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Pay Through the Nose with Delta/Amex "Pay with Miles" Program

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The air travel world is increasingly abuzz over new programs touting the benefits of innovative mileage-redemption options, but for consumers there’s generally more cloud than silver lining. The latest “breakthrough” is the Delta/Amex brainchild Pay with Miles.

Delta’s literature describes Pay with Miles as “a whole new way to use your miles... In addition to saving up for SkyChoice and SkySaver Award tickets you can now redeem your miles towards all or part of the price of your Delta tickets.” They go on to declare that the program is an exclusive benefit for SkyMiles members with a Gold or Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express.

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Let’s jump to the part that describes the highlight of the program: “Unlike SkySaver or SkyChoice Awards, Pay with Miles is flexible. Pay for all or part of the fare with miles - it’s up to you.” Delta was nice enough to include some samples of Pay with Miles in action: For base fares less than $100: Redeem 25,000 miles to cover the total fare. For base fares equal to or greater than $100 and less than $250: Redeem 10,000 miles for $100 off the total fare or increase the redemption to cover the total fare, starting at 25,000 miles and increase in increments of 5,000 miles ($50 off) to cover the total fare.

Enough already.

For those of you too bored or confused to continue, I’ll reveal the essence of Pay with Miles: For your loyalty, time, and effort, you net a penny or less per mile. That’s far too little. As my regular readers will attest, I’ve reported strategies for Business and First Class tickets and upgrades where each mile is valued as high as 30 cents.

Granted, miles can be difficult to use, and we’re happy when a program offers a new spin on value. Unfortunately, too often the focus is merely to find new ways to separate mileage holders from their miles while giving back as little as possible.

If you receive a Pay with Miles offer in your email, I suggest you file it under “spam.”

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