Delta & 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:
Delta Gold Personal Amex: 40,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card has a welcome offer of 40,000 SkyMiles after spending $2,000 within the first six months. The card has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99. (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, and more.
Read a full review of the Gold Delta Amex.

Delta Gold Business Amex: 50,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card has the following Limited Time Offer:
- Earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after spending $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 (Rates & Fees).
Delta Platinum Personal Amex: 50,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card has a welcome offer of 50,000 SkyMiles after spending $3,000 within the first six months. The card has a $250 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 Pre 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, and more.
Read a full review of the Platinum Delta Amex.

Delta Platinum Business Amex: Up to 60,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card has the following Limited Time Offer:
- Earn 60,000 Bonus Miles after spending $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $250 annual fee (Rates & Fees)
Delta Reserve Personal Amex: 60,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card has a welcome offer of 60,000 SkyMiles after spending $5,000 within the first six months. The card has a $550 annual fee (Rates & Fees).
The Reserve Delta Amex (both business and personal) offers perks like an annual companion certificate, access to Delta Sky Clubs, two guest Delta Sky Club passes annually, and American Express Centurion Lounges. Effective 2/1/25, Reserve Card Members will receive 15 Visits per year to the Delta Sky Club; to earn an unlimited number of Visits each year starting on 2/1/25, the total eligible purchases on the Card must equal $75,000 or more between 1/1/24 and 12/31/24, and each calendar year thereafter. Once all 15 Visits have been used, Eligible Card Members may purchase additional Delta Sky Club Visits (including Grab and Go) at a per-Visit rate of $50 per person using the Card.
Also included is the ability to earn status through credit card spending. Effective 1/1/24, this benefit will no longer be available, and there will be a new way to earn toward Medallion Status with the Card. Learn more at delta.com/skymilesprogramchanges.
And Global Entry/TSA Pre 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, and more.
Read a full review of the Reserve Delta Amex.

Delta Reserve Business Amex: Up to 70,000 SkyMiles
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card has the following Limited Time Offer:
- Earn 70,000 Bonus Miles after spending $5,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- The card has a $550 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 waived first year 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 also potentially significant value to holding onto these cards in the long run. If you’ve been considering these cards but haven’t yet applied, this is the time to do so…
Do you plan on picking up a Delta Amex?
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).
SkyMiles is useless, an absolute joke. Actually, it's an insult.
Why do they even bother with their crappy program?
500k for a one-way flight of 5 hours. Are you KIDDING me!?
Just retire your stupid program, Delta, absolutely no one takes it seriously at this point.
Yes - 60K miles RT for a $2,000+ trip to Australia and New Zealand... useless!
I’m seeing more 1.3-1.5cpp on a few SkyMiles award flights. Yes your TATL D1 from the east coast is still pretty bad but for domestic main cabin they haven’t been horrible
Cool, 100K SkyMiles. Good enough for a one-way from ATL-GSP.
Just booked 60K RT for a trip to AU/NZ, so not quite..
Something strange is going on. I’ve been trying to unload my SkyMiles for 15 years but the redemption values have been terrible compared with AA and UA, so I never used them. However, of my next seven flights, five are on SkyMiles (sadly in the back) because AA and UA (post devaluation) have worse redemption prices than Delta (inc. 15% discount). I feel like it is not that DL got better- it’s that AA and UA got much worse. Much worse.
great one coach ticket to Atlanta one way for 6k spend lol
I'll pass :)
Delta points are useless - and now you're raving about how there's a floor of a penny a point! Who cares? Delta is a total ripoff. And 100k for a VERY expensive card is SO NOT WORTH IT. How much are you making off this post? Because it doesn't seem fair to us, your readers. We look to you to share with us deal that have value. This is a COMPLETE rip off.
I am not a Delta apologist, but their points are worth about 1.3 cents per mile. Just pick out several random dates to compare points to miles, and you will be able to verify that. Look at cash price and then look at mileage price. So, 100K miles is not worthless. Delta does not have the over the top redemptions that some other airlines have. However, there are many occasions that Delta is the best...
I am not a Delta apologist, but their points are worth about 1.3 cents per mile. Just pick out several random dates to compare points to miles, and you will be able to verify that. Look at cash price and then look at mileage price. So, 100K miles is not worthless. Delta does not have the over the top redemptions that some other airlines have. However, there are many occasions that Delta is the best option. 100K miles is worth more than $1,000.00, and probably more like $1,300.00. Delta Miles are also fairly easy to earn because they have a lot of credit cards.
SkyMiles are garbage. Run of the mill retailers offer as enticing/valuable signup bonuses.
100,000 SkyMiles?!
Why, one could fly from Chicago to Milwaukee (in the back of the plane, of course) with that! Sign me up!
Nice Delta story. Did you also see DL is planning to restart its dividend? Might be newsworthy.
Interested if /when sign up bonus goes to 500,000
It will happen someday!