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Delta SkyMiles is one of the most popular mileage currencies around. The airline's massive partnership with American Express allows travelers to earn miles through Delta credit cards or transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards. But you can also buy Delta miles.
In this post, we will discuss how to buy Delta miles, what they cost, and when it makes sense to do so.
Page Contents
- Who Should Buy Points and Miles?
- Can You Buy Delta Miles at a Discount?
- How To Buy Delta Miles
- How Much Does It Cost To Buy Delta Miles?
- Reasons You Might Not Be Able To Buy Delta Miles
- Why We Don't Recommend Buying Delta Miles
- How To Earn Delta Miles
- Maximize Your Delta SkyMiles Purchase
- Does It Make Sense To Buy Delta Miles?
Who Should Buy Points and Miles?
If you're familiar with our stance on buying points and miles here at AwardWallet, you'll know that we only recommend it in specific instances. Unless a discount or bonus promotion is available, we typically advise you to steer clear of buying points and miles. That's because it's tough to redeem points at a higher value than the cost of buying them.
Just because an airline or hotel is running a promotion doesn't automatically mean you should run to grab your wallet. Instead, we prefer to earn our points and miles organically. For most currencies, you're better off building your stash by leveraging top credit card offers, promotions, and maximizing transfer partners.
However, buying points and miles has a place in a larger points and miles strategy for two reasons. The first is that sometimes you can book a sweet award ticket by buying miles at a cheaper price than purchasing it outright. Second, if you only need a few more miles to top off your balance to grab a nice redemption, purchasing miles might be the quickest, simplest way. Doing the math before purchasing is critical to ensure you're getting a value you're happy with.
Can You Buy Delta Miles at a Discount?
We all know how great it is when a hotel or airline runs a buy points and miles promotion. But while you'll frequently find promotions to buy American miles and buy United miles, Delta has yet to offer a buy-miles promotion that we know of… ever!
Related: The Beginner's Guide To Buying Points and Miles
How To Buy Delta Miles
Buying Delta miles is quite straightforward: You simply head to the Delta website and navigate to the webpage where the airline sells miles. From there, you head to the bottom section and select the number of miles you want to buy. Add them to your cart and proceed from there; it's that easy!
How Much Does It Cost To Buy Delta Miles?
Regardless of how many miles you buy, you'll need to pay 3.5¢ per mile when you buy Delta miles.
A simple chart lays out the cost for each package of miles. Packages range from 2,000 to 60,000 miles — with increments of 2,000 costing $70 each.
Prices are as follows:
| Number of SkyMiles | Purchase Price |
|---|---|
| 2,000 | $70 |
| 4,000 | $140 |
| 6,000 | $210 |
| 8,000 | $280 |
| 10,000 | $350 |
| 12,000 | $420 |
| 14,000 | $490 |
| 16,000 | $560 |
| 18,000 | $630 |
| 20,000 | $700 |
| 22,000 | $770 |
| 24,000 | $840 |
| 26,000 | $910 |
| 28,000 | $980 |
| 30,000 | $1,050 |
| 32,000 | $1,120 |
| 34,000 | $1,190 |
| 36,000 | $1,260 |
| 38,000 | $1,330 |
| 40,000 | $1,400 |
| 42,000 | $1,470 |
| 44,000 | $1,540 |
| 46,000 | $1,610 |
| 48,000 | $1,680 |
| 50,000 | $1,750 |
| 52,000 | $1,820 |
| 54,000 | $1,890 |
| 56,000 | $1,960 |
| 58,000 | $2,030 |
| 60,000 | $2,100 |
Since it's relatively expensive to buy Delta miles, it's best to stay clear unless you're on the cusp of a sweet redemption. While paying 3.5¢ per mile will rarely beat the cash cost of a ticket, the price can be worth it if you're close to the finish line and out of other options like transferring Amex Membership Rewards points.
Reasons You Might Not Be Able To Buy Delta Miles
If you log into your account and try to buy Delta miles, there is a chance you won't be able to. This happens on occasion with airlines and hotels, where they require you to have an established account for a certain amount of time and/or have a designated amount of points in your account.
If you're trying to take advantage of a redemption that you've found that happens to be time-sensitive, this hurdle can be super frustrating. As a result, you might run into the following error message:
The terms and conditions explain a couple of reasons for this. First, your SkyMiles account must have been established for at least 10 days to buy Delta miles. Second, the Delta account you're trying to add SkyMiles to must have earned at least one automatically posted mile since enrolling in the SkyMiles program.
This is just something to remember when trying to buy Delta miles to use on a redemption you had in mind. So, just make sure to hold off on buying any miles until you meet the criteria and can confirm you can receive them in your account. Nothing is worse than buying miles for a redemption that disappears, leaving you with a bunch of miles you no longer need!
Why We Don't Recommend Buying Delta Miles
Here's why buying Delta miles for 3.5¢ apiece isn't a good deal. When buying points and miles, the goal is to get “outsized” value for them by redeeming them at a higher value than what you paid to get the miles.
