Have a birthday soon? Check your email, Delta SkyMiles members
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Check your email if your birthday's coming up and you're a Delta SkyMiles member.
Some TPG staffers have reported that family members received an email from Delta offering a choice of three birthday gifts which could be a nice bonus for a future trip.
TPG executive editor Scott Mayerowitz and senior aviation reporter Ethan Klapper both reported family members received an email prompting them to select which birthday offering they would prefer. The choices are 500 bonus miles, two drink vouchers or up to $500 in savings with Delta Vacations.
When you click on the offer, it takes you to a landing page that explains the promotion. It appears this is a targeted offer sent to certain SkyMiles members 45 days before their birthday. You have 45 days to make a selection once you receive the offer.
You won't earn a free flight or a trip in Delta One, but who says no to a free birthday gift?
My birthday is months away, so I've received no such offer. Still, if I was presented with these choices I'd probably go with the drink vouchers, which can be redeemed for inflight beverages.
TPG values Delta SkyMiles at 1.41 cents per mile, which means the offer of 500 bonus miles is only worth about $7. Most inflight alcoholic beverages aboard Delta flights fall in the $8-$10 range, so for the two vouchers, you're getting a $16-$20 value.
This could be good timing since the airline recently added new options to its inflight drink menu.
Your calculation may be different than mine, of course, if you're looking to book an award flight and find yourself just a few hundred miles shy of what you need for a free flight.
That being said, there are also plenty of other opportunities to earn 500 miles. For instance, if you carry the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, which gets you 2 miles per dollar at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets., a $150 grocery run and a $100 dinner out at a restaurant will earn the same number of miles Delta is offering.
Related: The best airline credit cards with inflight discounts
Putting the offer to use
If you received this offer and are flying with Delta soon, the drink vouchers should appear in your SkyMiles account within 24 hours, according to Delta. They'll expire 60 days after you receive them. The bonus miles should hit your account within 48 hours.
As for the Delta Vacations promotion, this would go toward the flight-and-hotel vacation packages the airline sells.
There's a caveat on this particular choice: How much you can save depends on how much you spend. To tap into the maximum $500 discount available in this promotion, you'd have to spend $6,000 or more. If you spend $1,499 or less, you'll get a $25 discount.
Bottom line
If you're a Delta SkyMiles member with a birthday coming up, check your email. You could score a couple of free drinks on your next trip or add to your mileage balance.