When the airline routinely charges $5,000 (or 500,000 SkyMiles), getting a good deal on a Delta One business class seat abroad might seems impossible. We get it.
But trust us: It can be done!
The tide has turned this year for diehard Delta travelers with their hearts set on a lie-flat seat thanks to some outstanding Delta One deals we've found for Thrifty Traveler Premium members lately:
- While we still wouldn't encourage travelers to pile up SkyMiles in order to fly business class, we've found a handful of Delta One deals to Europe, Asia, and even as far as New Zealand bookable for under 200,000 SkyMiles roundtrip lately. In some cases, half that!
- Better yet, we've recently found tons of availability to book those same Delta One flights for even fewer points using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles instead
- We've even seen a few discounted fares to book Delta One seats with cash – at half-off prices!
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Whether you want to book with cash, use your stash of SkyMiles, or plan to turn to one of Delta's partner airlines' points to snag these seats, there are opportunities out there. Take a look for yourself.
SkyMiles Business Class Deals Are Out There
The SkyMiles rates for Delta One business class can be astronomical. Some would say they're downright offensive … and we wouldn't disagree.
It got so bad that we threw in the towel, declaring it time to stop earning Delta SkyMiles if you want to fly business class. There are far better ways to book business class for a fraction of what Delta routinely charges.
But every now and again, Delta cuts those SkyMiles rates. It's unpredictable, and the deals never last long … but we always find them and let our Thrifty Traveler Premium members know. It doesn't get much better than this.
Flying Delta One to Tokyo using SkyMiles is what we would call a “Unicorn” deal – the rarest of rare flight deals that merit an email and a text message alert. This one wasn't just for travelers in San Diego (SAN), either.
We couldn't believe our eyes with these Japan fares. But this one's not a one-off.
Just a couple of weeks ago, we sent another Unicorn alert with one-way Delta One fares to Australia for as low as 102,000 SkyMiles each way – the lowest rate we've seen in more than eight years!
Getting to Australia and New Zealand takes 14-plus hours on a plane … but booking lie-flat seats with points on those routes is typically a serious challenge. So we were thrilled with these discounted SkyMiles fares to Brisbane (BNE) from nearly 100 U.S. cities, big and small.
That's about as good as it gets for a lie-flat seat to Australia these days. And for travelers out there with a boatload of SkyMiles (or transferable Amex points), this sure beats forking over twice as many miles as you normally would.
And best of all … nearly every Delta city in the United States got in on this one, too!
The onslaught of great Delta deals continues. Weeks earlier, we found an incredible deal on Delta's brand-new flight to Marrakech (RAK), Morocco, for just 170,000 SkyMiles roundtrip. Better yet, it was available at that rate from nearly 200 airports, big and small, all across the country!
Like the Tokyo example above, this kind of deal to Marrakech was so rare that it merited a text message to help our members book ASAP. But some destinations benefit from cheap Delta One deals more frequently.
We just keep finding Delta One redemptions to Taipei (TPE) for a fraction of the normal price. This most recent deal was an insane value. Rather than charging the norm of 500,000 SkyMiles or more, Delta slashed award rates down to under 90,000 SkyMiles each way.
That's not just a good deal by Delta's standards – it's one of the cheapest ways to get to Asia in business class using miles. Yes, business class deals using SkyMiles can be this good.
And these were flying the latest and greatest Delta One Suites, to boot!
Read Next: Our Review of Delta One Suites on the A350-900
We've found a half-dozen similar deals to both Asian hubs over the last year. And the cheap Delta One deals also extend across the Atlantic Ocean, too.
Just a month or two ago, we sent our subscribers the best Delta One deal we've seen in years: Just 97,000 SkyMiles each way to fly to Amsterdam (AMS), Dublin (DUB), Rome (FCO), and beyond!
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That's the best SkyMiles business class fare to Europe we've seen in more than two years. Best of all, it wasn't just from the big hubs on the East Coast – from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to smaller cities and even long-hauls starting all the way on the West Coast, this was a widespread sale to Europe.
