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UPDATE: Some or All of the offer(s) mentioned in this post have now expired
American Express has been offering a cashback + bonus miles welcome offer on two of its co-branded Delta credit cards over the past few weeks and, with under 48 hours to go before the offer expires, I thought I’d highlight the options that are currently available for anyone who may not have seen them.
Note: These offers may not be open to you if you’ve had these cards in the past and received a welcome bonus from them.
Offer 1 – Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
Offer ends 15 August 2019
Annual Fee:
- $0 in year 1, $95 thereafter
Welcome Bonus (OFFER EXPIRED)
- Get 50% back (up to $300) in the form of statement credits on purchases made directly with Delta with your Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership and…
- Earn 30,000 Bonus Miles after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months of card membership.
Earnings:
- 2 miles/dollar on all Delta purchases
- 1 mile/dollar on all other spending
Headline Benefits:
- First checked bag is free
- Main Cabin 1 priority boarding
- 20% statement credit on eligible Delta in-flight purchases of food, beverages, and audio headsets.
- Discounted entry to Delta Sky Clubs ($29/person)
- Medallion Qualification MQD Waiver – $25,000 spending for Platinum, Gold and Silver Medallion Status and $250,000 of spending for Diamond status
- No foreign transaction fees
How The Welcome Bonus Works (OFFER EXPIRED)
30,000 Bonus Miles
To qualify for the 30,000 bonus miles, you must make eligible purchases with your Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card that total $1,000 or more (the “Threshold Amount”) within your first 3 months of Card Membership starting from the date your account is approved.
Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases to meet the spend requirement do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers (balance transfers are not available on Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Cards), cash advances, purchases of traveler’s checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of any cash equivalents.
$300 Statement Credit
You earn 50% back in the form of statement credits on your first $600 in eligible Delta purchases made with your Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership, starting from the date your account is approved (up to $300 back).
Eligible purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card Account. Purchases must be made directly through Delta. A purchase may not qualify for the statement credit if it is submitted under a merchant code that has not been categorized as a Delta merchant code as of the date of the purchase(s). Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases to meet the spend requirements do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of gift cards; or purchases of any cash equivalents.
Note how the terms and conditions of this card use the new wording AMEX has recently been introducing to exclude the purchase of gift cards from counting towards the welcome bonus.
Offer 2 – Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
Offer ends 15 August 2019
Annual Fee:
- $195
Welcome Bonus (OFFER EXPIRED)
- Get 50% back (up to $500) in the form of statement credits on purchases made directly with Delta with your Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership and…
- Earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of card membership.
Earnings:
- 2 miles/dollar on all Delta purchases
- 1 mile/dollar on all other spending
Headline Benefits:
- Earn up to 20,000 MQM through spending
- Companion certificate – Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your Card.
- First checked bag is free
- Main Cabin 1 priority boarding
- 20% statement credit on eligible Delta in-flight purchases of food, beverages, and audio headsets.
- Discounted entry to Delta Sky Clubs ($29/person)
- Medallion Qualification MQD Waiver – $25,000 spending for Platinum, Gold and Silver Medallion Status and $250,000 of spending for Diamond status
- No foreign transaction fees
How The Welcome Bonus Works (OFFER EXPIRED)
50,000 Bonus Miles
To qualify for the 50,000 Bonus Miles, you must make eligible purchases with your Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card that total $3,000 or more (the “Threshold Amount”) within your first 3 months of Card Membership starting from the date your account is approved.
Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases to meet the spend requirement do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers (balance transfers are not available on Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Cards), cash advances, purchases of traveler’s checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of any cash equivalents.
$500 Statement Credit
You earn 50% back in the form of statement credits on your first $1,000 in eligible Delta purchases made with your Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership, starting from the date your account is approved (up to $500 back).
Eligible purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card Account. Purchases must be made directly through Delta. A purchase may not qualify for the statement credit if it is submitted under a merchant code that has not been categorized as a Delta merchant code as of the date of the purchase(s). Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases to meet the spend requirements do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of gift cards; or purchases of any cash equivalents.
Note how the terms and conditions of this card use the new wording AMEX has recently been introducing to exclude the purchase of gift cards for counting towards the welcome bonus.
Thoughts
I’m not about to say how good or bad these deals are (that’s for you to decide) – I’m just here to point out the offers that AMEX is running and to give you access to the information you need to make an informed decision.
- Link to full terms & condition for the Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
- Link to full terms & condition for the Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
As a point of comparison, AMEX was offering a 60,000 miles welcome bonus on the Gold Card (after $2,000 of spending) and a 75,000 mile welcome bonus (after $3,000 of spending) on the Platinum Card through the first day in July and those are generally considered to be “the biggest” Delta Amex Bonuses we’ve seen.
With the latest welcome bonus the spending requirement on the Gold card is halved, the miles on offer are greatly reduced but there’s cold hard cash on offer too.
Where SkyMiles require you to find award availability (preferably at a reasonable price) and may devalue before you have a chance to use them, the same isn’t true of cash…and that’s what may make these welcome bonuses a little more attractive than the ones that were available between May and July.
Personally, I value Delta SkyMiles at a lower number than a lot of the popular blogs (1.0 cents each) so, using that as a starting point, this is how the old and new welcome bonuses compare:
- Gold Delta SkyMiles card – $600 (old) vs $300 + $300 (new)
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles card – $750 (old) vs $500 + $500 (new)
By my valuation (which you’re free to disagree with), the current (new) welcome bonus on the Gold card offers the same value as the old bonus (available between May and July)…but I prefer the new bonus because I’d rather have cash & miles rather than miles alone.
As far as the Platinum Delta SkyMiles card goes, my SkyMiles valuation means that the new welcome bonus is noticeably more valuable than the old one and, as it’s offered partly in cash, it’s more flexible and less open to devaluation too.
Bottom Line
How you view these welcome bonuses will be dependent on the value you place on SkyMiles and how likely you are to spend enough with Delta in the first 3 months of card membership to trigger the full statement credit…but the math is certainly worth doing.
If the bonuses we saw on offer between May and July were really the best we’ve seen then these bonuses are definitely worth a closer look – by my math, they’re at least as good and probably better.
Make sure you read all the terms and conditions for each of the credit cards carefully before you may any decisions and make sure you understand what it is that you’re being offered, what you’ll be signing up for and what the cost of the card will be.
Do not sign-up for a travel rewards credit card if you do not plan on paying off your monthly balance as the interest you’ll be charged will far outweigh any miles/benefits you accrue.
