It’s sad when one of the best uses of miles is alcohol in lounges, but, well… *Delta SkyMiles has entered the chat*
In this post:
Delta SkyMiles are now worth 1.5 cents towards alcohol
Delta SkyClubs have quite an alcohol menu — in addition to complimentary house beer, wine, and liquor, the lounges also have an extensive list of premium drinks available for purchase (with either cash or miles). This ranges from wine, to beer, to spirits, to cocktails.
When it comes to wine, it has been possible to make purchases either by the glass or by the bottle. There have been some really awesome options on the menu, all the way up to Dom Perignon. Back in the day you could even buy Krug champagne in SkyClubs, and I shared my experience doing that at the time.
Unfortunately the value you’ll get when redeeming miles was recently made worse:
- In the past each Delta SkyMile would get you 2.0 cents towards a SkyClub alcohol purchase
- Now each Delta SkyMile will get you 1.5 cents towards a SkyClub alcohol purchase
For example, with this change, a bottle of Dom Perignon can be purchased for $195 per bottle, or for 13,000 SkyMiles (previously you would have paid under 10,000 SkyMiles). That’s still a really solid deal — $195 is close to the retail price you’d find for a bottle in a liquor store. And then when you can redeem SkyMiles at a favorable rate towards that, it gets even better…
Alcohol is still a good use of SkyMiles
Delta has done everything it can to make SkyMiles a revenue based frequent flyer program, and to make miles redeemable for virtually all kinds of purchases with Delta, whether we’re talking flights, upgrades, etc. Unlike some other programs, Delta SkyMiles also doesn’t offer great value for partner redemptions in premium cabins.
Being able to redeem SkyMiles for 2.0 cents each towards alcohol purchases was downright amazing. Even being able to redeem SkyMiles for 1.5 cents each is still a good value, compared to other uses of SkyMiles.
The catch here is twofold:
- While many people would probably love to enjoy a bottle of Dom Perignon for 13,000 SkyMiles, having to consume it in a SkyClub is quite limiting; it could be nice for a special occasion and/or if traveling with a group, but unfortunately you can’t take bottles to go
- In theory there’s an opportunity cost to buying premium drinks; ordinarily when you buy a nice bottle of champagne, you’re probably not in an environment where you would receive “basic” alcohol for free, so really in SkyClubs you’re paying for the incremental enjoyment of premium drinks over basic drinks
Bottom line
Delta SkyMiles are now worth 1.5 cents each towards premium alcohol purchases in SkyClubs, rather than 2.0 cents each. While no doubt a significant devaluation, this is (sadly?) still one of the better uses of SkyMiles.
Have you redeemed SkyMiles for SkyClub alcohol in the past? Would you do it at the new pricing?
(Tip of the hat to Andrew)
I have gotten a bottle of Dom a couple of times from the SEA SkyClub.
- pay attention to the vintage, the menu notes 2009, but sometimes they serve 2010. I mentioned it and a bartender gave me a premium pour of Woodford instead of Four Rose's (that was a small win, but really a negligible value, since I was just gonna have Woodford on board too)
- the advertising on the TV...
I have gotten a bottle of Dom a couple of times from the SEA SkyClub.
- pay attention to the vintage, the menu notes 2009, but sometimes they serve 2010. I mentioned it and a bartender gave me a premium pour of Woodford instead of Four Rose's (that was a small win, but really a negligible value, since I was just gonna have Woodford on board too)
- the advertising on the TV still says 10k for a bottle of Dom. A bartender offered this at the 10k price, even though the menu was updated to show 13k. (8/26/2021)
Can you just take the bottle of champagne with you unopened or you have to drink it there in the lounge?
I going to say it depends on the liquor/restaurant license and local laws, or maybe airline policy. But you are more likely to hear BS excuse and made up rules from DOT or FAA or local laws (if there isn't one).
Although not the same as an entire bottle, 4 glasses of Dom P is not a bad value at just over 10k miles. Wink at the bartender and I bet they pour the remainder of the bottle :)
Yeah not sure when this went into effect, but I got a glass of Dom (poured generously into a red wine glass) for 1,900 skymiles about 10 days ago in a hub Skyclub. Felt that was pretty decent value.
A bottle of 10,000 mile Dom has been a sustaining feature of my travels with Delta for several years. My wife and I would make a point of kicking off every long haul flight with a bottle. I have always heralded it as the greatest deal on planet earth. Until now. But, to be fair, it's still a better use of my miles at 13,000 than anything else. #champagne4life
And yet, everyone in the blog realm continues to pimp the Sky Miles credit cards. Maybe if you would stop selling crack to addicts, Delta would bring value back to Sky Miles.
Paying for any alcohol in a lounge is terrible value full stop. I've always felt somewhat guilty for having access to lounges and free booze inside them when flying AA domestic when its own customers are either denied entry or have limits on what/ how much they can have. Seems somewhat unfair as they're simply an alliance partner airline and I seem to get much better/ more generous treatment as a BA FF.
For...
Paying for any alcohol in a lounge is terrible value full stop. I've always felt somewhat guilty for having access to lounges and free booze inside them when flying AA domestic when its own customers are either denied entry or have limits on what/ how much they can have. Seems somewhat unfair as they're simply an alliance partner airline and I seem to get much better/ more generous treatment as a BA FF.
For all their ills, and I concede they have a long list of them, I can quaff champagne till the cows come home and nobody bats an eyelid ( as I also remember to stay the correct side of tipsy and loathe drunken idiots on plane's)
I always get a Caucasian at my Delta Skyclub. A white Russian in a to go coffee cup with the lid on.
Delta not providing real champagne to Delta One passengers is really cheap when compared to the competition, especially since Delta doesn't have dedicated Delta One lounges or even reserved seating.
I agree it's quite a disgrace for the D1 prices has for international destinations.
If you're nice to the bartender sometimes they'll let you discreetly pack up the bottle to go - done it a couple of times before but tip generously because they could probably get in serious trouble.
I believe Delta also simultaneously raised the prices of their premium alcohol, so that's a double devaluation.
Compare old and new menus. Cash prices on most of the menu actually went down.
More vapor ware from Delta what a short sighted change