We also found similar fares on the long flights from the U.S. down to Brazil, Buenos Aires (EZE), and even Santiago (SCL) in Chile! At 170,000 SkyMiles roundtrip, it's a fraction of what Delta typically charges for a lie-flat suite all the way down to South America and back.
Or Book for Under 60K Points (But Not Using SkyMiles…)
Still seeing rates of 300,000 SkyMiles or more to Europe? There's a better way to book Delta One seats: Using miles from one of Delta's partner airlines, Air France/KLM.
Those miles are even easier to earn than SkyMiles, as you can transfer them from all the major banks like American Express, Chase, and others to Air France/KLM Flying Blue. Time it right, and you can book the exact same Delta One flight for a fraction of what Delta itself is charging. Frequent transfer bonuses to Flying Blue make these deals even better.
Finding award availability to book Delta One flights through any partner programs has gotten harder and harder over the years. But this year, we unearthed an unprecedented amount of award space to book deeply discounted Delta One seats for a fraction of the miles Delta is charging for flights to Europe (including this summer), South America, and even Asia.
After going months without seeing a single Delta deal like these, we've sent four of them to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members:
- Delta One Suites from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo-Haneda, bookable for just 89,000 miles each way
- Lie-flat seats to Italy, Portugal, and Spain for as low as 60,000 miles each way, even this summer
- Another round of summer Delta One deals to Europe – this time to cities throughout Germany as well as Ireland, Scotland, and England – for as low as 60,000 points
- And Delta One seats down to South America for as low as 50,000 points each way!
Why fork over more than 250,000 SkyMiles for this flight from Boston (BOS) to Edinburgh (EDI) in October when you can book that exact same flight for just 60,000 miles via Air France instead? Heck, you can even choose between transferring 200,000-plus Amex Membership Rewards points from a card like the *amex gold* to Delta SkyMiles … or transfer a quarter of that sum to Air France instead.
Availability like this comes in waves: Sometimes it's easy to book a Delta business class flight using Flying Blue miles, while other times your searches will come up empty. Exactly how many points you'll need to book these Delta flights will vary: The longer the flight, the more miles Air France/KLM typically charges.
Still, booking a Delta One Suite from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) for less than 90,000 miles each way is a major bargain!
No Points, No Problem: Cheaper Delta One Cash Fares, Too!
When the price to fly lie-flat is a significant percentage of your annual income, I don't blame you for writing off flying Delta One business class. I know I did.
Even in the world of constant flight deals, cheap business class fares are rare on any airline. But we're monitoring business class flight prices all the time, and you might be surprised how cheap Delta One can get if you watch carefully … like our Thrifty Traveler Premium team does.
These nonstop flights from New York City (JFK) to Buenos Aires (EZE) typically top $5,000 roundtrip or more. But Delta slashed its business class prices to compete with American Airlines, which runs the same route. The end result was these half-off fares to Argentina this year!
But what if you didn't have to leave the country to score Delta's best business class seats?
Delta flies between Seattle (SEA) and Honolulu (HNL) multiple times a day – usually on smaller, single-aisle domestic planes. But sometimes, Delta swaps in one of its fancy A330-900neo widebody planes on this route, giving travelers another lie-flat option out to Hawaii and back.
And they made it a relative bargain, too.
Despite the switcheroo, Delta forgot to raise the price! They were still asking for regular recliner first class rates on the lie-flat seats. It was a huge opportunity for travelers based in the Northwest to fly Delta One for some of the lowest prices we've ever seen.
Bottom Line
No matter how you're booking, getting a good deal flying Delta One business class is no sure thing. But the deals are out there, and we brought receipts.
Whether you want to fork over a reasonable cash rate, use your Delta SkyMiles, or use your credit card points to book through a partner airline for far less, a Delta One trip can be a reality.
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Do you find award deals out of Miami? Looking for flights to Buenos Aires and Lisbon. Sky miles, aadvantage, or Atmos. Thanks. Would consider joining if I knew the fees and if you have seen reduced award mileage for these flights.
I assume the Dublin deal is now dead?
How can I book Delta Metal via VS for 50K Virgin points, but booking via Delta it costs 300K+ points?! How does that make any sense?!