Delta Air Lines, a member of the SkyTeam alliance, offers many options for redeeming miles on flights to Europe using SkyMiles. A great option is to redeem Delta SkyMiles to fly on Virgin Atlantic, which Delta actually owns 49% of the airline.

If you’re looking to maximize your Delta SkyMiles, when it comes to Delta awards including on partner airlines, let Juicy Miles book your next award trip for you through their fast and easy process, which they charge a small fee.

While with some SkyMiles award partner redemptions like Air Europa you must call Delta to book, you’re usually able to search and book Virgin Atlantic award flights on Delta.com.

The first step to finding award space on Virgin Atlantic flights is see which US cities that they fly to from London (most routes are out of Heathrow, but they do operate a 747 between Gatwick and Las Vegas as well as Orlando!). The routes are:

• SEA/LHR
• SFO/LHR
• LAX/LHR
• IAD/LHR
• ATL/LHR
• MIA/LHR
• EWR/LHR
• JFK/LHR
• BOS/LHR
• LAS/LGW*
• MCO/LGW*

As an example, let’s search from EWR/LHR for these instructions. When you get to Delta.com, select ‘One Way’, ‘Flexible Dates’, ‘Miles’ (for price), then ‘Find Flights’.

On the results page, you’ll want to select “5 Weeks†and “Non Stop†to narrow down dates that will have Virgin Atlantic flights.

After you choose your dates that work best for the calendar, then select the details to see the award availability for each class of service Virgin Atlantic offers.

A recent change to the Delta SkyMiles program is the ability to book Premium Economy award seats which is positive because Virgin Atlantic has a true Premium Economy product and not just extra leg room.

Next repeat the same process (‘One Way’, ‘Flexible Dates’, ‘Miles’ (for price), then ‘Find Flights’), but this time searching Heathrow (LHR) to Newark (EWR) to find availability on the return portion of the trip.

Once both the outbound and return dates of the trip are identified, it’s important to do one final Round Trip search to make the two flights a single trip.

Delta has a constantly evolving award chart for flights on their own aircraft, however partner awards will always be at the lowest rate and only bookable if space is available. The one-way award amount are as follows: 35,000 SkyMiles for Economy, 55,000 SkyMiles for Premium Economy, and 85,000 SkyMiles for Upper Class (which is Virgin Atlantic’s business class).

If you’re looking to maximize your Delta SkyMiles, when it comes to partner award bookings, let Juicy Miles book your next award trip for you through their fast and easy process, which they charge a small fee.

Virgin Atlantic is a great airline when it comes to onboard service, and they offer a comfortable product, as well as they fly the new Boeing Dreamliner on several US routes.

If you opt for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class you have access to the Revivals Lounge when landing in the morning at Heathrow as well as the Clubhouse as a departure lounge before departing Heathrow.

Have you flown Virgin Atlantic before? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.