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Easy is good…

Points are personal. A great deal to one person will be an outrage to another, but there’s one thing everyone can agree on: points should be as easy to use as they are to earn. Delta is leading the pack in this regard.

Just months ago the airline announced a world first, where anyone could log on to their Delta booking online, and if the flight had space for an upgrade, there would be a proactive pop up window telling travelers exactly how many Skymiles they need to immediately upgrade. No crazy knowledge or phone calls required. In fact, we consider it idiot proof!

No one is saying these upgrade offers will always be good deals worth taking, but it’s now even easier to upgrade your Delta flight using Skymiles points, including via the Delta mobile app. Choice and ease are good..

Downloading your most frequented airlines mobile app is always a good idea. It’s usually the best way to find out about flight delays, cancellations or change options, and it’s also a fun way to get excited about a trip, thanks to the check in countdown! But now that Delta has incorporated its instant Skymiles upgrade functionality, it’s a must for Delta flyers.

Basically: you can open any of your bookings in the Delta app, and you’ll be presented with a take it or leave it style upgrade offer in the form of a banner. A certain amount of points, depending on a variety of factors, will be presented and if you want to upgrade, you tap and voila: upgrade. If you don’t, you just keep on living your life and carry on. Here’s how Delta describes the process, in their own words…

  1. Log in to the Fly Delta App
  2. Click “My Trips”
  3. Select the trip you would like to upgrade your seat
  4. Click “Seat Selection” to load the seat map
  5. Available premium seats will show within the seat map with a price of cash or miles
  6. Member can then select to confirm the seat of their choice and complete the purchase

These offers typically give you one cent per point of value for your Skymiles, so 100,000 points would cover $1000. Here’s how to realistically weigh upgrade offers. Whether or not these offers are a good deal is dependent on your ability to earn lots of points with ease, and how badly you need or want to burn points. For people who earn tons of points and can always earn lots more, these can be a fun way to help burn through the stash. For people who don’t earn points like it’s nothing, you might want to consider these other ways to cash in your Skymiles.

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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2 Comments

  1. You didn’t mention how this will effect upgrades. This will essentially replace medallion upgrades. Bad idea on Deltas part. You are the very first to write this up as a “good” change.

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