Delta Adding Lots of Mountain Flights This Ski Season
The weather is starting to cool off in parts of the US, leading some of us to give our ski clothing a wistful look. In the coming months, winter sport enthusiasts will soon open ski slopes throughout North America. And, if you've got to fly to a ski resort, Delta wants to be the airline to take you there.
Following a month and a half after United did the same, Delta has announced its winter sports season flight schedule for flights to eleven resort areas (plus Denver) from December 21 to April 2.
Here are the ski routes that you'll see from Delta hubs this winter season (new services are in bold):
Atlanta (ATL)
- Aspen/Snowmass (ASE): Daily flights
- Bozeman/Big Sky (BZN): 2x daily during the holidays, decreasing to no more than 3x weekly from Jan-Mar 2018
- Denver (DEN): up to 9x daily
- Vail/Eagle (EGE): 8x weekly during the holidays, daily from Jan-Mar 2018
- Hayden/Steamboat Springs (HDN): Daily flights
- Jackson Hole (JAC): 8x weekly during the holidays, up to 7x weekly from January-March 2018
- Montrose/Telluride (MTJ): Daily during the holdays, but no more than 3x weekly through March
- Reno/Tahoe (RNO): Daily during the holidays, but only on Saturdays through March
- Vancouver (YVR): Adding new service on Tuesday/Saturday from December 23-January 6. Then, Saturday flights from late February through the end of March.
Salt Lake City (SLC)
- Aspen/Snowmass (ASE): 2-3x daily flights
- Bozeman/Big Sky (BZN): 3-4x daily flights
- Denver (DEN): 7-8x daily flights
- Vail/Eagle (EGE): new daily flights from December 21-January 7
- Kalispell/Whitefish (FCA): 3x daily flights
- Jackson Hole (JAC): up to 3x daily flights
- Montrose/Telluride (MTJ): new daily flights from December 21-January 7
- Reno/Tahoe (RNO): 4-5x daily flights
- Sun Valley (SUN): 2-3x daily flights
- Vancouver (YVR): Daily flights
- Calgary (YYC): Daily flights
Los Angeles (LAX)
- Aspen/Snowmass (ASE): 6-8x weekly flights
- Bozeman/Big Sky (BZN): 2x daily flights during the holidays, but only Saturday flights through March
- Denver (DEN): 3-4x daily flights
- Kalispell/Whitefish (FCA): Daily flights from December 21-January 2
- Jackson Hole (JAC): Daily flights from December 21-January 2, but only Sundays and some Saturdays through March
- Sun Valley (SUN): Daily flights from December 21-January 2
- Vancouver (YVR): 2x daily flights
Minneapolis (MSP)
- Aspen/Snowmass (ASE): Daily flights December 21-January 7, then Saturdays through March
- Bozeman/Big Sky (BZN): 22x weekly during the holidays and 2x daily through March
- Denver (DEN): up to 7x daily flights
- Kalispell/Whitefish (FCA): 2x daily flights during the holidays and up to daily through March
- Hayden/Steamboat Springs (HDN): Daily flights
- Jackson Hole (JAC): up to 8x weekly flights during the holidays, back down to 3x weekly through March
- Reno/Tahoe (RNO): Daily December 21-January 2, some Saturdays through March
- Vancouver (YVR): 2x daily flights
- Calgary (YYC): 2-3x daily flights
New York City (JFK)
- Denver (DEN): up to 6x daily flights
- Jackson Hole (JAC): Saturdays
Seattle (SEA)
- Bozeman/Big Sky (BZN): Daily flights from December 21-January 2, then Saturdays through March
- Denver (DEN): 4-5x daily flights
- Jackson Hole (JAC): Daily December 21-January 2, then Saturdays and select Sundays through March
- Vancouver (YVR): 4-5x daily flights
- Calgary (YYC): 2x daily flights
Here's a handy chart of the above info that you can share with family and friends:
Fares and Availability
Of course, just because there's a nonstop doesn't mean you're necessarily going to be able to book it for cheap:
For this particular flight option, an economy award "only" costs 25,000 miles (Delta's Level 4), giving you 4.7 cents per SkyMile in value — quite impressive for Delta SkyMiles.
Other options aren't as bad. The new Salt Lake City (SLC) to Vail/Eagle (EGE) and Montrose/Telluride (MTJ) options cost just $197 round-trip for departures on Saturday, December 23.
But, these flights will set you back 38,000 SkyMiles — a value of under 0.5 cents per mile, which would be a very poor use of your miles.
This highlights the point: if you're interested in booking one of these Delta winter sport routes, it's important to check both revenue and mileage rates before booking.
