Delta & Virgin Atlantic Partnership
There is no doubt that maximizing airline partners is by far the most valuable way to use miles and points. That is the secret sauce that the regular muggles will never understand. They earn their little airline miles, book their flights on that airline's metal and then celebrate like they are smarter than the average bear. The problem is – they aren't. At least not compared to all of us! That is because we understand that they may have been able to book that same flight with a partner airline program for less. This is the reason that transferrable currencies are so powerful, and why we preach to focus on those over direct airline miles or hotel points. But what about using two airline programs to book a flight … for less?! That is exactly what I did with the Delta & Virgin Atlantic partnership.
Searching Flights To San Diego
I need to head to San Diego next month and already had some flights booked on American Airlines. I had a decent deal on those thanks to the Alaska Airlines and American Airlines partnership. Even though I booked that flight on American fairly cheaply with Alaska Airlines miles (another partner award for the win) it arrived a little later than I would like. It also had a connection, which wasn't ideal for my quick turn around itinerary. Why would open myself up to any potential delays on two flights when I could book a non-stop flight on Delta?
After a quick search on Delta's site I found a flight in the morning that worked perfectly for my needs. I also had a stash of Delta Skymiles still from that crazy year of earning 250,000 miles with one card without a welcome offer at all. The prices for the flight (pictured above) were not terrible, but they were not great. The prices also included the 15% credit card discount on awards thanks to my recent Delta Reserve upgrade offer.
Using Partner Airlines To Do Better
Instead of simply taking the Delta price as gospel I wanted to do a partner airline award search and see if I could get the flight cheaper. I also had a small stash of Virgin Atlantic miles burning a hole in my pocket. My search for the same dates pulled up the following option:
The same flight, but for 11,300 miles less! If I had no miles in either account then this would actually be an apples to apples comparison too, since they are both an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner. Which one would you rather transfer your Membership Rewards too? Easy answer when one is over 10,000 miles less, isn't it?
This was great news, but there was still a problem. I didn't want to fly in economy for that longer flight if I didn't have to. Virgin Atlantic was only showing main cabin seats bookable on Delta, so I guess I was out of luck. Not so fast!
Using A Second Airline Partner To Upgrade
I went ahead and booked the Delta flight on Virgin Atlantic's site anyway because I still had the Delta Airlines and Virgin Airlines partnership in my back pocket. If I had better status with Delta then I could have selected a Comfort seat with my Delta Medallion status after booking. All I would have needed to do was update my frequent flyer account saved on the flight details to my Delta Skymiles number (guide on how to do just that). Being a lowly Delta Silver status holder only guarantees me preferred seating guaranteed though, and that just wouldn't do.
The real reason I went ahead with booking the flight is because I knew that Delta offers upgrade offers on most flights in cash or Delta Skymiles. Yes, that is true even of Delta flights booked with Virgin Atlantic miles. I would just need to update the frequent flyer program over to my Delta Skymiles number to make this a possibility. Once I did that I went in to select my seats and these are the offers I saw available.
Upgrade To The Seat I Want For Less Overall
I could upgrade to Delta Comfort for only 8,500 Delta Skymiles! When you include that with the 18,500 Virgin Atlantic miles I used to book the original flight you get 27,000 miles in total between the two programs. That is 2,800 miles less than just booking the main cabin seat with Delta Skymiles directly. It is 7,100 miles cheaper than booking Comfort with Delta initially too. The numbers look even worse if I didn't have a credit card that offers the 15% award discount on Delta flights.
This is an example of just one way that you can really maximize that Delta and Virgin Atlantic partnership. It also shows how powerful transferrable currencies can be. I could have used my Membership Rewards to book the exact flight I wanted – for less – by maximizing two programs with the same pot of points. Something that would not be possible if I had just Delta Skymiles or just Virgin Atlantic miles.
Delta & Virgin Atlantic Partnership: ToP Thoughts
When I booked the Delta flight with Virgin Atlantic miles I had hoped this is how it would work out. I actually hoped that Delta First would be cheaper overall, but that 15% discount doesn't show on upgrades and made it a slightly worse deal overall. That is if I didn't want to just split up the booking cost across two programs at least. If the upgrade offers would have been poor, or nonexistent, then I would have been okay flying economy. If not, then I would still have 24 hours to cancel for free. Let me know if you have ever used two different airline programs to book one flight for less over in the ToP Facebook Group.
