As of Jan. 22, 2010, the answer is “yes.”
That’s because Delta teamed up with American Express’s LoyaltyEdge to make it possible for SkyMiles members to use their miles to rents cars and hotel rooms, as well as make other purchases.
The program is called SkyMiles MarketPlace. To check it out, go to Delta’s Web site and select “Use Miles” from the SkyMiles menu.
For example, at the Seattle/Tacoma airport, SkyMiles members can rent cars from Alamo, Budget and National Car Rental.
Budget has the least expensive weekly rate at SeaTac: A Ford Focus four-door or similar automatic, air-conditioned car for 27,889 SkyMiles, including unlimited mileage.
Edmunds.com says the Focus was tuned to provide responsive handling and communicative steering for European buyers, with 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder engine offering 140 horsepower.
The Focus includes Ford’s Sync system, which allows occupants to operate devices such as a cell phone, PDA and MP3 player via voice commands.
The most inexpensive National and Alamo rental at SeaTac is a Nissan Versa for 31,264 and 38,046 SkyMiles, respectively. Both including unlimited mileage.
U.S. News & World Report ranks the 2010 Nissan Versa 12 out of 29 affordable small cars and gives the Versa good marks for its spacious interior, roomy cargo space and excellent handling. The Versa gets poor marks for having fewer standard features than other cars in its class.
When renting you’ll want to find out if the Versas in the National and Alamo Sea/Tac fleets were upgraded to include power windows and anti-lock brakes.
At the top end, Budget offers a four-wheel-drive Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar car for weekly rate of 51,556 miles, while National and Alamo offer a four-wheel-drive Chevy Trailblazer or similar car for 52,529 and 61,954 SkyMiles, respectively.


