Is Costa Rica on your travel wishlist? Here's your chance to get there for less than the cost of most domestic flights … using Delta SkyMiles.
We recently unearthed this unadvertised Delta SkyMiles flash sale with flights to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) as low as just 16,000 SkyMiles roundtrip – and rates below 29,000 SkyMiles from dozens of airports! This is your chance to fly down to the beaches and rainforests of Costa Rica for a fraction of what other airlines charge. You can book these flights through the winter and even into the spring – peak spring break season!
Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers got this deal earlier this week as soon as we found it, so some of the cheapest availability has been snapped up already. Still, you can find some great deals, give or take a few thousand SkyMiles – especially for a trip in March and April. Travelers with a co-branded Amex card will see the lowest rates thanks to the automatic 15% discount on Delta award tickets.
We search for the best ways to use your Delta SkyMiles (and other points and miles!) with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
You can find cheap award flights down to Costa from February through April 2024 thanks to this deal. And lucky you, you'll find the best availability in March and April, prime time for a spring break getaway. And while these award flights get hit with around $79 or so in taxes and fees, that's a small price to pay on an otherwise great and cheap winter escape.
But the best part about this deal is how widespread it is: You can book at discounted SkyMiles rates from dozens of airports, big and small, across the country. Even major Delta hubs like Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Atlanta (ATL) are getting in on the action – no Delta hub penalty here! Keep reading for the full list of cities!
You'll see the lowest rates are for Delta basic economy award tickets, which don't come with free seat assignment, and get hit with a 9,900-SkyMile penalty if you want to cancel to get the rest of your miles back. These fares also don't count toward Delta Medallion Status, unlike most award fares booked with SkyMiles.
So it could easily be worth spending a few thousand extra SkyMiles for a main cabin economy fare, as those tickets are fully refundable: Get your miles and taxes and fees back for free! It varies by route, but you can generally expect to pay another 8,000 to 18,000 SkyMiles or so for a main cabin fare.
This is just one of several Delta SkyMiles flash sales we've seen recently. Not feeling Costa Rica? For the same number of miles, you could plan a warm-weather getaway to the Caribbean instead.
Just a few days after finding these dirt-cheap SkyMiles rates to Costa Rica, we sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers this flight deal to Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) from 16,000 SkyMiles roundtrip!
And a week ago, we found a similar deal flying directly into the new Tulum (TQO) airport for under 25,000 SkyMiles from dozens of airports around the country big and small, whether you're flying nonstop or making a connection.
Get the next discounted Delta deal and other points and miles alerts with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
Don't have the SkyMiles you need to book these flights? You might: Delta is an Amex transfer partner, so you can send points to your SkyMiles account from cards like amex_plat or the amex_gold instantly to your Delta account and book minutes later.
Thrifty Tip #1: When booking with SkyMiles, make sure to select “Flexible Dates” and “Price Calendar” to maximize the dates viewable and pinpoint the best deal.
Thrifty Tip #2: Have *amex platinum*? Use the $200 airline fee credit to cover the taxes and fees for this Delta SkyMiles deal. This works as long as you have Delta selected as your preferred airline.
Delta SkyMiles Costa Rica Flash Sale Availability
- Travel from February through May 2024, depending on your departure city. Best availability in March and April 2024
- To book these fares, visit Delta.com and search from your airport
- Get 15% award rates with a co-branded Delta Amex card in your wallet thanks to the TakeOff 15 benefit
To begin, do a normal search for flights at Delta.com and be sure to check the box that says “Shop with Miles”.
On the next page, you'll see a grid full of fares, but click the “Price Calendar” button to get the clearest view of what's available. From there, choose the dates with the lowest SkyMiles fares and book!
We recommend upgrading to Main Cabin to include advanced seat assignment and to have the ability to cancel online for a full refund of your SkyMiles and fees. That's easily worth paying an additional 1,000 to 5,000 SkyMiles per roundtrip ticket.
Departure Cities
These are the departure cities you can fly to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) from on this Delta SkyMiles deal.
All these rates listed are for basic economy roundtrip fares before any cardholder discount.
Atlanta (ATL) – 22k*
Baltimore (BWI) – 19k
Birmingham (BHM) – 19k
Buffalo (BUF) – 20k
Calgary (YYC) – 28k
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) – 28k
Grand Rapids (GRR) – 22k
Huntsville (HSV) – 19k
Jackson (JAN) – 26k
Las Vegas (LAS) – 22k
Little Rock (LIT) – 24k
Los Angeles (LAX) – 19k*
Louisville (SDF) – 19k
Melbourne (MLB) – 22k
Memphis (MEM) – 28k
Minneapolis (MSP) – 28k*
Mobile (MOB) – 19k
Montgomery (MGM) – 19k
Montreal (YUL) – 22k
Myrtle Beach (MYR) – 19k
Nashville (BNA) – 24k
New Orleans (MSY) – 22k
New York (JFK) – 20k
New York (LGA) – 20k
Newark (EWR) – 21k
Oklahoma City (OKC) – 24k
Orlando (MCO) – 24k
Panama City (ECP) – 24k
Pensacola (PNS) – 22k
Phoenix (PHX) – 28k
Portland (PWM) – 29k
Rochester (ROC) – 27k
San Antonio (SAT) – 22k
Sarasota (SRQ) – 24k
Savannah (SAV) – 24k
Shreveport (SHV) – 24k
St. Louis (STL) – 28k
Tallahassee (TLH) – 19k
Tampa (TPA) – 24k
Toronto (YYZ) – 24k
Tucson (TUS) – 29k
Tulsa (TUL) – 24k
Vancouver (YVR) – 28k
Washington, D.C. (DCA) – 23k
Washington, D.C. (IAD) – 23k
West Palm Beach (PBI) – 24k
Westchester County (HPN) – 28k
*=nonstop
Bottom Line
These Delta SkyMiles flash sales just keep getting better and better.
Thrifty Traveler Premium members got first dibs on this fantastic award sale from Delta earlier this week. But even as some fares have increased in price, this is still a great deal with plenty of availability if you're flexible with your travel dates to pull off a spring break trip to Costa Rica using your SkyMiles, including over spring break!
With a recent resurgence of SkyMiles, we're searching harder than ever to find the next amazing deal like this one for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members.
FYI the Flash Sale extends to Basic Economy and Main Economy tickets. I just booked two tickets for May 1 – May 9 for $232 for Basic Economy – thanks a ton!!