Delta just quietly added a new way to redeem SkyMiles when booking award flights with your miles … and it’s the worst one yet.
Like countless other airlines, Delta offers travelers the option of adding a cheap (and often subpar) travel insurance policy to their reservation during the checkout process. But when redeeming SkyMiles on flights across Delta's network – both domestic and international – Delta now gives logged-in members the option to cover that cost with SkyMiles instead, at a shockingly poor value.
For example, Delta let me choose between paying $28 for add-on Allianz coverage for this roundtrip award ticket from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Raleigh-Durham (RDU) or a brand-new option: paying 3,294 SkyMiles instead.
After searching dozens of routes, that's the exact same rate you'll pay for any SkyMiles redemption where adding travel protection is an option. That works out to less than a penny apiece – 0.85 cents per mile, to be exact – and a terrible value by virtually any standard.
Thus far, we haven't seen the option to redeem SkyMiles for trip coverage on a normal Delta ticket booked with cash. It may only be a matter of time before this option becomes universal.
Delta SkyMiles may get a bad rap, and for good reason after years of unannounced award rate increases. But whether you book a flight, wait for a SkyMiles flash sale, or even redeem them for champagne in the Sky Club, you can easily get more than 1 cent apiece in value from your SkyMiles.
The floor for redeeming SkyMiles has long been 1 cent, even for less-than-stellar redemptions like paying for bags with your Delta miles. With this new option, the floor just went lower.
It’s unclear exactly when this new redemption option launched – we didn’t see it while booking several flights with SkyMiles just yesterday. But it appears to be a new option aimed squarely at travelers redeeming their hard-earned miles: a crafty way to coax customers who are already willing to part with their miles to throw away a few thousand more.
And it continues a growing trend: From using SkyMiles to pay for baggage and even to avoid basic economy, Delta has gone further than any other U.S. airline in offering more ways to redeem their miles for minimal value, all in the name of choice.
But there's a big problem beyond just the awful value…
Your Miles Are Already Protected
This isn't just a poor value. It's also likely unnecessary.
Award tickets booked with SkyMiles are fully refundable unless you're booking a bare-bones Delta basic economy award fare. That means if you cancel, you’ll get all your SkyMiles and any taxes and fees you paid refunded to your original form of payment.
So what exactly is this “trip protection” getting you, then? You're paying extra (with cash or SkyMiles) for protections that Delta already offers for free on almost any award booking.
Where We're Seeing This New SkyMiles Trip Insurance Option
So far, this option to pay for trip insurance with SkyMiles appears to be showing up on most, if not all, SkyMiles award bookings that originate in the U.S.
We’ve tested a handful of routes and have consistently seen the offer to add trip protection – either by paying cash or redeeming miles – during the checkout process for roundtrip or one-way award tickets originating from U.S. cities.
For example, we spotted this new trip insurance option on:
- A roundtrip award booking from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Las Vegas (LAS)
- A one-way flight to Denver (DEN)
- A roundtrip from New York (JFK) to Madrid (MAD)
The cost was the same in all cases: 3,294 SkyMiles or $28. However, one-way award flights departing from outside the U.S. do not offer the option to add trip insurance at all. For instance, a one-way award ticket from Cancún (CUN) back to Minneapolis had no insurance option whatsoever.
At this point, it appears this new trip insurance option is only available on SkyMiles award bookings departing from the U.S.
The Upsell Is Real … And Strategic
If there’s one thing airlines are great at, it’s trying to squeeze more out of each and every traveler. Delta is already notorious for aggressive upselling during the booking process, from using SkyMiles to pay for baggage to avoiding basic economy altogether.
Now, they’re adding trip insurance into the mix… and letting you use your SkyMiles to pay for it. This isn’t just about convenience – it’s a financial strategy.
Airline miles like SkyMiles are considered liabilities on an airline's balance sheet. That means the airline owes you a flight (or something of value) until you use those miles. By offering a low-value redemption like this during the booking process, Delta can reduce that liability while still turning a profit on the transaction.
Sure, 3,294 miles might not sound like much. But multiply that across thousands (or millions) of bookings, and it becomes a meaningful win for Delta – and a quiet loss for travelers. Yet it will no doubt be effective.
Right or wrong, many travelers buy these add-on insurance policies on impulse. And considering the travelers Delta is targeting with this option are ready to redeem their SkyMiles. What's a few thousand more?
At the end of the day, Delta is targeting its members with an offer that drains their SkyMiles for little in return. For an airline that already has one of the most questionable mileage programs, this feels like a new low.
Bottom Line
Delta is now letting travelers pay for travel insurance with SkyMiles on many award tickets. It may only be a matter of time before it becomes an option for all Delta flights.
Remember: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
