Sweet Spot Sunday: Tips for saving thousands of miles on Delta One awards to Europe

With private suites on all Airbus A350s and A330-900neos, plus refreshed business-class seats on nearly every Boeing 767-400ER, Delta provides various comfortable options for transatlantic flights. Even on the A330s and B767-300ERs with older seating, Delta One (business class) travelers still benefit from the same exceptional soft products (meals, Westin bedding, Tumi amenity kits, etc.). However, these flights often come at a high price, especially when booking with Delta SkyMiles.

The most effective way to book Delta One award flights to Europe is usually through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Not only are the rates typically more affordable than using Delta SkyMiles, but the Flying Club also partners with most major transferable points programs, making it convenient to gather miles for these redemptions.

Let's delve into these redemptions in this week's edition of Sweet Spot Sunday.

What makes it noteworthy

Delta often imposes steep fees for Delta One award tickets, whether for domestic or international travel. It’s common for Delta to charge 210,000 SkyMiles or more for a round-trip Delta One award to Europe. For one-way tickets, you can expect to shell out at least 200,000 SkyMiles. However, if saver-level availability is present, you can significantly reduce costs by booking through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

While Flying Club recently increased the costs for most Delta award tickets, it maintained the previous pricing for flights to Europe. This allows you to book nonstop Delta flights from any U.S. location to Europe for just 50,000 points one-way in business class.

This is considerably less than what is available through Delta's SkyMiles program. Additionally, the taxes and fees on these tickets amount to only $5.60. Keep in mind that if your itinerary includes a connection, you will incur additional charges based on the distance of the extra segment.

This pricing applies to routes departing from Delta hubs like Atlanta and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to destinations such as Amsterdam, Dublin, and Frankfurt, among others.

The sole exception applies to flights heading to the U.K. Virgin Atlantic has a distinct award chart for Delta flights from the U.S. to the U.K., which includes elevated taxes and fees:

Returning to standard Europe awards, imagine wanting to book a one-way Delta One flight from New York to Amsterdam in November. Currently, Delta is asking an astonishing 320,000 SkyMiles for this one-way ticket.

In contrast, the same award can be secured for only 50,000 Flying Club points along with $5.60 in taxes and fees. This represents a much better deal.

Full disclosure: These awards aren’t accessible on every date. Unlike booking directly through Delta, you'll need to find saver-level availability to book via Virgin Atlantic.

Generally, these awards appear when Delta provides its lowest award pricing tier, but you might have to experiment with different dates on Virgin's site. A great strategy is to use ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG's parent company, Red Ventures) to set alerts for when award space becomes available.

How to secure this award

Booking Delta award tickets through Virgin Atlantic is straightforward and can be done online. The advantage of their site is that anyone can check for availability — you’ll only need to log into your account when you're ready to book. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to secure this award:

Step 1: Input your travel details

On the Virgin Atlantic homepage, input your travel details as usual. Then, under "advanced search," select "points" instead of showing the price in "money." I also suggest checking the "show flexible dates" option to find availability more efficiently. You can book this award as a one-way or round trip.

Step 2: Verify your travel dates

If you choose the flexible dates option, you’ll see results for a week’s worth of dates. If none suit your needs, you can explore additional options using the "Price Calendar" feature, which helps you find availability over several months.

Step 3: Choose your flights

After selecting a date, you’ll see all available flight options along with their prices. If there are numerous choices, you can sort and filter them by price and number of stops.

Step 4: Review, log in, and complete your payment

The last step is to review your itinerary and log into your account to complete your booking. While the taxes and fees for these awards are low, it’s crucial to use the right card, like The Platinum Card® from American Express or Chase Sapphire Reserve. These cards not only earn bonus points on airfare but also offer benefits like trip delay reimbursement and trip cancellation protection, which can be invaluable when unexpected issues arise.

How to accumulate miles for this award

Even if you’ve never flown with Virgin Atlantic, acquiring the miles needed for this award is straightforward. Flying Club partners with most major points programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards. Transfers occur at a 1:1 ratio and typically happen instantly. It's common for banks to provide bonuses for transferring points to Virgin Atlantic.

If you’re just starting with points and miles, I suggest obtaining the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. With an annual fee of only $95, it currently offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 within the first three months of opening your account.

Alternatively, here are some other current welcome bonuses on travel rewards cards that offer transferable points:

• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card: Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 in the first three months of account opening. Annual fee: $95.
• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Receive 80,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $8,000 within the first six months. You might be targeted for a better bonus via the CardMatch Tool (offer may change). Annual fee: $695 (see rates and fees).
• American Express® Gold Card: Get 60,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $6,000 in the first six months. You might also be targeted for a better bonus through the CardMatch Tool (offer may change). Annual fee: $250 (see rates and fees).
• Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Annual fee: $550.

If you've traveled with Virgin Atlantic—whether on a cash or award ticket—check for the option to purchase a Mileage Booster to gain some affordable Flying Club miles. There’s often a promotion that reduces the cost to under 1 cent per mile.

In summary

Booking Delta One awards to Europe via Virgin Atlantic Flying Club can often be much more cost-effective than using Delta's SkyMiles program. You can potentially save hundreds of thousands of points. Additionally, Flying Club miles are straightforward to earn. The only challenge is that finding saver-level Delta award space through partners can sometimes be tricky.