Delta secretly offering seriously discounted award trips to Europe

Just when you thought your Delta miles couldn’t be any more worthless, a new promotion by the airline may be offering some hope. For just 42,000 miles (and as low as 87,000 round trip in business class) round-trip coach tickets are available for flights between North America and Europe, a 30% reduction from the typical cost of 60,000 miles  — or at least that's what the typical cost was before Delta did away with its award chart.

Delta hasn’t announced this sale. The airline’s recent shift from using a traditional award chart to dynamic pricing means award levels fluctuate according to date and route. But this time the dynamic pricing seems to be in favor of SkyMiles members.

So what’s the catch? Firstly, you have to travel in the offseason, between October 20 and February 29 and book by August 21st. Plus, the flight may not be direct —my first search for October 30th showed no direct routes from New York City to Paris, only ones with stops in Atlanta. For direct, I could only find flights that were another 16,000 miles. However, a direct flight from New York to Amsterdam did show up at the discounted price.

Nor does the deal appear to extend to all European airports. To get to Berlin,Rome, Prague and Athens, the cheapest flights I could find were 60,000 miles, so clearly you need to shop around and be flexible with your destination. You’ll also have to be flexible about the days you want to travel, as the fare may not be available for the exact day you want.

And don't think your flight will be free, either — there’s also the additional chunk of change for taxes.

So how generous is Delta being? Well, comparatively, United Airlines charges 30,000 each way to Europe, while American Airlines lists its flights to Europe starting at 30,000 miles each way, but also offers 20,000 off-peak one-ways throughout much of the year. Road Warrior Voices has reached out to Delta for comment and will update the story when we hear back.