Extending of DL Sky Miles?

Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

Worldtraverler

On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:10:57 -0400, Cyrus Afzali
wrote:

On Sun, 9 Aug 2009 20:55:47 -0700 (PDT), Wordtraveler
wrote:

Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

In this instance, he might be better off seeing if he can redeem them
for some form of merchandise that he finds useful because even though
he could purchase miles to bring him up to a redeemable level, it
might be worth it.

Another useful thing to do could be to give them to another Skymiles
holder. This carries a fee of $30 plus a penny per mile.
Alternatively, you could also donate them for charitable use.

These days, it's often possible to extend *all* of your miles by doing
any amount of earning *or* redeeming (unlike the old days when
expirations were rolling based on when those particular miles were
used and there was no way to extend them, just to earn new ones).

At the end of last year, I extended my US Airways miles by purchasing
a $3.00 box of pens (which I needed anyway) from Staples online; they
even had free shipping. I think I earned double or triple miles for
it, but that wasn't really the point :-)

Check the airline FF program's website for "partners" or other special
offers; DL may have something similar, or perhaps setting up a rental
car or hotel stay with the right chain to earn DL miles might be
doable. The same place will show where else (hotel/cars) you can use
the miles, although the "value" is often very low in doing so.

On the other hand, if he doesn't *know* he'll earn enough miles later
with DL to get a free higher-value ticket etc, it might be better to
use them. Saving $100 in cash now is worth something compared to the
potential of spending $100 now and never getting to use the miles...

Josh

"Wordtraveler" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

Worldtraverler

He can extend the expiration in several ways...one simple one IMO

Register his CC with Skymiles Dining, find a local restaurant that
participates, have a nice meal, and that will extend his skymiles for 18
months or so. And it updates each time that he uses it.

On Aug 9, 9:55*pm, Wordtraveler wrote:
Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

Worldtraverler

Hi again

It looks like he misread the fine print and it is 12500 miles for a
one way ticket, not a round trip, as thought before. Also looks like
his airfare to Las Vegas on Allegiant and the price for a ticket went
up by $20 each way from $29 to $49. So now he is thinking of using the
miles to buy a ticket to Las Vegas, so that he gets in there earlier
in day, rather than 9:30 at night. He would pay for a ticket on
Allegiant to come home, as that flight does not leave until late
afternoon or early evening.

World Traveler

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year.

From the Delta.com website:

http://www.delta.com/help/faqs/skymiles_incentives/#q7

Do the miles in my SkyMiles Incentives account expire?
Yes. Electronic miles must be deposited into a valid SkyMiles account prior
to the expiration date (two years from purchase). Mileage paper certificates
must be deposited into a valid SkyMiles account prior to the expiration date
printed on the face of the certificates (two years from the date of issue).
Miles that expire prior to being awarded are automatically rendered invalid
and are not renewable, not exchangeable, not refundable, not extendable, and
not endorsable.

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year.

OOps, I posted the Skymiles "incentives: mileage rules. Here is the Normal
Skymiles expiry rule(s) from Delta.com website:

Account Deletion and Mileage Expiration
Accounts with no activity for 12 consecutive months after enrollment will be
deleted. A new SkyMiles number can be obtained by contacting Delta.

Currently, miles will not expire as long as you participate in one of the
following activities at least once every two years; mileage expires midnight
Eastern time (-5 GMT), 24 months from the date of the last activity:

a.. Earn miles for travel on a qualifying Delta, Delta Shuttle®, SkyTeam,
or other SkyMiles airline partner flights.
b.. Earn or redeem miles with one of the SkyMiles program partners
including hotels, car rentals, Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American
Express, international credit card partners, SkyMiles Dining & Hotels by
Rewards NetworkSM, MilePoint.com, mortgage lenders, CAP magazine
subscriptions, real estate, or telecommunications partners.
c.. Buy Miles here at delta.com or by calling the number on the back of
your SkyMiles card.
d.. Redeem miles on Delta, Delta Shuttle, a SkyTeam partner, or another
SkyMiles airline partner.
So have him find a "partner" and buy something like the "pen" suggestion

"Wordtraveler" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

Worldtraverler

you can extend the miles by means of ANY transaction on the account - a
flight, buy a few miles, use miles to buy a magazine subscription, etc.
Should add 18 months to the expiration.

On Aug 9, 9:55*pm, Wordtraveler wrote:
Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

Worldtraverler

Hi all

I can connivence my friend that he may be able to extend this mileage
by giving his FF number to rental car company. Also he just told me
that the DL shows that he must have 20000 miles in order to book a one
way ticket. I am not sure if that is a mistake or really gone up. In
any event their site shows me that October 18, 2009 is a low miles
date. Also if you look at their chart for awards it show low miles
date at 12500. I guess this cart is worthless or needs updating.

Worldtraveler

On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:55:50 -0700 (PDT), Wordtraveler
wrote:

On Aug 9, 9:55*pm, Wordtraveler wrote:
Hi all

I have a friend that that has somewhere near 15,000 miles with Delta
and just discovered that they expire at the end of this year. In any
event was planning a trip to Las Vegas and can 12,500 of these miles
for his ticket, but can get a cheap ticket on Allegiant. Just
wondering if there is an easy and cheap way to extend the life of
these miles. If not I am guessing he will look to use them for this
Las Vegas trip, but when he can get a ticket for just $100 of his
money I can not see this as good use of these miles. Also can you use
these miles for other things such, as hotels or rental cars?

Worldtraverler

Hi all

I can connivence my friend that he may be able to extend this mileage
by giving his FF number to rental car company. Also he just told me
that the DL shows that he must have 20000 miles in order to book a one
way ticket. I am not sure if that is a mistake or really gone up. In
any event their site shows me that October 18, 2009 is a low miles
date. Also if you look at their chart for awards it show low miles
date at 12500. I guess this cart is worthless or needs updating.

Worldtraveler

It may depend on the particular flight. Those charts are a guide but
don't seem particularly accurate.
But there are many ways to extend the miles.

Hi all

I can connivence my friend that he may be able to extend this mileage
by giving his FF number to rental car company. Also he just told me
that the DL shows that he must have 20000 miles in order to book a one
way ticket. I am not sure if that is a mistake or really gone up. In
any event their site shows me that October 18, 2009 is a low miles
date. Also if you look at their chart for awards it show low miles
date at 12500. I guess this cart is worthless or needs updating.

Worldtraveler

It may depend on the particular flight. Those charts are a guide but
don't seem particularly accurate.
But there are many ways to extend the miles.


One thing to watch out for is that in many cases, even though the airline will
show you the award rates for one-way trips, you cannot actually book a one-way
award trip. You have to book a return leg, so really the minimum is usually
25000 miles. This was certainly the case on NWA, and I am pretty sure but not
100% that it is the same on Delta. The reason they show you the one-way rate
is that it is possible to book one direction at one rate, and the return at a
different rate.

Kevin Rhodes
Westbrook, Maine
NWA Gold Elite Worldperks member for many years, still coming to grips with
the Delta world...