Finally found a use for Delta’s Sky Pesos

ByGrace Alexander

I fly Delta a lot and take advantage of their promos, but redeeming sky miles for airfare requires a PhD in patience and determination.  The last time  I used Sky Miles it was to get 2 tickets from ATL-DUB in coach for 90,000/ticket.  Since I really only take 1 international vacation per year and I travel enough for work to get oodles of miles on various carriers I decided to see what the SkyMiles Marketplace had.

a black television screen with a stand
from Amazon.com

DH wants a mac mini to replace his computer that was stolen in the breakin, but the only program I’m in that allows those for points is Citi’s Thank You Points.  I don’t keep too many TYPs on hand so I didn’t have the 115,000 it requires nor does TYP allow redemption for Amazon gift cards anymore (SPG is the only program I have seen that still has them).  Since we are changing from satellite back to cable we can finally easily use more than 1 TV so that is what I looked for.  Delta had many HDTVs in their marketplace.  I decided to pretty much deplete my balance and get the biggest TV I could afford.  Why?  Well because sometimes you just have more points than money.  Skymiles have little value to me compared to United miles so I will not use United miles to buy an iMac.  Using Skymiles to purchase a TV is fine with me.

I used ~236,000 miles for a TV that retails for $1000.  This isn’t really a great redemption, but when my choices are to sit on my pile of sky miles and grow it 250,000 per year or actually get something I chose actually get something.

My point is that it isn’t about always getting the most CPM, but about using miles for something that is worthwhile for *YOU*.

4 Comments

  1. I this year have redeemed 6 USA-SCANDINAVIA biz class tickets all at the lowest level of 100k each. You have to be willing to call day after day and do some work yourself to get the seats:

    http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/1029634-definitive-how-search-low-tier-business-awards.html

    Sometimes I fly out of my local airport sometimes have to drive 2 hrs to ORD to get the seats I want.

    One trip I have to overnight at CDG (using Starwood points 13k and staying club level CDG Sheraton ) and will enjoy a quick trip into Paris and have dinner overlooking the tower at night. Sweet!

    Don’t get me wrong, the Delta site is a mess. So you call call call call call until you get what you want!

  2. > My point is that it isn’t about always getting the most CPM, but about using miles for something that is worthwhile for *YOU*.

    I agree, but 236,000 miles?? Grace! 😉

  3. You can use skymiles for giftcards to macys etc. Like 1 cpm. Also, they are pretty good for rental cars. Sometimes 2 cpm.

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