For the next 48 hours, Delta is doing a flash sale on award travel to Asia. You can get 30% off the miles required on Asia awards, but the promotion is limited to round-trip travel, and in Economy/Main Cabin only. You will have to book by December 14, 11:59 pm ET, and complete your travel by March 3, 2017. Only round-trip itineraries that originate in the US are eligible.
There are also blackout dates that apply to travel between US and China:
- China to US: January 10 – 29, 2017
- US to China: February 3 – 18, 2017
Chinese New Year falls on January 28, 2017, so this is likely a restriction for those who might be traveling to the US from China for their Chinese New Year holiday.
Delta is offering 30% off Asia awards for this flash sale, which expire December 14, 2016.
Delta has seen a lot of unannounced devaluation, and they do not publish an award chart anymore. However, it does appear that the “low tier” pricing for Economy tickets are still as follows (before 30% discount):
- US – Southern Asia: 80,000 SkyMiles round-trip (56,000 after discount)
- US – Northern Asia: 70,000 SkyMiles round-trip (49,000 after discount)
Region definitions (which Delta strangely still publishes) as follows:
- Southern Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos (People’s Democratic Republic of), Macau SAR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Turkmenistan and Vietnam
- Northern Asia: China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of), Korea (Republic of), Micronesia, Philippines and Taiwan, Russia (East of the Ural Mountains), Guam and Saipan.
Travels to the South Asian subcontinent, including India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc. are not included in this promotion.
Availability is actually pretty good. For example, you can find seats for 2 people on most days in late January from New York to Japan, for a 7-day trip. Taxes/surcharges are minimal when you book a round-trip, and most of these are actually on Delta’s own metal.
Great award availability for Main Cabin travel to Japan from New York!
Delta SkyMiles is a transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards, and transfers are usually instant. However, AMEX does charge an “excise tax offset fee” for the transfer. It’s pretty minimal, though, at just $0.0006 per mile. This means a 49,000-mile transfer would cost ~$30, and a 56,000-mile transfer would cost around ~$34, on top of the taxes/fees that Delta levies for the flights themselves.
Will you take advantage of this Delta flash sale on Asia awards?
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3 comments
in younger days, a 15 hrs in econ is a breeze but now, dont care how cheap, no flat bed means no go.
It prices the same for open jaws. example CVG-PVG, then PEK-CVG return is pricing as 49K points.
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