After Delta imposed serious devaluations to its SkyMiles reward program, many frequent fliers turned elsewhere to earn elite status with other airlines’ reward programs. The fact remains, however, that Delta is still one of the best domestic airlines offering top customer service and quality in-flight experiences. Not to mention, Delta has some sweet spots in their award program that still make their SkyMiles very valuable in my opinion. As SkyMiles become harder to earn via flying, I like to look for other options to earn points like taking advantage of the sign up bonuses offered by the Amex Delta Cards.

The current public offers for the Gold Delta and the Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards sit firmly at a sign up bonus of only 30,000 and 35,000 points respectively. However, I recently came across a link that publicly offers 50,000 and 60,000 SkyMiles for meeting the minimum spending requirements! This offer expires on July 6, 2016.

Here are the highlights for each card:

Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card

• Annual Fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95
• Earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months
• Earn a $50 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months*

Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card

• Annual Fee: $195
• Earn 60,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion®Qualification Miles (MQMs) after spending $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months
• Earn a $100 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months*
• After you spend $25,000 on purchases on your Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card in a calendar year, earn 10,000 Medallion^®Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 10,000 bonus miles. And, after you spend $50,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in the same year, earn an additional 10,000 MQMs and an additional 10,000 bonus miles. That’s a total of 20,000 MQMs and 20,000 bonus miles in a calendar year
• Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card

*Note that you can buy a $50 or $100 e-certificate that never expires for future credit towards a paid ticket and it will qualify for the statement credit

Award Sweet Spots

One of my favorite and most valuable Delta award sweet spots is flying from Los Angeles to London via Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class for only 62,500 points.

Los Angeles – London on Virgin Atlantic

Other great options from the US to Europe, include direct nonstop flights on Air France or KLM (Delta’s Flying Blue) partners to destinations like Paris, Amsterdam, and more for just 62,500 points in Business Class.

Los Angeles – Paris on Air France

Bottom Line

Last year I jumped on this offer and signed up for both cards and got approved. I earned 110,000+ Delta SkyMiles, 10,000 MQMs, $150 in e-certificates, and paid $0 in fees as I canceled the Platinum card within 3 months of opening the card and kept the Gold Card (which doesn’t carry an annual fee the first year). I’m not saying you should cancel your Platinum Card, especially since 60,000 SkyMiles plus $100 credit is well worth the $195 annual fee, but I didn’t find any need to keep the card open while holding onto the Gold Card simultaneously. Just note that if you’ve held one of these cards in the past, you are no longer eligible to receive the bonus per Amex’s strict policy. All in all, with some great value to be had from the Delta SkyMiles program and if you haven’t held one of the Amex Delta consumer cards in the past, I highly recommend signing up for at least one of these cards before these increased sign up offers expire on July 6th!

Link

What will you do?