Delta and American Express have a portfolio of co-branded credit cards. While Delta SkyMiles is far from my favorite mileage currency, I appreciate that miles in the program have a “floor” value, based on all the ways there are to redeem SkyMiles for at least one cent each toward Delta purchases. In addition to having Delta’s “Pay With Miles” feature, there’s also the “TakeOff 15” benefit, whereby cardmembers can get a 15% discount on award tickets.
In this post:
Details of Delta Amex welcome offers
Delta Gold Personal Amex: 40,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 40,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150. (Rates & Fees)
The Gold Delta Amex (both business and personal) offers perks like a first checked bag free, priority boarding, savings on inflight purchases, 15% savings on select award flights, a $100-150 Delta Stays credit, and more.
Read a full review of the Gold Delta Amex.
Delta Gold Business Amex: 55,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 55,000 Bonus Miles after spending $4,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 (Rates & Fees)
Delta Platinum Personal Amex: 50,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership
- The card has a $350 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
The Platinum Delta Amex (both business and personal) offers perks like an annual companion certificate, the ability to earn status through credit card spending, a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit (every 4.5 years for TSA PreCheck, or every four years for Global Entry), a first checked bag free, priority boarding, savings on inflight purchases, 15% savings on select award flights, a $100-150 Delta Stays credit, an annual rideshare and Resy credit (enrollment required), and more.
Read a full review of the Platinum Delta Amex.
Delta Platinum Business Amex: 65,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 65,000 Bonus Miles after spending $6,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $350 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
Delta Reserve Personal Amex: 60,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 60,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $5,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $650 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
The Reserve Delta Amex (both business and personal) offers perks like an annual companion certificate, the ability to earn status through credit card spending, a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit (every 4.5 years for TSA PreCheck, or every four years for Global Entry), a first checked bag free, priority boarding, savings on inflight purchases, 15% savings on select award flights, a $200-250 Delta Stays credit, an annual rideshare and Resy credit (enrollment required), and more.
Read a full review of the Reserve Delta Amex.
Delta Reserve Business Amex: 75,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card has the following welcome offer:
- Earn 75,000 Bonus Miles after spending $10,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $650 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
How many Delta Amex cards are you eligible for?
Each of these Delta American Express cards is considered a separate product, and you’re eligible for the bonus on each card once. In other words, you could get both the business and personal version of the Gold, Platinum, and Reserve over time, which opens up lots of opportunities. That means a vast majority of people should be eligible for the bonuses on at least some of these cards.
Amex’s standard card application rules apply.
Which Delta Amex offer is best?
Which Delta Amex offer is best depends entirely on what you’re looking for and what your travel profile is like. As far as my general advice goes:
- If you’re just a casual Delta flyer, it’s hard to go wrong with the big bonuses and introductory annual fees on the Delta Gold cards
- For those who fly Delta a bit more often, the Delta Platinum cards are great, given the annual companion certificate
- For the frequent Delta flyer who is going for status, the Delta Reserve cards are the best cards for earning status, and also offer the most compelling perks
- If you’re deciding between a personal and business card (and don’t want both), then I’d generally recommend a business card, given that the welcome offers are a bit better
Keep in mind that Delta’s “Pay With Miles” feature allows you to redeem your SkyMiles for at least one cent each toward the cost of a Delta ticket. That means 40,000-70,000 SkyMiles will get you a minimum of $400-$700 worth of airfare. With the 15% discount on awards for cardmembers, you can often do even better than that by just outright redeeming for awards.
Bottom line
If you fly Delta with any frequency, there’s potentially significant value to holding onto these cards in the long run.
Do you plan on picking up a Delta Amex with the current offers?
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card (Rates & Fees), Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Rates & Fees), and Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (Rates & Fees).
I think a lot of people will be like me and switch up to the reserve card this year. I have the Personal Platinum, so have the 2500 MQD already. Given the signup bonus for the Reserve, it is not a bad deal to sign up for the Reserve, with the higher MQD earnings for spend, as well as the additional 2500 MQD head start bonus. I can then cancel the Platinum when it renews....
I think a lot of people will be like me and switch up to the reserve card this year. I have the Personal Platinum, so have the 2500 MQD already. Given the signup bonus for the Reserve, it is not a bad deal to sign up for the Reserve, with the higher MQD earnings for spend, as well as the additional 2500 MQD head start bonus. I can then cancel the Platinum when it renews. The 15% discount on the award flights is the big cost advantage of these cards. Some of the perks on the reserve are also useful. With rollover MQM conversions, I should be at Gold as soon as I signup for the card. I do not get a lot of benefit out of Delta status per se, but there are some benefits. I am also enjoying my Alaska Air MVP 100 status. Thanks Delta.
Wow!
110,000 miles may get me all the way to Cleveland!
110k miles! Enough for an economy ticket to Des Moines on DL!
I know there aren't a ton of Delta regular fliers that frequent the blog, but it seems like most cardholders are happy with the most recent Platinum/Reserve changes. I've already taken advantage of the new rideshare and restaurant credits. The extra MQD this year is also welcome. Honestly I will likely be using this card more in 2024.
On Delta topics on this blog we have more people more obsessed with Tim Dunn's take than Tim Dunn is obsessed with DL.
Also, I'm in the same situation; as a hotel free agent, the $200 hotel credit clearly outweighs the $100 AF increase. While I will likely not maximize the rideshare credit, and the Resy is clearly not going to be an every month thing for me, I'm sure I'll keep this card for at least all of 2024
As a regular Delta flier, I think the 15% miles discount has been huge with these cards. I currently have the gold version, and have used miles for any domestic Delta flight that I could get 1.5 cpp, which ended up being about 90% of my flights in the past year. I have ended up using up over 300k SkyMiles, so have saved at least 45k miles this year. And these flights earn MQDs &...
As a regular Delta flier, I think the 15% miles discount has been huge with these cards. I currently have the gold version, and have used miles for any domestic Delta flight that I could get 1.5 cpp, which ended up being about 90% of my flights in the past year. I have ended up using up over 300k SkyMiles, so have saved at least 45k miles this year. And these flights earn MQDs & earn towards million miler status, are eligible for 2500 miles for late baggage (which I get about 60-70% of the time), etc.
The $100 hotel credit is sort of neutral for me. I can use it now that its there, but would not value it anywhere close to face value. In my household, P2 and I will probably trade off having one of the Delta cards each year, and take turns using up some of our SkyMiles balances. We are both 1MM, so we don't really need the card's baggage benefits, etc.