Delta Sky Miles questions

Anonymous · ‎04-30-2008

Anyone know how long it takes before your purchases reflect mileage earned Delta web site?

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2008

Outtadebt wrote:

Anyone know how long it takes before your purchases reflect mileage earned Delta web site?

All the miles earned from purchases on one statement appear at the same time, within 2-3 days of the statement date.

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2008

Thanks, I'm just anxious to see those miles rack up. If I understand it correctly they give double for gas purchases and home improvement stores like Home Depot. Since I am a landscape contractor I plan to use the heck out of this to get the mileage.

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2008

Outtadebt wrote:

Thanks, I'm just anxious to see those miles rack up. If I understand it correctly they give double for gas purchases and home improvement stores like Home Depot. Since I am a landscape contractor I plan to use the heck out of this to get the mileage.

Yep, double miles for gas stations, supermarkets, drug stores, hardware and home improvement stores, cell phone bills, and the USPS.

Of course, how fast the miles add up depends on how much you push through the card and on what kinds of expenses. I got my card in November and currently have around 60K Skymiles.

If you spend $15K on the card by Dec 31 each year, you get 5K bonus miles, too. Then another 5K bonus if you bring that up to $25K in spending.

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2008

I spend about 15k mo just at Home Depot and about $5k in gas. I've also got 8 cell phones but that's only about $300 month. 60k is awesome. What will that get you? I still haven't determined the true value of a "sky mile."

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2008

Outtadebt wrote:

I spend about 15k mo just at Home Depot and about $5k in gas. I've also got 8 cell phones but that's only about $300 month. 60k is awesome. What will that get you? I still haven't determined the true value of a "sky mile."

You can use Skymiles in a few ways.

10K Skymiles will get you $100 off a flight. Using them this way, they're worth $0.01 each, which is a straight 1% reward (up to 2% depending on how many double Skymiles purchases you made).

25K Skymiles will get you a roundtrip domestic flight, but with lots of restrictions and blackouts.

50K Skymiles will get you a roundtrip domestic flight on your own schedule. I've actually found that flights I take most often run around 30K-47K Skymiles, depending on the schedule.

10K Skymiles can also get you an upgrade from coach to first class, as long as there are first-class seats available and FFs with "status" haven't snatched them up.

haulingthescoreup · ‎05-01-2008

@Anonymous wrote:

You can use Skymiles in a few ways.

10K Skymiles will get you $100 off a flight. Using them this way, they're worth $0.01 each, which is a straight 1% reward (up to 2% depending on how many double Skymiles purchases you made).

25K Skymiles will get you a roundtrip domestic flight, but with lots of restrictions and blackouts.

50K Skymiles will get you a roundtrip domestic flight on your own schedule. I've actually found that flights I take most often run around 30K-47K Skymiles, depending on the schedule.

10K Skymiles can also get you an upgrade from coach to first class, as long as there are first-class seats available and FFs with "status" haven't snatched them up.

cheddar, you're one of the few people who have really figured out how to work this card, instead of using it as a stepping-stone for something perceived as better. Have you ever investigated the Delta Plat? What does it offer beyond the Delta Gold? Does it seem worth the increased fee to you?

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2008

haulingthescoreup wrote:

cheddar, you're one of the few people who have really figured out how to work this card, instead of using it as a stepping-stone for something perceived as better. Have you ever investigated the Delta Plat? What does it offer beyond the Delta Gold? Does it seem worth the increased fee to you?

As far as I could tell, the Plat never seemed worth it to me, and honestly I think the Gold is only barely worth it, as well. The additional benefits with the Plat are:

1) Some number of free Medallion Qualification Miles (10K I think, but don't quote me on that). I don't have much use for these. You don't get to redeem these miles for anything; their only use is to get you one step closer to qualifying for Medallion status, which gets you priority on upgrades and so on.

2) Free annual domestic coach companion ticket, with purchase of full-fare coach ticket. This also doesn't do much for me, since the whole reason I like to accumulate Skymiles is because I don't want to travel coach in the first place.

Downsides to the Plat:

1) AF is $50 more.

2) AF is NOT waived the first year like it is with the Gold.

Now, to make things even more confusing, they've come out with this brand new Delta Reserve credit card, which is like a hybrid of the Delta Skymiles credit card and the Platinum charge card. Like the Platinum charge card it comes with a $450 AF, Delta Crown Room Club access, and concierge service, but like the Delta Skymiles card it comes with all the same double-Skymiles purchase categories and the ability to revolve a balance.

The bonus Skymiles for annual spending don't kick in until you reach $30K on the Delta Reserve card, as opposed to $15K on the Gold Skymiles CC. Like the Platinum Skymiles card it comes with an annual companion ticket, but this one is for first class instead of coach, with the caveat that it can only be used aongside a first class ticket purchased at full fare. (Who does that?)

Not worth it, IMO. Why pay a $450 AF and be limited to Delta when I can pay the same AF for a Platinum charge card and then convert my MR points into FF miles for just about any airline?

Sorry you asked, HTSU?

Message Edited by cheddar on 05-01-2008 07:29 PM

haulingthescoreup · ‎05-02-2008

@Anonymous wrote:

Sorry you asked, HTSU?

No, not at all! I seem to be able to analyze and anticipate all the quirks of various credit cards, except for the American Express stable, which perpetually leaves me with the question, "Wait, what?"

I figured you had already done the work for me on these!

Still looking more and more like Blue Sky for me, depending on what happens with the Delta-Northworst merger, the flights from my local airport, and how the Delta SkyMiles card works post-merger. Thanks!

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

Anonymous · ‎05-02-2008

haulingthescoreup wrote:

I figured you had already done the work for me on these!

Ha! You know me too well.

haulingthescoreup wrote:

Still looking more and more like Blue Sky for me, ...

As I've posted before, I love the concept of the Blue Sky card. I'm struggling at the moment with the decision between hassle-free, flexible travel rewards with no AF (on the Blue Sky) vs. the ability to accumulate miles for upgrades (on the Delta). Decisions, decisions....

haulingthescoreup wrote:

...depending on what happens with the Delta-Northworst merger, the flights from my local airport, and how the Delta SkyMiles card works post-merger. Thanks!

Yes, that is the wild card, isn't it? I'm also anxious to see how this all plays out.