Politico reports that Mark Sanford’s trip to Argentina was booked using Delta Skymiles. And indeed, award availability on the Atlanta – Buenos Aires flight, historically difficult to secure, has been much much easy of late.

However, this revelation raises more questions for me than it answers.

• What class of service was the award booked in?
• Did he secure a traditional Skysaver award, or did he have to spend extra miles for the seat?
• Is Sanford a Delta elite? Does he carry a Delta American Express credit card? Put another way, when did he book the trip and was he subject to a close-in ticketing fee?

Grover Norquist apparently quipped yesterday that the Sanford affair demonstrates that men who want to cut spending at the local level are irresistable to women. But what kind of fiscal conservatve is he with respect to his personal decision-making? What kind of value is he looking for in redeeming his miles?

Did he either plan sufficiently far ahead or have the tools necessary to avoid unnecessary fees? And did he work to get a lowest-cost mileage ticket, in business class, for the best value possible? Or did he truly loose his head in the whole ordel?

Enquiring frequent flyers want to know.