Thrifty Traveler Premium has discovered that Delta is running another unadvertised flash sale to Australia and New Zealand. Poking around a bit, I found discounted fares to Hong Kong and Taipei as well. Fares seem to be cheapest and most available from the West Coast, but there are options available from many airports around the US as well. Depending on the route, availability is between August/September for Hong Kong and Taipei, or November/December for Australia and New Zealand.
Prices start at 30,000 miles round-trip from the West Coast to Brisbane (BNE) and 40,000 miles to Auckland, New Zealand. Delta now offers a 15% discount on award bookings for Delta cardholders, which stacks with the sale, making LAX – BNE as low as 25,500 SkyMiles for those with a Delta card. Flights to Hong Kong can be had for 50,000 round-trip, and there are some dates to Taipei for 58,000.
Like most Delta sales these days, there’s a catch – the lowest pricing and best award availability are for basic and economy class only. Unusually, many one-way fares can be found at half the round-trip price, including LAX-Brisbane for just 15K.
The Deal
- Delta is running an economy award flash sale that includes New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong. Prices are for basic economy or economy. Sample prices include:
- From Los Angeles (LAX)
- Brisbane (BNE) – 30,000 SkyMiles (25,500 for Delta cardholders)
- Auckland (AKL) – 40,000 SkyMiles (34,000 for Delta cardholders)
- Sydney (SYD) – 50,000 SkyMiles (42,500 for Delta cardholders)
- Hong Kong (HKG) – 50,000 SkyMiles (42,500 for Delta cardholders)
- Taipei (TPE) – 58,000 SkyMiles (49,300 for Delta cardholders)
- New York (JFK)
- Brisbane (BNE) – 50,000 SkyMiles (42,500 for Delta cardholders)
- Auckland (AKL) – 60,000 SkyMiles (51,000 for Delta cardholders)
- Sydney (SYD) – 70,000 SkyMiles (59,500 for Delta cardholders)
- Atlanta (ATL)
- Brisbane (BNE) – 50,000 SkyMiles (42,500 for Delta cardholders)
- Auckland (AKL) – 60,000 SkyMiles (51,000 for Delta cardholders)
- Sydney (SYD) – 70,000 SkyMiles (59,500 for Delta cardholders)
- From Los Angeles (LAX)
- Some of these fares can only be found when searching round-trip, but there are also many one-way dates and half the round-trip price (or 5K above)
Quick Thoughts
Delta’s award pricing can be astronomical at times, especially to the Asia-Pacific region. For example, if you want to travel in high season, many dates can price out at 150K+ SkyMiles round trip…in economy.
This award sale is therefore significantly better at only 30,000-70,000 SkyMiles round trip, depending on the departure point. The cheapest pricing is available when flying direct from the West Coast to Brisbane, but Auckland is only 10K more expensive. Flights from the East Coast and Midwest seem to be priced 10K-20K higher than those from the West Coast.
Although the pricing and availability are good, the key thing to be aware of is that you’ll be flying in economy class. You’re looking at a -13-15 hour flight to Auckland and Sydney, which is a long time. I couldn’t sleep in economy if my life depended on it, so this fare sale isn’t for me. However, I have many friends (including some members of the FM Team) who can sleep like a baby for hours. If that’s you, this could be a heckuva deal.
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I’m a big fan of the frequent miler team, but not cool sharing their paid research on your site.
I would have no idea what value Thrifty Premium actually has to offer without this kind of post.
We don’t share Thrifty Traveler’s premium content unless it has already been reported on other public sites (as was the case here) or when Thrifty Traveler gives us explicit permission.
Thanks for the reply Greg. I may be overly sensitive as well for being in the subsciption based publishing business for many years.
I guess for the right person — somebody in SoCal who wants to go the Brisbane in late fall and has an AMEX Delta credit card, this is a genuine “deal.” But there are so many problems for most people. A couple years ago, I took Delta up on a similar deal to New Zealand. It was the same price from the East Coast (where we live) and it booked into what’s now called “Main Classic.” Main Classic is what everyone calls “coach.” This “basic” thing is just a product you don’t want to buy (no seat selection, painful cancel/change rules, can’t use the lounges, etc). If you want normal coach — what the other airlines offer and the minimum of what you’d expect/want on an ultra longhaul — it will cost you nearly double. So, like most folks who might otherwise be interested in a cheap Australia ticket, I’ll pass.
As someone who booked the deal, Main Cabin was only 20K more so 50K for Main and 30K for basic.
50K from the east coast to Brisbane and back is still a good deal in economy.
As of just now, that URL says, “While this sale has wrapped up, you can still find great deals to all your favorite places and inspiration for new destinations awaiting you.”
That’s a caching issue (not sure if on your end or ours). The link just goes to Delta.com. This is an unadvertised sale, so there’s no landing page.
I’ve relabeled it to make that clear.
Wish there were deals in J.