Earlier this year my parents took our family on an absolutely incredible vacation to South America. You’ll see a few posts coming from that trip in the coming weeks, but I largely avoided blogging during the trip. So, instead of a full blown trip report, I’m just going to sprinkle a few posts about the trip in with my typical content.
Anyway, to begin the trip my family would all meet in Atlanta before flying Delta to Rio De Jeneiro. Since my parents were paying the bills for the trip I wanted to do something special for them to thank them. I had a few ideas of what to do when finally it hit me. I would buy a nice bottle of Champagne for them in the Atlanta Delta Sky Club with SkyMiles. I’d read about doing this a while ago and figured it would be the perfect thank you gift. Also, it would give me a chance to burn the few Delta SkyPesos I have since I had no intention of using them anytime soon.
Atlanta F Concourse Delta SkyClub
As we were flying internationally we were scheduled to depart from the F Concourse. Within the F Concourse there is a great Delta SkyClub which I’ve reviewed previously. We were traveling as a group of 7, but since my folks were in Business Class and three of us have the American Express Platinum card we were able to get everyone into the lounge before our flight.
Once inside we made ourselves comfortable in the lounge. It’s always fun to bring people into a lounge as nice as this one.
After settling in I excused myself by telling my family that I wanted to take photos of the lounge for my blog. After some intense eye rolls from my siblings I departed to another area of the lounge.
Secretly my plan was to stop at the bar and order a bottle of Champagne, but I didn’t want to tell anyone that.
So I found a spot at the far side of the bar out of sight from the rest of my family. There I requested the beverage menu to select my bottle of Champagne.
Buying Champagne With Delta SkyMiles
When I asked for the menu I was given a small pamphlet drink menu.
Inside was a list of wines and Champagnes which are carefully curated by Andrea Robinson a master sommelier.
When I first looked at the list I didn’t notice any Champagne, but upon closer inspection I found exactly what I was looking for. As a gift to my parents for this trip I would get the family a bottle of Dom Perignon for 12,500 Delta SkyMiles. The bottle carriers a cash value of $250.
At that point I requested the bottle from the bartender. He then asked how I wanted to pay for the bottle to which I answered with Sky Miles. Next, he brought over a tablet and asked me to type in my SkyMiles account number. Then I was presented with a confirmation page in which I needed to hit a green button to approve the transaction. In total, buying the bottle took no more than a few seconds.
After that the bartender brought the bottle, 7 glasses, and an ice bucket out to where we were sitting. He then uncorked the bottle and left us to enjoy the Champagne.
The bottle we were given was a vintage 2006 which is becoming ever more difficult to find. More commonly today you’ll find the 2009 vintage on offer.
Although my Dad was a bit frazzled that they changed our gate I think everyone really enjoyed the Champagne. It was extremely rewarding to be able to give this to my family. I personally can’t think of a more fun way to use Delta SkyMiles.
Is This A Good Use Of SkyMiles?
Well, kinda. As with everything in the world of miles and points value is very much in the eye of the user. Someone spending 12,500 miles to get to Omaha may not seem like a good use of points to me, but if they needed to get to Omaha for a wedding to see family then perhaps the redemption makes sense.
With that being said, I don’t get a ton of value from Delta SkyMiles. Each year I earn about 12,500 SkyMiles from flying with Delta or other cross promotions. That’s not really enough miles to go anywhere meaningful and if I’m going to use miles to pay for a flight I’d rater just fly American to enjoy my elite benefits. So, each year I end up with about 12,500 SkyMiles that are essentially worthless. For that reason, I think this is a great use of those miles.
From a true value perspective, the miles net $0.02 of value per mile given the “retail” cost of the bottle. However, you can usually find Dom Perignon in a store for about $150 so in reality the value is only about $0.013 which isn’t great.
Lastly, you can actually buy the bottle and take it with you. You don’t have to drink it at the Sky Club. I personally plan on buying another bottle soon and brining it home with me to drink on a special occasion.
Final Thoughts
Buying Dom Perignon Champagne with SkyMiles was a truly unique experience. Not only was it a unique opportunity to buy a fine Champagne with miles, but it was also a chance for me to give something back to my parents and my family. To me, it was by far the most special thing I’ve ever been able to do with points and miles.
As I mentioned earlier, I typically earn about 1 bottle of Dom a year in Delta SkyMiles. Going forward I will most likely just try to buy another bottle and take it with me to drink on a special occasion. That or I will again do this in a Sky Club if traveling with someone and looking to make their trip a little extra special.
