Flying to Italy with Skymiles

Tl;dr: With a heads-up from ThriftyTraveler and a discount thanks to a Delta Amex card, we flew main cabin to Italy for 44k miles and $58 each. 

Despite recently returning from an amazing trip to Japan, we still had the itch to travel. As luck would have it, I got an email alerting me to a Delta Skymiles sale on flights to Europe. For just a few hundred dollars and the points I got from opening my Delta Amex Gold card, we had the opportunity to spend a week in Europe. Here’s how.

ThriftyTraveler flight alerts 

In the spring, we took a quick trip to Chile when we got a mistake fare alert from Going, a service that offers subscribers email alerts when airfares go on sale or when–as in that case–an airline misprices a route. ThriftyTraveler is a similar service, but a better one in my opinion. TT doesn’t just offer alerts for discounted fares, it also sends alerts for sales on premium cabin tickets and, crucially, mileage redemptions. 

In this case, TT tipped us off to a massive Delta sale on award flights to Europe. Flights to Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Munich, Lisbon, and Dublin were going for around 36k miles for a basic economy ticket and 50k for main cabin, with around $50 in fees for most routes. 

Delta Amex bonus points and discount

Those are solid redemption rates, but the 15% mileage discount from my Delta Amex Gold card made them even better: 32k for basic economy or 44k in main cabin. Because I earned 60,000 miles when I signed up for the card and spent the required amount to earn the bonus, we could have both flown to Europe with essentially just the miles from opening that card. Although the card normally has a $99 annual fee, it was waived for the first year. 

We opted for the main cabin fare, which gave us the flexibility to choose our seats, check a bag, and cancel for our money and miles back if we needed to change our plans last minute. That’s pretty solid value, with a cash rate on that ticket of $716. 

Delta customer service

Delta recently made some major changes to its frequent flyer program and lounge access policies, angering many loyal customers, to the point where the airline had to sheepishly walk back some of the changes. Despite the drama around frequent flyer status and lounges, Delta remains perhaps the best major US airline, particularly from an operational perspective, tending to have fewer major delays or canceled flights.

That said, on the night before our morning flight to Italy, Delta informed us that our flight had been delayed by several hours, and that we would miss our connection to Rome. Thankfully, Delta allowed us to rebook our tickets online or via its messaging service (I chose the latter option). Our rebooked flight required us to sit in separate middle seats on our connecting flight to Atlanta and required us to leave an hour earlier and arrive two hours later than planned, but overall the damage wasn’t too severe. 

It was nonetheless very frustrating, but those frustrations were largely alleviated when–while sitting in our seats on the tarmac in Atlanta–we each received an email from Delta with an apology, 12,500 Skymiles for the inconvenience, and an invitation to let Delta know about any expenses we incurred as a result of the delay. All told, the 25k mile refund more than made up for the slight delay, and bought Delta some serious goodwill. In comparison, when my mother’s American Airlines flight to Japan was delayed by 6 hours, and her return was delayed overnight, AA offered her nothing. After emailing customer service and noting the massive delays and costs incurred as a result, the airline offered her a paltry 5,000 miles. Despite its recent wobbles, I remain pretty happy flying Delta. 

Airbnb hacks

A cheap flight doesn’t do you much good if the rest of the vacation is expensive, but thankfully we were able to find a lovely Tuscan airbnb with lightning-fast internet and free cancellation for under $275 for a week. We were also able to recoup some Delta miles (though not many, at such a cheap rate) by booking through the Delta portal. Because I used my gift card Airbnb hack, I also got 2 Capital One miles per $1 on my Venture X plus 4 United MileagePlus miles on the purchase. 

Rental car rewards

Rental cars are pretty affordable in the down season, and we were able to rent an automatic transmission from a reputable agency (Budget) for under $150 for a week. We got double points with our Venture X, 2% back in Expedia cash with OneKey rewards, and another 1% back in Membership Rewards points via Rakuten. 

Data

My phone is old enough that it has long been unlocked, allowing me to freely install an E-SIM card while traveling abroad. E-SIMs allow you to purchase a data plan in advance and install it when you arrive without having to stop at a kiosk or physically remove and replace a SIM card.

I generally use Airalo for its cheap rates and “Airmoney” rewards of 5% or more back in store credit for each purchase. (Sign up using my referral code MICHAE1215 to get $3 off your first purchase.) Airalo SIMs tend to be data-only, though, so if you want phone service you’ll have to ensure that it is available on the SIM you choose. I went with Orange, which included 12GB of data and unlimited calling within Europe for 20€.

International dining

Obviously, our main purpose in traveling to Italy was to eat.

With no foreign transaction fees, we could earn 4x points at restaurants with the Amex Gold card or, for those restaurants that didn’t accept Amex, 3x with our Bilt card. 

Venture X

As always, the Venture X is a big asset when traveling. It offers concierge service to help book restaurants as needed (although this did not turn out to be necessary in low season). We were thankful for the rental car damage insurance when we saw all the dings and scrapes that had accumulated on our rental car before we picked it up (no surprise on those narrow Italian streets). And its 10x points on hotels booked through Capital One Travel gave us a great return when booking a hotel close to the airport for an easier return flight. 

Conclusion

With the 15% discount on award tickets for Delta’s co-branded Amex cards, the welcome bonus alone was enough for two roundtrip tickets to Europe. Not bad for a card with no annual fee in the first year. Combined with off-peak rates on car rentals and Airbnb’s, it made for a wonderful vacation for two in Tuscany, all for less than the cost of a single ticket to the east coast. 

Referral Links

Try out ThriftyTraveler with 100-day money back guarantee: LINK

Get the Capital One Venture X with 90k point bonus offer (as of today): LINK

Earn points on rent with the BILT card: LINK

Get $40 in cash back (or earn Amex points) when signing up for Rakuten and spending $40: LINK

Use code MICHAE1215 to save $3 on your first E-SIM at Airalo: LINK