We’ve seen credit card issuers introduce all kinds of limited time spending bonuses and perks in light of current circumstances, and that’s especially true on travel credit cards.
Today American Express and Delta have announced new incentives for spending on their portfolio of co-branded credit cards. In no particular order, here are the three different offers available:
In this post:
Earn 4x SkyMiles on restaurant spending
The Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex cards (both personal and business) are offering:
- 4x SkyMiles at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
- 5x SkyMiles on Delta purchases
This is valid for purchases between August 17 and December 31, 2020, and registration is required. There’s no limit to how many bonus miles you can earn with these offers.
Personally I think there are still better credit cards for restaurant and airfare spending, so I wouldn’t be considering these offers if I had one of these cards. However, it’s no doubt an improvement over the old mileage earning rates.
Earn 5x SkyMiles on Delta spending
The Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex and Delta SkyMiles Reserve Amex cards (both personal and business) are offering 5x SkyMiles on Delta purchases.
This is valid for purchases between August 17 and December 31, 2020, and registration is required through the Amex Offers section of your online account.
Earn bonus MQMs & SkyMiles for spending
This is by far the most interesting offer. Those with the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex and Delta SkyMiles Reserve Amex cards (both personal and business) can earn:
- 500 bonus Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) plus 500 bonus redeemable SkyMiles for every $1,000 in purchases
- You can earn up to 25,000 bonus miles and 25,000 bonus MQMs
- Purchases on additional cards don’t qualify towards this offer
- Registration is required through the Amex Offers section of your online account
- Valid for purchases between August 17 and December 31, 2020
- MQMs not only count towards status this year, but also count towards lifetime status in the SkyMiles program
Bottom line
Delta Amex cards are offering some additional bonuses for credit card spending. Personally I’m not too excited about the bonuses on restaurant spending and airfare spending, given how many cards are competitive in that space.
However, for those going for Delta Medallion status, the opportunity to earn 500 bonus miles and 500 bonus MQMs for every $1,000 spent might be worth considering. Admittedly status is less valuable to most at the moment, and Medallion status has also been extended by a year, though this could still be an opportunity to climb the elite ranks.
Does anyone plan on taking advantage of these Delta Amex spending offers?
Has anyone received the bonus miles and MQMs in their accounts yet after reaching the $1,000 threshold? Any idea on when these should post to your SkyMiles account?
it shows up as an offer like the AMEX OFFERS on your dashboard I did it before the email was sent.
UPDATE - I tried right after this article was posted and received the message that I was not eligible. I just received the email from American Express and tried the link and now it showed up in my deals and allowed me to register.
Everyone who thought they were NOT targeted should keep an eye out for the email and try again in the next few days.
I signed up a few days ago for Gold, because they offered a 60K sign up bonus for low spend of $2k and first year AF waived. Would have used your link if this article came few days earlier.
Targeted and was able to add it via Amex Offer to both my personal and business Delta Reserve.
Normally when you claim an Amex offer on one card- it disappears from the rest in your portfolio. Not the case here.
@rishi - the Amex rep will probably tell you that they’ll claw back the companion certificate if you cancel the account, but based on my personal experience (as of 2019), that is not the case. The certificate stayed in my delta account after cancelling the credit card. Your mileage may vary of course.
Anyone having “invited member” issues, try logging into the AMEX app and checking your offers. I received the same error but was able to access the offer via the app.
I actually made a purchase today, hopefully because I registered before the charge posts I'll get the 5x miles.
@Ernesto - thanks we'll try going about it this way! Hopefully it will work...
Rob
@Ernesto, thank you! I figured something like that might work.
Yup, I got "not invited" errors as well. Makes me feel so special after spending so many thousands of dollars with them every year for too many years.
I currently have the platinum Amex skymiles card and I was wondering if anyone knows what will happen to my companion certificate if I cancel? This is my renewal month and I want to cancel but I don’t want to lose the certificate if I don’t have to. Thanks!
Not sure that this is a targeted offer as some folks claim - I never received an email offer, but it worked for me (just wish I'd held off on making a $2000 purchase from 2 days ago that has already posted). The way to register is to go to your Amex account dashboard, select the Amex card you have that is mentioned in this article if you have more than one (in my case,...
Not sure that this is a targeted offer as some folks claim - I never received an email offer, but it worked for me (just wish I'd held off on making a $2000 purchase from 2 days ago that has already posted). The way to register is to go to your Amex account dashboard, select the Amex card you have that is mentioned in this article if you have more than one (in my case, Delta Reserve card) and go to that card's offers link or tab. (https://global.americanexpress.com/offers/eligible). That's how I found it and registered.
Hi Ben- thanks for your great tips, as always! This sounds like a great reward bonus for the MQM spend. Unfortunately ran into an issue just now..
We are javing trouble with the link as my partner just tried it and it said "we're sorry this promotion is only open to invited cardmembers" even though we have the Delta Amex Platinum. Anyone else experience this? Maybe we are doing something wrong? If anyone knows a...
Hi Ben- thanks for your great tips, as always! This sounds like a great reward bonus for the MQM spend. Unfortunately ran into an issue just now..
We are javing trouble with the link as my partner just tried it and it said "we're sorry this promotion is only open to invited cardmembers" even though we have the Delta Amex Platinum. Anyone else experience this? Maybe we are doing something wrong? If anyone knows a work around, feel free to respond. Thanks and stay safe!
Yeah, Zach and BGriff hit on a key point that is always missed by this blog and others regarding Delta reserve - MQM earned this year rollover fully to next year, meaning these offers help you earn status for 2022. This will net me an additional 10,000 MQM this year at least.
Not targeted on personal Reserve or biz Gold. I already put a lot of spend through this card in non-bonus categories. Probably why I wasn’t targeted.
I typically spend up to the $60k MQM limit each year on my personal Reserve card (work expenses) and this year hit the $90k after they added the $90k and $120k hurdles.
Too bad, the card will stay in my sock drawer until next year.
Delta has already said that all MQMs earned this year will roll over to next year as part of the status extension, so these MQMs would give you a kick start toward earning status *next* year too. (I'm not sure how that may work in certain edge cases like where someone earns a higher status this year, but for a steady year-over-year Diamond Medallion for example, I believe that is clearly true.)
Ben - Is Delta still running a promo for 2020 that all MQMs earned in 2020 rollover to 2021, even if you don't have elite status?
Also I'll add the enrollment worked for me using the link on my Delta Gold Amex.
5x and 4x bonuses for this length of time on a $99 annual fee card is nuts though for those like me who don't have the high fee premium cards!
and this is highly targeted? I have both platinum and reserve and got "not invited" error message. too bad...
@ Ben -- Nice.
I suppose since SkyPesos are $0.01/mile, it amounts to 4% "cash back" for groceries, etc. Obviously YMMV. But not bad (IMO) when you think of it that way. Although possibly other things may net you more than 4% for groceries (my Sears Shop Your Way Citibank card has 10% statement credit for groceries for limited time).
I get not invited message when try to register through link. o well
Would rather have 10x Marriott than 5x Delta...
Was waiting for this article. I am planning to shift a good amount of my spend from Chase UR to Delta Skymiles to get some of that sweet MQM bonus. I was hoping that they had done MQD bonus instead, but then I guess if they did that most Amex Delta card holders will be Platinum Medallion next year.. D: