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If you want to find only the cheapest award seats available with your Delta SkyMiles, do not search Delta.com. Instead, you want to use the websites of any of their partners. The logic behind this is that Delta only allows partners to book an award seat if it is available at the lowest price. So use a partner site to search, but then call or use Delta.com to book the desired flights.

The reason behind this is that Delta.com will show you every flight that you can book with SkyMiles even if it isn’t the cheapest. It’ll show you both the inexpensive flights and the really expensive ones. If your travel dates and destination are flexible, using a partners site will ensure you’ll only pay the lowest amount of SkyMiles possible when it comes time to book.

Delta used to publish their award charts on how many miles it would cost to fly a specific flight and route, but earlier this year they ripped them from their website. So how do you know if you’re using the least amount of miles possible for a specific flight?

Fortunately, we can at least still reference some screenshots that were captured by Dan’s Deals that show us what awards should price (at least when the data was captured), but we know that only the lowest level awards are available to partners, so that is our guide to find the cheapest seats.

My suggestion is to use AlaskaAir.com for flights within the U.S. and Canada and AirFrance.com otherwise. Below are some tips to keep in mind when using either site. Remember, neither AlaskaAir.com or AirFrance.com will display every Delta flight, only the flights that Delta is willing to sell (using miles) at the lowest price. If you don’t mind paying a premium for specific flights, you can complete all your searches at Delta’s website.

When using AlaskaAir.com:

• If a Delta flight shows up, it is available at the lowest rate with SkyMiles (remember, only the lowest priced award flights will show up on AlaskaAir.com for Delta).
• If an Alaska flight prices at 12,500 miles (one-way), you can redeem SkyMiles to book it with Delta. Note: Alaska Airlines is also a partner with American Airlines and their flights will also show up at AlaskaAir.com, but you cannot redeem Delta SkyMiles for flights on American Airlines.
• If an Alaska flight to Hawaii prices at 20,000 miles (one-way), you can redeem SkyMiles to book it with Delta.

When using AirFrance.com:

• Flights on Alaska Airlines will not be shown. While Alaska Airlines is a partner of Delta, it is not a partner of Air France.
• If any Delta flight is displayed at AirFrance.com, you can book it at Delta.com and know you’ll pay the fewest amount of SkyMiles possible for that flight.
• If you find flights operated by other members of SkyTeam in the search results, you can book them with Delta using the least amount of SkyMiles possible.

The reason partner sites are good place to search is that, in general, you can rely on this principle: If a flight of a partner is displayed on a partner’s website, it is bookable by all partners of the partner operating the flight. While that’s a bit of a tongue twister, as a general rule if an airline offers up a seat for a partner to book with miles, that seat is available to all of its partners to book using their miles. Using our example of searching for Delta flights on AirFrance.com: if a Delta flights shows up on AirFrance.com, it is bookable by all of Delta’s partners.

You can see the same flights on Delta’s website. If you want to stick with searching for awards at Delta.com, make sure when you’re looking to book a ticket using the least amount of miles you know how to find it. Here’s how:

• When picking flights, look for a small letter above the price in miles — you want that to be a single letter: R, O or N, which represent first, business and economy class. If a single letter is represented, it is the least expensive price for that flight.

• If a trip has multiple letters represented, such as NL or RD, there is a premium being charged.
• If a flight has just a single letter (R, O or N), those flights are available to be booked by any Delta partner.

Here are the results of a search of AlaskaAir.com and AirFrance.com for a one-way flight originating in Savannah, Georgia going to Boston, Massachusetts. Note: Alaska doesn’t allow one-way award tickets booked on Delta at half the price; 25,000 miles is the lowest you’ll see on AlaskaAir.com, but that means it is the least expensive flight available.

You can see that while Delta.com will sell you a ticket for first class on the earliest flight displayed (departing Savannah at 5:30 a.m.), you cannot purchase that flight using Alaska miles. These flights are not available at the lowest pricing level, which means partners cannot book them.

You can see the same thing with Air France as well. Don’t be concerned with the price Air France charges, as that is what they charge their members to book the flight, and the price you’ll pay with Delta will only be 25,000 miles. Air France and Delta charge their members different prices for the same product  (knowing which mile to use where is a topic for another post — here we simply want to focus on identifying the Delta flights that’ll cost the least amount of miles).

The example we’ve gone through here is a simple domestic flight, but the same rules apply for international travel as well. Find a Delta flight on a partner’s website and you can be assured that when you go to book it with Delta, it’ll be the least expensive flight.

So, how do you search for Delta flights? How do you know you’re buying that ticket using the least amount of SkyMiles?

[Image via Getty]

Howie Rappaport As a kid travel meant hopping in the family station wagon and spending a day at the park or the beach. Everyone got older and longer trips were possible; yes that meant driving from New York to Orlando...
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Earn 40,000 bonus miles and 10,000 MQMs after you spend $3,000 in purchases with your new Card in the first 3 months.† Earn 15,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 15,000 bonus miles after you reach $30,000 in eligible purchases on your Card in the calendar year. Earn 2 Miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta. Earn 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on purchases. Settle into your seat sooner with Priority Boarding and enjoy 20% savings on eligible in-flight purchases in the form of a statement credit. Pay no foreign transaction fees when you spend overseas.‡ Complimentary Delta Sky Club® Access.‡ Terms and limitations apply See Rates & Fees Breakdown Earn (pt.) Spend 3 months 0 $3,000 Per dollar on eligible purchases with Delta Purchases 2.00 $1 All Purchases 1.00 $1 Apply Now
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