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New Yorkers: Book round-trip award tickets for as few as 5,000 SkyMiles with this flash sale

Kyle Olsen
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Kyle Olsen is the points and miles reporter at TPG. He specializes in maximizing points, miles, elite status and credit cards, so readers travel more comfortably and at a lower cost. Kyle previously ran his own travel consulting business. He's also held roles at the U.S. House of Representatives and Lucerne Business, a branch of the Swiss government.
March 15, 2022
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5 min read
Delta planes on the ground in Atlanta
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Delta Air Lines is offering round-trip flights for as little as 5,000 Delta SkyMiles right now, but you should book soon as this sale is ending this Friday at 11:59 p.m. EST.

The promotional flights are valid from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) or LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to a variety of destinations within North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.

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Deal basics

Airline: Delta Air Lines
Routes: New York City to Nashville, Portland, Dallas, Kansas City, Missouri, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Palm Beach, St. Louis, Denver, Omaha, Bogota, Colombia, Panama City, Panama, St. Maarten Nassau, Montego Bay, San Salvador, Sao Paulo, Reykjavik, Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Milan, Frankfurt, Athens, Rome and Brussels.
How to book: Directly through the airline here
Travel dates: Officially April 24-May 26, 2022 (but there are flights through late June available)
Book by: Friday, March 18 at 11:59 p.m. EST

Sample fares

(Photo by Zach Griff/The Points Guy)

Discounted round-trip flights are available from New York to 26 cities, with some of the most notable routes being:

  • Caribbean: Montego Bay and Nassau starting at 8,000 SkyMiles round trip.
  • Central America: Bogota starting at 10,000 SkyMiles round trip.
  • Domestic: Miami, Dallas, Portland, Nashville and West Palm Beach starting at 5,000 SkyMiles round trip.
  • Europe: Reykjavik, Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Milan, Frankfurt, Rome and starting at 34,000 SkyMiles round trip.
  • South America: Sao Paulo starting at 34,000 SkyMiles round trip.

To view all routes and pricing, head to this landing page on delta.com.

(Screenshot from delta.com)

For flights within North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, you will notice that for certain destinations, the basic economy fare is lower than the Main Cabin fare. Among other limitations, Delta basic economy tickets do not allow changes or free seat selection. Likewise, you will generally board the plane last.

Of the domestic destinations, Miami and Portland, Maine, are the only two cities where the Main Cabin fare is priced the same as a Basic Economy fare.

(Screenshot from delta.com)

I checked the travel dates of April 27-May 3 on the New York-LaGuardia (LGA) to Miami International Airport (MIA) route, and there were seats available for 5,000 SkyMiles on each of Delta's flights on both days.

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(Screenshot from delta.com)

Related: TPG’s ultimate guide to Miami and South Florida

On this itinerary, as with all Delta award flights through the end of the year, you can earn Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM), Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD) and Medallion Qualifying Segments (MQS) on these discounted award flights. Note that you won't earn elite qualifying metrics on basic economy award tickets.

(Screenshot from delta.com)

Discounted flights to Europe are widely available. For example, here is the award calendar on Delta's flight from New York (JFK) to Rome:

(Screenshot from delta.com)

On this same route, cash prices are going for around $780-$820 round trip. So by using 34,000 SkyMiles, you get roughly 2.3 cents per SkyMile, which is significantly above our valuation of 1.41 cents per SkyMile.

(Screenshot from google.com/flights)

Of course, this is just a sampling of the routes that Delta put on sale. Search Delta's sale page to find pricing and dates for all of the discounted routes.

Related: Your complete guide to the Delta SkyMiles program

Maximize your purchase

Don’t forget to pay award taxes with a card that earns bonus points on airfare purchases, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express (5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel), on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year, Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees), Chase Sapphire Reserve (3 points per dollar on airfare), American Express® Gold Card (3 points per dollar on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel) or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2 points per dollar on travel). Check out this post for more on maximizing airfare purchases.

Bottom line

From Europe to sunny Caribbean destinations, this latest promotion from Delta is highly appealing for SkyMiles members. This sale includes a variety of destinations you can travel to without having saved massive amounts of SkyMiles. If anything, sales like this one remind us that it's always nice to have some SkyMiles ready to use, so you can land your next deal.

Featured image by Bloomberg via Getty Images
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.