As a Delta SkyMiles award member, you can reserve a variety of different types of seats, ranging from economy up to business elite. The amount of miles to redeem for a one-way domestic ticket can be as low as 12,500 for an economy seat or as high as 45,000 miles. The amount of miles needed to redeem depends on your destination, with Hawaii and Alaska being on the higher end, and the time of year you travel. Premium and Business Elite tickets require more miles, ranging from 22,500 to 95,000. International travel can be redeemed for as few as 17,500 miles for Central America to as high as 185,000 miles for travel to the southwest Pacific region.
Members of the Delta SkyMiles program that have the Delta Gold or Platinum credit cards don't have to wait until they have enough miles to pay for an entire flight. These members can use 10,000 miles for the first $100 toward the cost of their ticket and then pay in increments of 5,000 miles for every $50 of the cost of the ticket after that. This option is only available for tickets above $100 one-way in cost. For tickets that are less than $100, only a full payment of 25,000 miles is accepted to cover the cost.
If you want a subscription to your favorite magazine, save some money and pay for it with your Delta SkyMiles. Annual subscriptions for some magazines, such as Details and Essence, can be redeemed for as low as 500 SkyMiles. Variety Magazine, with its 50 issues delivered annually, is the most expensive in terms of SkyMiles, requiring 5,500 to be redeemed for a subscription.
You can redeem your Delta SkyMiles for a variety of different gifts in the SkyMiles Marketplace. One of those items is food. For example, 24 hamburgers from Omaha Steaks will cost you 13,000 miles, while a 6-pound prime rib roast will cost you 33,000 miles. If you want something for your sweet tooth, options such as Godiva chocolate collections start as low as 13,200 miles.
If you don't have enough SkyMiles for some of these other redemption offers, you can try to get a SkyMiles bargain by visiting the SkyMiles auction redemption option on Delta's website. Compete with other travelers by bidding on items that you want, making a bid up to the maximum number of miles that you have in your SkyMiles account. You might get lucky and get an item for much less than the redemption amounts on the SkyMiles website.
