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Delta SkyMiles are often dismissed in the award travel community for their low value and high prices when booking Delta flights. But you can still book Delta awards without breaking the award bank thanks to airline alliances — SkyTeam, in this case.
Booking Delta awards through partners has often provided cheaper award pricing than through SkyMiles itself. For years, Virgin Atlantic was the best option for booking Delta domestic awards. But recent devaluations have eroded that sweet spot.
Enter Flying Blue, the loyalty program of Air France and KLM. Flying Blue award pricing for Delta awards was already a solid option, particularly when you factor in the frequent Flying Blue transfer bonuses. Now, this sweet spot has become even cheaper now — but only for flights in 2026.
Let's look at the details of this new pricing quirk first reported by Thrifty Traveler.
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2026 Delta Flight Pricing through Flying Blue
As of this week, Flying Blue is now pricing most 2026 Delta award flights at around 20% to 33% less than the same flights in 2025. Air France/KLM does not publish a set award chart for partners, so prices can fluctuate. But this discrepancy seems different from Flying Blue's typical dynamic pricing. Here are some examples highlighting this new pricing in 2026.
Domestic examples
For example, take this Cleveland (CLE) to Salt Lake City (SLC) flight on December 10, 2025 costing 16,500 miles:
Only a month later, the price drops to 11,000 Flying Blue miles when booked for January 16, 2026. That's 33% less in 2026 vs. 2025!
Remember how we noted that Virgin Atlantic previously provided excellent Delta award pricing? The same January award flight costs 18,500 Flying Club points — or 7,500 miles more than Air France.
Let's take another domestic example: a coast-to-coast flight from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX). For a flight on July 16, 2025 the nonstop Delta flight costs 20,000 Flying Blue miles:
However, the same route on January 7, 2026 only costs 13,500 Flying Blue miles. Again, that's around a 33% price drop.
We are also seeing lower award pricing on connecting flights — although finding award availability released to partners like Air France may be a challenge. For example, Tthis Charlotte (CLT) to Gainesville (GNV) flight with a stop in Atlanta costs 10,500 miles on August 5, 2025 but only 7,000 miles on January 22, 2026. Again, that's around a 33% price drop.
International examples
These lower award prices aren't just limited to U.S. flights. Instead, we are seeing lower pricing anywhere where Delta flies worldwide. For example, this Atlanta (ATL) to Munich (MUC) economy flight costs 32,000 miles on Dec 5, 2025:
But that price drops to 26,000 miles each way in 2026 — such as this example on February 1, 2026:
In this case, that is about 19% lower pricing for the 2026 flight. And notably, this award rate is 15,000 fewer miles than what Delta is charging for the same February flight when booking with SkyMiles.
The last example is heading west from Los Angeles (LAX) to Melbourne, Australia (MEL). On December 8, 2025, a Delta award flight costs 53,500 miles in economy:
However, if you wait until 2026 to travel, flying Down Under on February 2 only costs 42,500 Flying Blue miles. That's a 20% price drop.
Boosting Your Flying Blue Miles Balance
If you want to take advantage of this better pricing, the good news is that you have plenty of options to build your Flying Blue miles balance. You can transfer flexible points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Points, Bilt Rewards, and Wells Fargo at 1:1, giving you the chance to book these Delta flights no matter what points you have.
Plus, with a 25% transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Flying Blue through May 31, this month is the time to strike. Taking advantage of this bonus would make award prices 25% cheaper than the already discounted 2026 prices as indicated above.
Downsides of Booking Through Flying Blue
Some caveats to take note of:
- The taxes and fees on domestic flights will be slightly higher — around $20-30 through Air France/KLM Flying Blue — than the typical $5.60 fee Delta charges for domestic award flights.
- Connecting flights may be bookable through Flying Blue, but availability will be more of a challenge. Searching from Delta hubs will give you the best options.
- Due to a lack of first class Delta One availability to partners, I wasn't able to find a comparable route in both 2025 and 2026 to compare the prices, but it's possible that lower prices next year will apply here. The Delta One Finder tool at Seats.aero can be helpful for searching.
Bottom Line
In a landscape of constant devaluations and rising award prices, discovering that Flying Blue is lowering the cost of many Delta flights significantly in 2026 is an unexpectedly positive development. If you have travel plans next year that could include Delta routes, you should run to Air France/KLM first to see if there is availability at even lower rates than you'd find this year.
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