Delta used to be my favorite airline in terms of flight experience, customer service, and loyalty program. However, that was some time ago! I still think they’re one of the best airlines in the country with great service and solid airplane products, but their loyalty program has gone down the drain and has been quite evidently hated on by almost every travel writer in the blogosphere.
In an effort to revamp interest in their loyalty program, and to drive revenue for both Delta and American Express, the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card and the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card increased their sign up offers to 50,000 bonus points each and both cards coming with some unique perks through September 8th. This bonus offer is not eligible for those who have held either card in the past. The Amex Delta cards normally don’t interest me whatsoever, but I’ve taken notice in the 50,000 point offer along with a $50 statement credit for the Gold Card and a $100 statement credit for the Platinum Card (when you make a Delta purchase – if you’re not planning on purchasing a flight just buy a gift card).
- Receive 50,000 SkyMiles when you spend $1,000 in 3 months
- Earn a $50 statement credit after your first Delta purchase (also within 3 months).
- Earn 2X miles per $1 on Delta purchases, 1X miles on everything else.
- Check your first bag free on every Delta flight for you and up to 8 people on your reservation.
- Free Priority Boarding and 20% off of In-Flight purchases.
- Discounted Delta SkyClub access at $29 per visit.
- No Annual Fee for the first year and then $95 each year after. No foreign transaction fees.
- Receive 50,000 SkyMiles and 15,000 Medallion Qualification Miles when you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months.
- Earn a $100 statement credit when you make your first Delta purchase within 3 months.
- Earn 2X miles per $1 on Delta purchases, 1X miles on everything else.
- Check yourfirst bag freeon every Delta flight for you and up to 8 people on your reservation.
- Earn a bonus of up to 20,000 SkyMiles and 20,000 MQM’s annually (10,000 of each for $25,000 in calendar year spend, and another 10,000 of each for a total of $50,000 in calendar year spending).
- Priority Boarding and 20% off In-Flight purchases.
- Annual Companion Certificate for one roundtrip economy ticket in the 48 contiguous United States.
- $195 Annual fee and No foreign transaction fees.
My Strategy for Both Cards:
I just signed up for both cards using the 2 browser method (opening up one application of each in different internet browsers, i.e. Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, and applied for both cards at the same time in order to only receive on credit pull). I figured it’s easy enough to spend $2,000 in 2 months (using Amazon Payments) for both cards and get 100,000 free Delta Skymiles and $150 in statement credits. Why is it I said in 2 months and not 3 months? Well funny you should ask…American Express will waive the annual fee if you cancel the card within 60 days of card opening. So you can essentially receive 100,000 Skymiles + 15,000 MQMs + $150 statement credits for both cards without spending a penny of your own money! So even though I’m not crazy about Delta Skymiles, this just seems like too good of a deal to pass up and there are definitely some good award options that I can make use of from Delta (which I’ll outline below). I’ll probably hold onto the Gold Card for the year until the annual fee comes up to take advantage of some of the added perks that come with it, but I have no reason to keep the Platinum Card. My strategy is in process as both applications are being reviewed…wish me luck!
The Best Use of Delta Skymiles:
Saver award tickets can be hard to come by in Delta’s reward program, however, if you do some research and are flexible enough, you can find some great ways to use these newly acquired Delta Skymiles. The best deal is the 160K round-trip business class award to Australia which has pretty great availability thanks to partner airline Virgin Australia. And if you’ve never been to Tahiti and have been dying to visit that photo that’s always been your computer’s screensaver, then you can even stop off for free in Tahiti along the way to Australia on Air France or Air Tahiti Nui which fly nonstop between the United States and Tahiti.
Enjoy a free stopover in Tahiti!
Delta is also one of the only airlines that allows a free stopover on domestic tickets, so you can fly to 2 different cities on a single 25K award booking which is pretty amazing.
Accumulating Delta Skymiles:
If you need to top off your Skymiles account, you can transfer Membership Rewards Points from the Amex Gold, Platinum, or EveryDay Cards or you can transfer 20,000 Starpoints from your Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and receive a bonus of 5,000 miles for a total of 25,000 Delta Skymiles.
So if you’re like me and you want to diversify your point holdings in various different airline loyalty programs to save for when you’re in a pinch, these offers by Delta/American Express can be very worthwhile. Comment below and discuss why you would or wouldn’t apply for the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card or the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card.
Where do you see the part about the refund if cancelled within 60 days?
Many people have spoken to customer service representatives at American Express that have confirmed (on flyertalk, milepoint, and DD forums) that if you cancel your credit card within 60 days, the annual fee will be refunded. After 60 days, the annual fee is pro-rated and you only pay for the amount of time you’ve had the card, divided by the annual fee.
I’ve seen a few folks talk about canceling cards before the annual fee hits early on in the first few months of the card, but I don’t think that’s something I would personally do or recommend. It just seems (to me at least) to be pretty short-sighted and a good way to increase your risk of a Financial Review or other adverse action.
For sure it’s a matter of personal taste and I don’t want to sound like I’m judging you or anyone else who does this, but for me, we have enough miles for the travel that we want to do that I’d rather avoid some of the more “extreme” tactics of accruing miles 🙂
I understand your concern, however many people have reported doing this with their Citi Executive Cards with the 100k offer in order to avoid the $450 annual fee and I rarely see any issues with cancelling a card early on. I usually don’t recommend cancelling cards for a couple reasons.
I find this to be more of a unique case as I would only recommend cancelling the Platinum card and keeping the Gold Card as I outlined above. Also, Amex dates back to your first card, so it shouldn’t affect your credit score much. Ideally, i tell people to downgrade a card if the fee outweighs the benefits, but if you can’t, transfer the credit limit over to another card in order to keep your credit utilization ratio at a solid number.
I would definitely agree in a sense that making a habit of cancelling cards is not a good practice, but considering this is an Amex Delta card, I think it’s the perfect situation to cancel a card within 60 days.
Not so sure you will get both bonuses. You might not get any bonus if you currently have an AMEX card. See offer terms:
OFFER TERMS:
If we identify you as currently having an American Express® Card account, you may not be eligible for this welcome bonus offer. This offer is also not available to applicants who have or have had this product.
You are correct that Amex can be selective about who to give the bonus to. I did receive email offers for both so I’m taking my chances, but I won’t get the cards unless I can confirm that I’m eligible for the bonus from Amex. Good call.
Makes no difference if you got email offers. The terms are the terms, and AMEX has been unforgiving as of late as far as enforcing eligibility for sign up bonuses.
I spoke to an Amex CSR and confirmed that only those who have had either card in the past is ineligible for this offer.