If you take his numbers, a nonelite would earn 5 miles per dollar, or 460 miles. A diamond would get 11, or 1012 miles (and would have gotten almost 5k miles flying the same route a couple of weeks ago). I don't see where those numbers would make sense though, as no combinations of those cities add up to that number of miles for me.
The 2210 miles is from ITA but Delta breaks it out as 1523 miles to MSP and 677 to DEN or 2200 total. The base fare is $64. A nonelite would earn $64 x 5 or 320 SkyMiles versus 2200 last year. A Platinum would earn $64 x 9 or 576 SkyMiles versus 4400 last year. I actually booked this but not for the RDM obviously. I knew vaguely that SkyMiles 2015 would be much less rewarding on the cheaper flights, but it was a shock to see the actual numbers the first time. (Corrected base fare to $64).
It seems like a good deal but as a Delta non-elite I can't make the math work for me on this one. I guess that's what they wanted.
You could possibly book it to a partner and get more miles/points. For a Delta elite the MQMs are cheap and the aircraft are mainline with good upgrade chances.
Go us air or AA to avoid all this bs, I think their program will continue to win.. Miles flown= miles earned
