At Frequent Miler, we keep a database of point valuations (we call these “Reasonable Redemption Values“). These are estimates of the “worth” of airline miles, hotel points, transferable points, and more. The idea is that we try to identify the point at which it is “reasonable” to get that much value or more from your points.
This information is critical for making informed decisions. In fact, it’s a key component of the First Year Value information shown on our Best Credit Card Offers page, and it’s similarly used to show which cards offer the best value for everyday spend, and which offer the best category bonuses.
When we first started looking at the value of airline miles, we used a manual process to create estimates, but we now have a much better way of pinning down the value of Delta SkyMiles.
Points Path, which is a Google Flights extension, keeps records of both the point prices and cash prices of all searches done via its platform. Points Path founder and former Frequent Miler writer, Julian Kheel, has made this data available to us for the purpose of identifying rewards program point values.
Thanks to Julian and Points Path, we now have access to the results of over 4.2 million domestic and international Delta search results that show both the cash and award prices for the same flight (including partner flights). Using this data, we can provide a far better estimate of “Reasonable Redemption Value” of Delta SkyMiles than we were ever able to obtain using manual calculations.
Based on an analysis of Points Path’s data, we’ve concluded that the new Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Delta miles = 1.1 Cents Per Mile.
Points Path Data
Listed below is a summary of the raw data from Points Path. There are two values that are important to us. The median is the point that half of the observed results offered equal or better point value and half offered equal or worse value. We also have the average value of all the searches, in total and by booking class.
| Cabin | Median Value (cpp) | Average Value (cpp) | Number of data points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 1.11 | 1.12 | 3,460,461 |
| Premium Economy | 1.11 | 1.22 | 204,481 |
| Business | 1.09 | 1.24 | 500,960 |
| First | 1.08 | 1.10 | 92,320 |
| Combined | 1.11 | 1.14 | 4,258,222 |
Calculations
For our airline RRV values, we’re going to actually use the midpoints between the average value and the median. The reason is that the difference between the two is an indicator of how often more valuable sweet spots can be found in a given category.
If the median is 1 cent per point, that means that half of all searches produced a value of less than 1 cent per point, and one half above 1 cent per point. However, if the same data showed an average of 2 cents per point it would mean that some of the 50% of searches that were above 1 cent per point were so far above that they doubled the result to 2 cents per point. Likely, that would indicate a higher prevalence of available sweet spot awards with outsized redemption value
That’s not the case with Delta, however, where the median and the average are almost identical:
- Points Path Median Observed Value for Delta Flights: 1.11 cents per mile
(based on the past 365 days of data as of February 14, 2025) - Points Path Mean Observed Value for Delta Flights: 1.14 Cents Per Mile
(based on the past 365 days of data as of February 14, 2025 - Range: 1.11 to 1.14.
- For our RRV, we’ll pick the middle point between 1.11 and 1.14 and then round it to one decimal, or 1.1 Cents Per Point.
Conclusion
The exercise described above resulted in an unchanged Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Delta miles: 1.1 cents per mile. That’s the point at which you are likely to get that much value or more.
Please keep in mind that this does not mean that you will always get 1.1 cents per mile value from your Delta miles. In practice, you’ll sometimes find better than 1.1 cents per mile value and sometimes you’ll find worse. As a Delta Gold, Platinum, or Reserve cardholder, you’ll also get slightly better value because of the 15% discount that cardholders receive on rewards. Additionally, note that there are some ways to get better value from Delta miles. For details, see: Best uses for Delta miles.
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The crazy thing is they charge you $30 + 0.01 per mile to transfer your miles to someone else. The fee is almost the full value of a mile. Thats $160 to transfer 13000 miles. Just nuts
This is for people without cobrand cards right? What’s the rrv for people with cobras cards?
1.1 / 0.85 = 1.294
Simple Math 😀
But to add on, it comes with a cost. You pay for a fixed cost for having a cobranded CC. (Example: $ 150 AF for Delta Gold)
People may argue they can easily offset annual fee with “some work” but it comes with time effort.