With Delta SkyMiles, redeeming them (in most situations) provides roughly half the value of what Delta charges for buying miles. AwardWallet users get the following value when redeeming Delta miles, on average (per mile):
- Average value overall: 1.34¢
- Short-haul economy bookings: 1.21¢
- Long-haul economy bookings: 1.21¢
- Short-haul business class: 1.94¢
- Long-haul business class: 2.4¢
As you can see, travelers get less than half the 3.5¢ value in nearly every category. If you're redeeming miles at a value of around 1.5¢ each, paying 3.5¢ won't make sense. Even if Delta were to put miles on sale, only a bonus of 100% or more would start to make sense for most of these redemption numbers.
Until that happens, it's clear that buying Delta miles at 3.5¢ apiece doesn't make much sense — especially when you consider that you can usually pay the cash rate for a ticket and receive better value.
How To Earn Delta Miles
There are easier (and more cost-efficient) ways to earn Delta SkyMiles than buying them straight from Delta for 3.5¢ apiece. Instead, there are transfer partners, credit card welcome offers, and cards with everyday spending that will provide you more bang for your buck.
Let's check out some of the best transfer partners and Delta cards to help you earn and collect SkyMiles at a better rate.
Delta co-branded credit cards
Delta has a partnership with American Express that offers seven different co-branded credit cards. These cards have some solid welcome offers as well as some valuable earning categories. However, collecting the sign-up bonus presents one of the best opportunities to earn a big sum of SkyMiles quickly.
Here's a preview of what you can earn after signing up and meeting the minimum spending requirements:
- Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card: Earn 10,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: Earn 80,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: Earn 90,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $4,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: Earn 100,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
(Terms apply)
- 2X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 2X miles per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets
- 2X miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 1X miles on all other eligible purchases
(Terms apply)
- 3X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 3X miles per dollar at hotels
- 2X miles per dollar at U.S. supermarkets
- 2X Miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on purchases.
(Terms apply)
- 3X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 1X miles on every eligible dollar spent on purchases.
Small business owners have three options as well:
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card: Limited Time Offer: Earn 90,000 Bonus Miles after spending $6,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 7/16/25.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: Limited Time Offer: Earn 100,000 Bonus Miles after spending $8,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 7/16/25.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: Limited Time Offer: Earn 110,000 Bonus Miles after spending $12,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 7/16/25.
(Terms apply)
- 2X miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta
- 2X miles per dollar on eligible U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (annual cap of $50,000 in eligible purchases)
- 2X miles per dollar on eligible U.S. shipping purchases (annual cap of $50,000 in eligible purchases)
- 2X miles per dollar on eligible dining purchases
- 1X miles per dollar on all other eligible purchases
(Terms apply)
- 3X miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta
- 3X miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases with hotels
- 1.5x miles on eligible purchases over $5,000 (up to 50,000 bonus miles annually)
- 1.5X miles on eligible transit and U.S. shipping purchases*
- 1X miles per dollar on all other eligible purchases.
- 3X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 1.5X miles per dollar on eligible transit, U.S. shipping, and U.S. office supply store purchases, plus all eligible purchases after spending $150K per calendar year
- 1 mile on every dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
Related: Which Delta Credit Card Is Right for You?
Delta transfer partners
The only transferable points you can convert to Delta SkyMiles are American Express Membership Rewards and Diners Club Rewards points.
Of the two, Amex points are easier to earn, courtesy of several cards that earn Membership Rewards points. Points convert to Delta SkyMiles at a 1:1 ratio and will instantly show up in your Delta account.
Delta hotel partners
While this isn't your best option (thanks to poor transfer ratios), it's nice to know you can convert various hotel points to Delta SkyMiles if needed, though you'll get better value for these hotel points on hotel stays.
Maximize Your Delta SkyMiles Purchase
Since Delta sells SkyMiles directly, your purchase (should) trigger the ‘”travel” category bonus on many credit cards. Here are a few of the best travel rewards cards to consider using:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 2X Ultimate Rewards points on anything that codes as travel not purchased through Chase Travel.
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Earn 3X points on travel purchases (up to $150K combined with other categories).
- Citi Strata Premier℠ Card: Earn 3X ThankYou Points on air travel, gas and EV charging stations, and other hotels.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (capped at $500,000 per calendar year).
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Earn 3X Ultimate Rewards points on travel purchases worldwide after exhausting the $300 annual travel credit.
- Earn 90k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 cash back or $1,125 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel℠
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
Related: Which Credit Card Should You Use To Buy Points and Miles?
Does It Make Sense To Buy Delta Miles?
As we've said, buying miles should never be your first option. Even with a promotional discount or bonus, it's tough to get fair value. Considering we've never seen a promotion for buying Delta miles and Delta sells miles at such a high price, purchasing SkyMiles makes even less sense.
Considering our readers typically redeem Delta miles at 1.34¢ each, it's difficult to see when buying SkyMiles for 3.5¢ apiece makes any sense. While buying points and miles has its time and place, we're struggling to find any times when buying Delta SkyMiles provides good value.
However, if you're just a few SkyMiles short of that next great redemption, buying Delta SkyMiles can be the quickest and easiest way to top off your balance. Otherwise, you should probably steer clear.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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