Help: Miles CC question

[ChasingLeslie]

Please help me decide if this is a good idea...

I wanted to get a Delta Skymiles CC back in January, but DH hates opening new CC for "no reason." Well, flight prices are nearly double what we paid last year (and climbing) so he has reconsidered.

I got a bonus offer, which would probably cover two of our four seats (plus the bags would be free). Once I activated the card, I would immediately put $1000 of our Disney trip balance on the card...but it would take 6-8 weeks to credit the miles, which means I wouldn't be able to book our flights until early to mid May (for a July 5th departure).

Would you take that deal...? I normally buy my flights early, so waiting and watching the rates continue to skyrocket is stressing me out!

 

[nacho113]

Please help me decide if this is a good idea...

I wanted to get a Delta Skymiles CC back in January, but DH hates opening new CC for "no reason." Well, flight prices are nearly double what we paid last year (and climbing) so he has reconsidered.

I got a bonus offer, which would probably cover two of our four seats (plus the bags would be free). Once I activated the card, I would immediately put $1000 of our Disney trip balance on the card...but it would take 6-8 weeks to credit the miles, which means I wouldn't be able to book our flights until early to mid May (for a July 5th departure).

Would you take that deal...? I normally buy my flights early, so waiting and watching the rates continue to skyrocket is stressing me out!

I think I'm with you on this one, don't know if I could sit by and watch prices rise.

You may find that any saving that you get from the points get eaten up by the rising price of the seats that you are paying for.
I'm not 100% sure how the Delta points work but I find that with my flight miles, as flights get more expensive or more scarce (starting to sell-through), the cost of points to purchase also rise.

 

[bumbershoot]

With Delta the closer you get, unless you hit a points sale (which I have managed the last 3 times I've booked with DH's Delta points, after watching points go up and starting to despair, then watching them plummet again), the points for flights go up.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

@bumbershoot - do you know if they do "points sales" at certain times...?

We decided to pull the trigger and get the card. Even if we only get one free flight and free bags it will still be worth it. The points don't expire.

 

[tinka-belle]

Not always "point sales" per se, since those may or may not fit in with your travel dates, but if the cost of a regular ticket goes down you can buy the ticket and do the "pay with miles" option with the Platinum and Gold Sky Miles cards. This feature also lets you partial pay for tickets in increments of 5,000 miles with a 1 cent per mile value. Sometimes the retail fares paid with miles are less that the cost in miles for a "free" reward ticket.