To sum up, Delta SkyMiles has a great universal floor value but nearly none exciting redemption value. (People will bring up some rare unpopular Delta One route with 120,000 Miles cost before 15% off saving but those routes are cheaper to begin with.)
If given the choice between earning skymiles or cash back, I always go with cash back. Spending on the Delta platinum card just does not cut it in terms of the rewards. I’m not chasing status so it makes sense for folks like me.
This calculation is for the value of Delta SkyMiles for Delta flights specifically (not partner flights), correct? I’ve gotten great value using SkyMiles for flights in Asia.
Both Delta and partner flights.
Again, this doesn’t say that there aren’t uses that will be better than 1.1cpp, there are and will continue to be.
Over 2 million searches in the last year returned better value than 1.1cpp.
However, over 2 million were below 1.1cpp as well.
This makes sense. Delta Y awards (especially with the cardholder discount) and partner redemptions abroad are usually good value beyond 1.2 CPP. Other stuff is pegged to a little over a cent per point based on the cash price and not so great a deal.
I’ve found that Skymiles are worth more for cheaper tickets than for expensive tickets. However I also feel like there has been a slight decrease in value since the introduction of the 15% discount with a Skymiles credit card
I did notice that the points and cash prices diverged within 72 hours of travel. So, empty flights could be pretty low on points, but still fairly high in cash. Useful for attending a funeral or a last minute emergency, but I haven’t seen a lot of variation otherwise.
About 1 Ruble per point.
What time frame were the searches done? IME Delta have very poor value for close in bookings (even when accounting for the prices going up close to departure). For example, I just looked at the SkyMiles cpp for the last SEA-PHX flight for the next few Mondays. In order from next Monday to later weeks, the cpp were: 1.16, 0.98, 1.21, 1.40, 1.28, 1.40, 1.40. Close in, I almost never use SkyMiles, though for domestic economy flights a few weeks out I more often than not find SkyMiles to have the greatest cpp.
Whenever someone searched for any flight and had the Points Path extension installed. So close-in, far-out, etc. When we’re talking about over 4.2 million searches, that’s between 11,000-12,000 data points each day of the last 365. It’s highly unlikely that any one timeframe is over-represented.
Whats is the worst Delta redemption you ever seen ? I bet you can get less than 0.25 cent per mile
Why are you showing only the mean and the median, unlike your analyses of some other mileage currencies? It’d be more interesting to see the values at various percentiles. Showing 90th percentile data, for example, would point to potential better uses for the currency, even for SkyPesos. 🙂
That’s a great idea. We currently don’t have those percentiles broken out in the Points Path data, but we’d like to add it in the future.
Delta – Lame-o
I’m retired, fly 1st class almost always and AA hub captive DFW. The posts about DL’s points pales in comparison to how much AA charges. Try DFW to JFK which I fly for positioning flights. Try DFW to LAX, try almost anywhere and DL will beat AA almost always on award cost. Flight coming this fall to JFK, booked 2 in first class for 65K miles. AA wanted almost that much for one. And the kicker is DL is better than AA on the ground and in the air. Common sense, when you are pissed at your management, tell me it doesn’t come on board. In your job, rather work for a profitable company or one that is broke…duh?
This valuation makes sense if I only ever fly Delta. Because I’ll often fly another airline if the fare is cheaper then Delta points are worth even less to me.
They are worth precisely nothing. Much more concise
What’s the calculation that gets you to a 7% deduction for the loss in RDMs? If you’re a general member, you’d get 5 miles per dollar spent (before taxes), which is less than 5.5% based on a 1.1 cents per mile valuation. Obviously this gets larger as your status increases, is the 7% taking that into account or am I missing something in the calculation?
As a Canadian with 3 young kids, I have redeemed Delta Skymiles more that any other programs. I have even transferred more than 500k MR points to Delta over the past year to redeem on WestJet. Delta has amazing 13k-15k pricing on most of WestJet’s domestic, transborder and Caribbean routes, and WestJet has started releasing a large # of seats to Delta for award booking. We have redeemed 5+ seats on direct flights out of YYZ during peak travel times and gotten 3+ cpp value on our MR points. Can’t beat that!