way. This used to be a limited-time promo, but after it expired, Delta apparently either forgot to remove it or decided it worked well enough to keep it. If you have the necessary visa, it is worth taking advantage of.
- From the Northwest region to Alaska, flights to ANC (Anchorage, the state’s largest city) or FAI (Fairbanks, a popular aurora destination) cost only 7,000 miles one-way. If you are flying from the Southwest region to either of these airports, it is only 9,000 miles one-way. OneMoreDay is genuinely jealous of readers on the West Coast, because trips to Alaska are such an amazing bargain :)
- [1/6 Update] From the Northwest region (Seattle, Portland, etc.) to Hawaii costs only 20,000 miles one-way:
Point-to-Point Promos (only routes under 10,000 miles one-way are listed)
- 5,000 miles one-way:
RDU-NYC/WAS/MCO/BWI
CHI-MSP/ATL
MKE-MSP
SJC-LAS/SLC
SEA-LAX/SFO/SJC/SMF/PHX/LAS/DEN/PSC/GEG
- 7,500 miles one-way:
ATL-MIA/FLL/TPA/JAX/PHL/DFW/AUS/MSY/DEN/IND/CAK
PHL-DFW/IAH
CHI-BOS/PBI
MIA-MSP/DTW/CHI
WAS-MCO/FLL
RDU-BOS/CHI/CLE
NYC-JAX/FLL/MIA/CHS
MCO-DFW/WAS/BWI/MCI/BUF/BDL/MKE
FLL-CHI/NYC/CVG/PHL/RIC
SAV-JFK/LGA/BOS
Just to clarify: PHL-DFW/IAH means flights from Philadelphia to either Dallas or Houston cost 7,500 miles. NYC refers to the New York City area’s three major airports (JFK/EWR/LGA), CHI refers to the two Chicago-area airports (ORD/MDW), and WAS refers to the two DC-area airports (DCA/IAD).
For the city pairs we listed, we only showed one direction. In fact, the reverse direction requires the same number of miles as well. For example, Atlanta-Chicago costs 5,000 miles one-way, and Chicago-Atlanta also costs 5,000 miles one-way. For space reasons, we only list one direction.
OneMoreDay would also like to emphasize here: if any blogger would like to quote this chart or the related idea, please clearly cite the source in a prominent place (UScreditcards101.com and OneMoreDay). Due to limited time and energy, this is still a very incomplete list, and there are certainly many omissions. We encourage everyone to test routes from your own city and add more data points in the comments of this post to help fellow readers.
Ways to Earn Delta Miles
- Delta miles are a transfer partner of SPG points. 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 DL miles. As with transfers to other mileage programs, the points do not transfer instantly. For people who do not travel for business, the main way to earn SPG points is through spending on the AMEX SPG credit card.
- DL miles also have an important North American partner: AMEX Membership Rewards, with a transfer ratio of 1000:1000. Based on testing, transfers post instantly. MR points mainly come from welcome bonuses or everyday spending on the Everyday Preferred credit card.
- AMEX has three Delta co-branded credit cards: the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card currently has a limited-time elevated welcome bonus (before February 1): earn 50,000 DL miles after spending $2,000 in the first three months. If you use the card for Delta purchases within the first three months, you can also get a $50 credit. The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year, so you can try holding it for a year and then decide when the second-year annual fee posts whether it is worth keeping. Here is our recommended application link. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card currently has a limited-time all-time-high welcome bonus (before February 1): earn 70,000 Delta miles + 10,000 MQMs (used for elite status qualification) after spending $3,000 in the first three months. If you use the card for Delta purchases within the first three months, you can also get a $100 credit. The $195 first-year annual fee is not waived. Each year, you can receive one companion ticket valid within the contiguous 48 U.S. states. Here is our recommended application link. The Delta Reserve® Credit Card offers 10,000 DL miles and 10,000 MQMs after your first purchase, with a $450 annual fee. It also offers unlimited Delta Sky Club access.
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