Delta Amex Bonus Increases & Analysis
Have you heard the news? American Express has increased the bonuses on a few of their Delta American Express cards. I know these offers have been covered elsewhere today, but I wanted to give a quick summary of the new bonuses and whether I think they are worth looking at.
Platinum Delta SkyMiles 70K + $100
The Offer: Earn 70,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $3,000 in purchases ($5,000 on the business version) on your new Card in your first 3 months. In addition, earn a $100 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months. To be eligible for this offer, your application must be received by November 9, 2016.
Annual Fee: $195 not WAIVED the first year.
Card Benefits:
- Platinum Companion Certificate.
- 10K MQMs for $25K & $50K spend each year.
- 20% off in-flight.
- Free checked bag.
- Priority boarding.
- 2X on Delta purchases.
Worth It?
I believe there have been targeted offers with this bonus in the past, but I don’t think we have seen this high of a bonus publicly. Either way, this is the highest the bonus has ever been on this card as I remember it. That means, that this might be a good opportunity to get it if you value the miles and the MQMs. Also, if you can make use of the $100 credit, the annual fee becomes much more manageable the first year.
With all of that said, this card isn’t for everyone given the annual fee. Non-Delta flyers or those newer to credit cards will probably want to go for something a bit simpler. This card really is designed for getting credit towards elite status. 70K miles are valuable, but SkyMiles aren’t the easiest to redeem so make sure you have a plan in mind.
Gold Delta SkyMiles 50K + $50
The Offer: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you make $2,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card within your first 3 months and a $50 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months. Special offer expires on 11/9/16.
Annual Fee: $95 WAIVED the first year.
Card Benefits:
- 20% off in-flight.
- Free checked bag.
- Priority boarding.
- 2X on Delta purchases.
Worth It?
Late 2015/Early 2016 we saw a 60K + $50 offer on both the business and personal cards so this isn’t the best we have seen. In fact, this 50K offer seems to come around quite often. With the new “once per lifetime” language, it might pay to wait if you don’t absolutely need the miles now. With that said, applying for one of these cards with this 50K bonus means you are getting a solid deal, just not the best one ever.
Conclusion
I suspect for many more advanced readers the Platinum SkyMiles bonus will be attractive while others will flock to the Gold bonus. While SkyMiles aren’t the most valuable currency and award availability can be tough sometimes, they do come in handy. For example, they just saved me on an upcoming flight in China. You simply never know.
Are you planning to apply for one of these four cards? What do you think of these bonus offers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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Do you have any tips for getting Amex to honor my request to go from the 30,000 mile bonus on the gold card I applied for and was approved on 9/20 to the new 50,000 offer? I have only had this card 10 days and I already called them (twice) to see if they will bump my new account to the better mileage offer. I was told it was ‘impossible’. Asking for a supervisor got me put on hold for 5 minutes then hung up on. Called back, same claim it was ‘impossible’. I have such a bad taste in my mouth about how unyielding Amex is being about this situation. I just got the card and I am a brand new customer. I don’t see why they can’t just give me the better offer when I applied for the card less than 2 weeks ago. The email I got from them welcoming me brags about their ‘award winning customer service”. Right. I guess that boils down to hard to understand foreign based customer service reps saying things are ‘impossible’. If they aren’t willing to bump me up, I will spend the required $1000 for the gold card I received to get the 30,000 miles and cancel the account. Frankly I think Amex sucks right off the bat between this experience and the fact I’ve already encountered merchants that won’t take the card. They aren’t doing anything to be the card of choice for me.
They won’t do a match, but some people have had success in the past asking a supervisor for a “courtesy” one time credit. In other words a supervisor is empowered to give you points as a customer courtesy but they won’t call it a match.
The spend down on this is too high. I got this card earlier this year with a 60K bonus and a 2K spend down,
with the $100 credit.
Hey Shawn, do the MQM’s post when you complete the spend or when you get approved? I don’t need them this year and if I wait a bit before applying and complete my spend in 2017 that would be ideal.
Also just to make absolutely sure if I’ve have the DL Gold card in the past the Platinum is considered a different product and I will be able to get the bonus. I’m sure sure this is right but nice to hear from someone else.
Any insight would be appreciated.
Rusty – The Delta gold & platinum are different, I have received bonuses for both.
I will apply for the platinum before the expiration. Also, Sky miles are great… I don’t have trouble redeeming them.
Gift cards have been working to get the statement credit correct?
I think it is only 3k in spend for the plat card
Thanks. I have fixed it. The business version is $5k and the personal is $3k.