Delta is running an early Black Friday award sale that will last a week, through the real Black Friday.

Roundtrip booking is required for travel between December 12 and June 23. 21 day advance purchase is necessary, since that’s often now a rule for getting Delta saver awards domestically.

Now, several things make this not really a traditional Black Friday sale.

• It’s not better than their usual sales
  
• They pretend not to even have regular prices, so it’s hard to call this a discount
  
• It’s not Black Friday (that’s a week from now)
  
• These aren’t even in some cases a particularly great deal

Here are the routes on sale:

FROM	TO	One-Way Price
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Akron, OH (CAK)	7,500 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Asheville, NC (AVL)	9,500 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Daytona Beach, FL (DAB)	9,500 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Fort Smith, AR (FSM)	10,000 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Little Rock, AR (LIT)	10,000 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Milwaukee, WI (MKE)	10,000 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Monroe, LA (MLU)	9,500 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Pensacola, FL (PNS)	9,500 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Sarasota, FL (SRQ)	9,500 miles
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	Savannah, GA (SAV)	9,500 miles
Boston, MA (BOS)	Columbus, OH (CMH)	10,000 miles
Boston, MA (BOS)	New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK)	7,500 miles
Baltimore, MD (BWI)	Detroit, MI (DTW)	10,000 miles
Baltimore, MD (BWI)	New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK)	7,500 miles
Charleston, SC (CHS)	New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)	7,500 miles
Cleveland, OH (CLE)	Durham, NC (RDU)	7,500 miles
Columbus, OH (CMH)	Los Angeles, CA (LAX)	11,000 miles
Dayton, OH (DAY)	Minneapolis, MN (MSP)	10,000 miles
Detroit, MI (DTW)	Indianapolis, IN (IND)	10,000 miles
Detroit, MI (DTW)	Moline-Quad Cities, IL (MLI)	10,000 miles
Detroit, MI (DTW)	Chicago, IL (CHI)	10,000 miles
Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)	New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)	7,500 miles
New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK)	Chicago, IL (CHI)	10,000 miles
Lansing, MI (LAN)	Minneapolis, MN (MSP)	10,000 miles
Los Angeles, CA (LAX)	Seattle, WA (SEA)	5,000 miles
New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)	Durham, NC (RDU)	5,000 miles
New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)	Savannah, GA (SAV)	7,500 miles
New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)	Tampa, FL (TPA)	10,000 miles
New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)	West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)	10,000 miles
Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)	Calgary, AB,CA (YYC)	9,500 miles
Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)	Vancouver, BC,CA (YVR)	9,500 miles

Indeed, you can find plenty of availability for Los Angeles – Seattle for 10,000 miles roundtrip.

Remember, this sale requires roundtrip purchase.

Except… 5000 miles one-way is sort of ‘regular price’ for Delta awards between Los Angeles and Seattle. So you can pull up one way awards for 5000 miles.

Indeed, even once the sale is over 5000 miles is still the saver price between Los Angeles and Seattle.

And that isn’t even a good deal because these are frequently flights you can buy for less than $60.

Still, this is marginally better than using your miles for a haircut or at one cent a point against the inflated $250 price Delta charges for a $139 (or less) bottle of Dom Perignon — which really only gets you half a cent a point in value.

Blackout dates apply — both universally and for specific routes:

December 22 – 23, 26 – 27, 29 – 31, 2016
January 1 – 4, 7, 13, 2017
February 16 – 20, 24 – 27, 2017
March 17 – 19, 24 – 26, 31, 2017
April 1 – 2, 7 – 9, 12 – 17, 2017

Between Columbus, OH (CMH) and Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
December 15 – 21, 2016

Between Dayton, OH (DAY) and Minneapolis, MN (MSP)
June 2 – 12, 2017
June 15 – 19, 2017

Between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
April 6 – 10, 2017

Between New York-Kennedy, NY (JFK) and Chicago, IL (ORD)
December 21 – 28, 2016

Between New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA) and Tampa, FL (TPA)
April 6 – 10, 2017

Between Charleston, SC (CHS) and New York-LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
March 30, 2017 – April 3, 2017

Between Los Angeles, CA (LAX) and Seattle, WA (SEA)
December 15, 2016 – January 2, 2017
March 9, 2017 – April 17, 2017
May 25 – 30, 2017
June 8 – 23, 2017

Between Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) and Calgary, AB,CA (YYC)
December 25, 2016 – January 6, 2017
March 16 – 27, 2017

Between Atlanta, GA (ATL) and Little Rock, AR (LIT)
December 19 – 21, 2016

(HT: The Gate)