I stopped booking Delta with SkyMiles. Here's what I use instead

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I’ve taken far more domestic trips than international ones over the last few years, and it continues to surprise me just how expensive domestic airfare has become. Often, a round-trip ticket within the U.S. costs as much as one to Europe — sometimes more.

That’s why one of my favorite award travel strategies today is booking domestic flights through alternate loyalty programs, especially for flights with Delta Air Lines. Instead of redeeming SkyMiles directly, I often use Air France-KLM Flying Blue to book the exact same Delta-operated flights, saving as much as 70%.

Here’s what you should know if you’re also looking to book Delta tickets for much less.

You’re not imagining it: Points inflation is very real. If you’ve ever searched for a flight through Delta Air Lines using SkyMiles, chances are you’ve seen a one-way domestic seat priced at 25,000 miles or more — and well past 40,000 in first class.

Because Delta Air Lines and Flying Blue both belong to the SkyTeam alliance, you can often book reciprocal flights using either program. Note that Delta doesn’t release every seat to partners, so Flying Blue won’t show all of the flights you see on Delta’s own site.

You can see Delta award availability by searching in the Flying Blue website or app, and we recommend searching by month rather than by single date. With a Points Path Pro subscription, Flying Blue award pricing shows up directly in Google Flights.

Flying Blue doesn’t publish an award chart for Delta flights, and pricing moves with the date, the route, and how much space Delta releases — the same seat can cost noticeably more or less a week later. So treat these as what I actually paid, not a rate card. Here are five Delta flights I booked in the past year:

• Washington, D.C. (DCA) to Atlanta (ATL): 547-mile flight distance for 7,000 Flying Blue miles
• Boston (BOS) to Charlotte (CLT): 727-mile flight distance for 9,500 Flying Blue miles
• Austin (AUS) to Salt Lake City (SLC): 1,086-mile flight distance for 14,000 Flying Blue miles
• Salt Lake City (SLC) to Raleigh-Durham (RDU): 1,824-mile flight distance for 18,500 Flying Blue miles
• Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL): 2,556-mile flight distance for 19,500 Flying Blue miles

Taxes and fees are typically under $30 per flight segment. Even at the top of that range, it’s a fraction of what the same seats cost in SkyMiles.

If you haven’t already signed up for a free Air France-KLM Flying Blue account, the process only takes a few minutes. From there, you can transfer credit card rewards points directly into Flying Blue.

Even better, every major transferable rewards program partners with Air France-KLM Flying Blue, and transfers are instant with most of them. Several times throughout the year, programs like American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards also roll out transfer bonuses that improve the standard 1:1 transfer ratio, allowing you to receive even more miles during promotional periods.

Altogether, it’s an incredibly easy way to build up Flying Blue miles without ever flying with Air France or KLM, hence why it’s my secret strategy to book Delta flights without paying exorbitant cash or mileage costs.