The best ways to book Delta’s new Melbourne-Los Angeles flights with points

Delta Air Lines is ramping up its Australian flying with a new seasonal service coming to Melbourne. From 3 December 2025, the carrier will operate three return flights per week from Los Angeles. Given the time differences, the first flight from Melbourne to LA departs the Victorian capital on 5 December.

The new route, DL12 from Melbourne, will depart at 10:25 am on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. These flights arrive at 6:10 am local time in Los Angeles on the same calendar day. From LA, flight DL12 runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Departing LAX at 9:25 pm, the service reaches Melbourne at 8:15 am, two calendar days later.

Delta had been eyeing flights to Melbourne for a while, particularly following its launch of seasonal Brisbane services. As we exclusively revealed back in June 2024, ‘Melbourne would be very top of our list,’ Delta President Glen Hauenstein told Point Hacks. ‘Demand is growing faster internationally than it is domestically,’ Delta CEO Ed Bastian added during the same conversation.

But how can you book Delta’s new Melbourne-LA Flights using frequent flyer points, especially since Delta doesn’t have an Australian frequent flyer redemption partner? I’m glad you asked because there are a few ways to go about it.

Book Melbourne to LA using Delta SkyMiles

The simplest way to spend points on Delta’s new route is to book through Delta SkyMiles. This has the advantage of being able to book every available seat in every cabin class. However, as SkyMiles adopts elements of dynamic pricing, the program’s reward rates aren’t set in stone. This can make it tricky to plan without a set goal to aim for.

There’s still value to be had, but those value-centred opportunities usually focus on travel in Economy. For instance, here’s how many Delta SkyMiles you’d need to book a seat on the first Melbourne-LA flight.

• Basic Economy: 43,000 SkyMiles
• Main Cabin: 50,000 SkyMiles
• Comfort+: 64,000 SkyMiles
• Premium Select: 125,000 SkyMiles
• Delta One: 410,000 SkyMiles

Delta doesn’t levy carrier charges on this route. The co-pay is AU$124 in all classes on one-way Delta flights departing Melbourne.

It’s fair to say the redemption rate above for Delta One is rather astronomical. That’s one of the disadvantages of programs that tie reward seat redemption rates to the cash ticket price. That cost also reflects what other programs call an ‘any seat’ reward. That’s because there isn’t a true Delta One reward seat bookable on the same flight through partner airlines on the same date. However, there are seats in Economy – and those rates are much more reasonable through SkyMiles.

As for getting your points into SkyMiles, it’s not easy from Australia. But it’s not impossible either. Delta is an airline transfer partner of Marriott Bonvoy. In turn, Marriott Bonvoy is a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards, PayRewards, CommBank Awards and Virgin Money Rewards. This means you could convert points to Marriott and then onwards to Delta. It makes the most sense when a bonus runs on those initial transfers to Marriott Bonvoy.

Redeem via Virgin Atlantic Flying Club on Delta from Melbourne

Looking for a more traditional ‘reward seat’ approach? Look to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to book Delta’s new Melbourne services. Unlike Delta’s program, Flying Club adopts fixed rates when booking Delta flights. Expect to pay the following one-way between Melbourne and LA:

• Main Cabin: 65,500 Virgin Points
• Delta One: 165,000 Virgin Points

Where available, reward seats can be booked through the Virgin Atlantic website.

On the plus side, reward rates follow a fixed price. If a seat is available, you’ll know exactly how many Virgin Points you’d need. The redemption rate for Economy is a little higher than that of Delta itself. Reward seat availability in Delta One is also severely limited. In that sense, it’s mostly academic that you could redeem a seat for 165,000 Virgin Points because it’s rare for Delta to release any to partners on any of its Australia-USA routes.

Despite the implication from the screenshot above, Virgin Points can’t be used to secure seats in Delta Premium Select (Premium Economy), or in Comfort+. However, bookings made in Economy Class are generally treated as Main Cabin, rather than Basic Economy.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a direct points transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards (MR). Points can be converted from MR to Flying Club at a 2:1 rate. Be mindful, though, that Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is completely separate from Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program. You also can’t convert points between Flying Club and Velocity. Yes, it’s even more confusing because Virgin Australia and Delta used to be partners. But if you want to fly Delta in 2025 using points from a Virgin Group airline, it needs to be Virgin Atlantic.

Book with Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles

Because Delta belongs to the SkyTeam Alliance, you can book its Melbourne-LA flights through other SkyTeam airlines as well. For instance, Miles from the Air France/KLM Flying Blue program can be used, as follows.

• Main Cabin: 57,000 Flying Blue Miles
• Delta One: Bookable, but rate unavailable

We can’t provide you with the rate for Delta One because Flying Blue uses shades of dynamic pricing. This includes when booking partner airline flights. As such, there needs to be a reward seat available to see the cost. And as it stands, Delta doesn’t yet have any Delta One reward seats open for partner bookings on any of its Melbourne flights that we could find.

Speaking of dynamic pricing, that figure of 57,000 Miles isn’t set in stone. You may find it increases or decreases throughout the year. It’s also worth highlighting that Air France and KLM are both partner airlines of Qantas. This means that Flying Blue Miles can also be used to book Qantas flights between Australia and the USA. Sometimes, Economy seats on those flights can be secured for a mileage cost in the mid-40-thousands. This at least gives you a greater chance of finding a flight on a date that suits you, regardless of which airline does the flying.

Flying Blue can be a little bit underrated in Australia. That’s mainly because getting points into the program when living Down Under can be tricky. But you can transfer points directly from CommBank Awards to Flying Blue at a 2.5:1 rate. When paired with the CBA Ultimate Awards Credit Card used overseas, that gives an earn rate of up to 1.2 Flying Blue Miles per AU$1 spent.

Use Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles on Delta’s Melbourne flights

Vietnam Airlines’ Lotusmiles program can also help you get a seat on Delta between Melbourne and Los Angeles. Here are the asking prices, one-way:

• Main Cabin: 55,000 miles
• Delta One: 110,000 miles

Reward seats available to Lotusmiles members largely mirror those open for booking through Flying Blue. This means that while the redemption rate for Delta One is quite attractive and reasonable, you may struggle to find an available reward seat.

Booking partner airlines’ flights through Lotusmiles also requires a phone call. You’ll need to dial +61 3 8605 7888 (press 1). As you can’t use the Lotusmiles website to find reward seat availability, consider searching through Flying Blue as a guide. If you don’t want to call, you can also email lotusmiles@vietnamairlines.com. But as reward seat availability can change at any time, we strongly recommend calling if you’ve found something that’s ready to book.

Also, here’s a big caveat. For the most part, Lotusmiles members can only book partner airline reward flights for themselves, along with children aged under 16 years. To book partner reward flights for other people via Lotusmiles, including for a partner/spouse, you need to have Lotusmiles Million Miler, Platinum, Gold or Titanium status. You also need to add that person to your Redemption Nominee List.

Redemption Nominee Lists are capped at five members for Titanium cardholders and 10 members at the other tiers. Titanium members can only change one person per year, while members at the higher tiers can change two. Without status, this is really just a play for booking solo trips, but it’s an option all the same.

Points earned in the PayRewards program can now be converted to Lotusmiles at a 2.5:1 rate.

Also read: Delta Air Lines Airbus A350 Delta One review (Los Angeles – Sydney)

Featured image courtesy of Delta Air Lines.

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