Act fast: Wide open Delta One award space on new Boston to Rome route
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Just a few days ago, Delta announced its new Rome to Boston route, launching seasonal flights to the Italian capital between May 21 and Sept. 8. New route announcements like this represent an incredible opportunity for savvy award travelers, as there's often a brief window when the new flights are loaded into the airline's schedule where award space is wide open, even in premium cabins.
Since Delta switched to a dynamic award pricing model a few years back, one-way Delta One flights between the U.S. and Europe routinely price as high as 320,000 SkyMiles for short transatlantic red-eyes. However, there's currently wide open Delta One award space on this new route to Rome from its launch at the end of May all the way through the end of the current schedule.
TPG values Delta SkyMiles at 1.2 cents each, making 80,000 miles worth $960 — an absolute steal compared to the $8,000+ that these tickets are selling for if you pay cash. Most of the award space I'm seeing is nonstop, however a few dates include connections in other Delta hubs like New York-JFK or Atlanta (ATL), so be sure to double check your itinerary before booking.
Related: How to earn Delta SkyMiles
If you don't have any SkyMiles to redeem, don't worry. You can also book Delta One awards through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at the incredible rate of only 50,000 miles each way plus $5.60 in taxes. You can transfer points to Virgin Atlantic at a 1:1 ratio from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards, and the last two have been known to offer transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic from time to time.
Delta's new nonstop from Boston to Rome will be operated by an Airbus A330-300, meaning you won't get to try Delta's flagship Delta One Suites which is currently only available on its A350, A330neo and select 777 aircraft. Instead, the A330-300 features 34 Delta One business class seats in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration, meaning every seat has direct aisle access.
The new Boston flight will operate with the following schedule:
- DL20 Boston (BOS) 5:00 p.m. departure → Rome (FCO) 7:15 a.m. arrival +1
- DL21 Rome (FCO) 10:45 a.m. departure → Boston (BOS) 2:15 p.m. arrival
In addition to the incredible award space on the new Boston to Rome route, there are a number of days featuring business-class availability at only 80,000 points each way on some of Delta's other transatlantic routes during the summer, including New York-JFK to Madrid (MAD) and a few others. Since Delta's award pricing changes so frequently, it would be worth doing a quick search if you're ready to start making travel plans for the summer of 2020.
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