Delta is back with another promotion for buying gift cards…
In this post:
Buy $250+ Delta gift card, earn 4x SkyMiles
Here’s an easy promotion that could be worth taking advantage of. If you purchase a $250+ Delta gift card, you can earn 4x Delta SkyMiles for the purchase:
- The Delta gift card can be redeemed 72 hours after purchase, and has no expiration date
- The offer is available between November 21 and November 28, 2022
- Bonus miles will post to eligible SkyMiles accounts within 14 business days of the end of the promotion
- You must purchase at least $250 worth of Delta gift cards to be eligible, and there’s no limit to how many bonus miles you can earn with this
- This offer is available to residents of the United States who are 18+ years old
Just to be totally clear, you still earn Delta SkyMiles as usual for your ticket when you pay with a Delta gift card. It’s no different than if you paid by credit card or with a voucher.
With this promotion you’re simply earning an incremental 4x SkyMiles on the actual gift card purchase. In other words, buying a $250 Delta gift card would earn you 1,000 bonus SkyMiles. I value SkyMiles at 1.1 cents each, so to me that’s like an incremental 4.4% return on Delta spending.
How do Delta gift card purchases code?
Here’s something I don’t know the answer to, but I’m sure an OMAAT reader will have a data point in no time. The big question here is whether a Delta gift card purchase codes as a Delta airfare purchase or not:
- If it does code as a Delta airfare purchase, you can earn credit card rewards as you usually would for airfare purchases, so there would be no opportunity cost to funding your Delta travel this way; you can earn up to 5x points on airfare purchases
- If it doesn’t code as a Delta airfare purchase, then you’d be better off using a card that’s lucrative for everyday spending, and there would potentially be quite a significant opportunity cost there; in that case the promotion probably isn’t worth it
Can anyone clarify how these gift card purchases code, and I’ll get the post updated?
Bottom line
At the moment you can receive 4x Delta SkyMiles on Delta gift card purchases. While this isn’t the highest value offer on earth, if you spend money with Delta regularly, then this offer could be worth it.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Delta gift card promo?
One nice thing about buying and using these DL GCs is that when you pay the remaining ticket balance on a credit card it typically codes like an "incidental" triggering AmEx annual airline credits on cards like the HH Aspire. I've had success with remaining ticket charges <$200 qualifying. This is helpful for folks that can't max out these credits paying taxes and fees on DL SkyMiles tix.
Since Delta allows ticket changes now, that is also a helpful way. If a ticket drops $10, I rebook it. Then if I buy a $200 ticket, I apply the $10 eCredit, and the remaining $190 codes as additional collection, and triggers the airline incidental credit.
MQD :: Question
I assume buying these gift cards are NOT coded towards your MQD balance on Delta? Can someone confirm that it ONLY increase SkyPesos balance and NOT MQD balance?
I am short of making the next level and curious whether this would help
Delta does not process their own gift cards. They use a third party hence it would not count as a Delta transaction. Regarding other places you can buy, that will usually show up as to the merchant processing it. For example, at Staples it would come up as a Staples charge. Perhaps not relevant here, but also worth mentioning it depends on the airline or hotel as to what you can use it for. JetBlue...
Delta does not process their own gift cards. They use a third party hence it would not count as a Delta transaction. Regarding other places you can buy, that will usually show up as to the merchant processing it. For example, at Staples it would come up as a Staples charge. Perhaps not relevant here, but also worth mentioning it depends on the airline or hotel as to what you can use it for. JetBlue has some gift cards for example that cannot be used toward airfare (assuming this means only toward additional fees).
"eGifts and Cards are issued by and are solely the obligation of Delta Gift Cards, Inc. ("DGC"), an affiliate of Delta Air Lines, Inc., that is authorized to issue eGifts and Cards for sale by Delta and Delta-licensed vendors to be redeemed toward the total purchase price of air transportation on Delta Air Lines marketed flights."
I bought a $1000 card on my DL Amex Reserve card this morning and looking at my Amex account on line, it posted as "DELTA AIR LINES GC". So I expect to receive 4000 Skymiles per the promotion but I have no idea if Amex will also give me 3X Skymiles as a Delta purchase.
Answering my own question, someone on FlyerTalk pointed out that in the American Express terms and conditions it states that the purchase of gift cards does not count. So apparently no bonus stacking.
Hi all! I made a purchase with Amex offers back in September. The Delta gift card coded as "DELTA CSTAR GFTCD" and I earned 1 point per dollar through my Amex Platinum. It seems they *do not* code as airfare for bonuses.
Second data point, my purchase from promo.giftcards.delta.com earlier this year also *did not* code as airfare (same description), 1 point per dollar on AMEX Platinum.
Just bought $250 with my Amex Plat. I'll report back after a couple days to let you know how it codes.
And I’m guessing it doesn’t trigger the Amex $200 airline credit?
The big question is whether this promotion will stack with the AmEx offer to purchase Delta gift card (6k MR points for a purchase of $300 or more).
I have the same Amex Offer. There's no reason why they shouldn't stack. The two promos are completely separate, one is awarded by Delta and one is awarded by Amex, and there are no rules in either promo preventing the stack.
But the 2 promos lead you to 2 different websites. 1 is promos.giftcards.delta.com and the other is buy.giftcards.delta.com so I’m not sure they stack
Generally you don't need to use the specific link in Amex Offers for them to code properly. There are so many places to buy Delta GC's that they have to indicate that those purchased directly from Delta are the only ones that will count. But I do see how they could exclude if they wanted to. My guess is that they will stack, and I'm sure we'll get DP's soon of whether people get the "Great News" confirmation email from Amex after they purchase.
"I'm sure we'll get DP's soon of whether people get the "Great News" confirmation email from Amex after they purchase."
I've already made two separate purchases using the AmEX link prior to this. Unlike other AmEx offers, I never received any email confirmation with either purchase (but the MR points were credited to my account very quickly).
"But the 2 promos lead you to 2 different websites. 1 is promos.giftcards.delta.com and the other is buy.giftcards.delta.com so I’m not sure they stack"
The Delta gift cards aren't actually processed by Delta but by a third party (CashStar). I have one more AmEx offer to redeem and I'm probably not going to risk losing 60k MR points for 1.2k Delta miles.
Went ahead and took the risk of buying the GC through the promo offer. Got the Amex Offer email confirmation shortly after the purchase, so looks like the stack works.