Platinum Delta Skymiles Credit Card Review
American Express is the sole provider of Delta co-branded credit cards. They offer four versions of Delta co-branded cards: Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Reserve. Today we are going to review the Platinum Delta Skymiles card which is one of their premium cards.
Current Welcome Bonus vs Historical High
SOME OF THESE OFFERS MAY HAVE CHANGED
The current welcome bonus is:
- 70,000 Delta Skymiles after $3,000 in spend within the first 3 months
- 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after completing the minimum spend
A $100 statement credit after you make any Delta purchase within the first 3 months
The current, increased offer matches the historical high for the card and is only available via referral.
Click Here to compare this and other airline credit cards.
Bonus Restrictions
Note that American Express currently has a “one bonus, per product, per lifetime” policy. You are only eligible for this bonus if you have not had this card before.
American Express does sometimes have targeted offers with no once per lifetime language. Reports say people are able to get the bonus a second time when using these offers.
Earning Structure
The Platinum Delta Skymiles card by American Express comes with the following earning structure:
- 2X miles on purchases directly with Delta
- 1X miles on all other purchases
Cardmember Perks
The Platinum Delta Skymiles card comes with the following perks:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Companion certificate after each anniversary year
- First checked bag free when flying Delta
- Priority boaring – Zone 1 boarding group
- 20% off in flight Delta purchases
- Access to Amex Offers
- Secondary car rental insurance
- 10,000 Skymiles and 10,000 MQM’s after spending $25,000 and $50,000 within a calendar year
Click Here to compare this and other airline credit cards.
Fees
The Platinum Delta Skymiles card comes with a $195 annual fee which is NOT waived the first year.
Welcome Bonus Value – $875 ($680 net)
Delta Skymiles are valued at 1.25 cents a piece giving 70,000 miles at a value of $875. The net value is $680 after taking the $195 annual fee into account.
This does not include the $100 statement credit that you receive after making a Delta purchase (occasionally a part of the offer). Purchasing a gift card from Delta or a $3 can of Pringles on board will trigger the full $100 credit. Make sure to take that into account for your calculations as well.
Summary
The Platinum Delta Skymiles Credit Card from American Express offers a compelling welcome bonus, a few decent perks, but falls flat on earning structure.
The 70,000 Skymiles bonus is towards the top of the market when it comes to airline miles welcome bonuses. While Skymiles may not be as valuable as other mile currencies they are not as far apart as they used to be. With the rash of devaluations from American and United, Delta has become more competitive with their Skymiles program.
The bonus miles and MQM’s offered once hitting $25,000 and $50,000 in yearly spend is what makes this card attractive to some. It is by far the most valuable perk of the card. This allows you to earn valuable MQM’s when re-qualifying for Delta status. The spending bonuses also make the card’s earning rate 1.4 miles per dollar if you can reach the $25,000 and $50,000 thresholds.
Priority boarding and the companion certificate are also nice perks. Although the companion certificate is very restrictive and hard to use since it is based on fare buckets.
Earning only 2 miles per dollar on Delta flights really makes this card uncompetitive on the earning side. There are plenty of cards that earn a better rate on flight purchases, including the Premium Rewards Gold and Platinum charge card from American Express. Outside of going for the MQM’s bonus it doesn’t make sense for anyone to put regular spend on this card.
Click Here to compare this and other airline credit cards.
Long Term Keep or Cancel
You need to answer two questions before deciding on whether or not this card is a long term keeper.
Are you going for Delta status and do you need the 20,000 MQM’s that this card can offer? If yes then this card is a long term keeper.
The second question is do you have the ability to use the companion certificate even with it’s restrictions? If the answer is yes then you could possibly make this card a long term keeper.
Be careful with companion certificates though since they make you buy into a certain fare class which is most likely higher priced than you could get booking it through regular channels. Make sure you crunch all of the numbers first before making a decision.
Outside of those two instances this card is probably not a long term keeper for most people. The lack of a competitive earning structure makes this card not worthy for regular spend. An option after the first 12 months would be to downgrade this to the no annual fee Blue Delta card, which actually has a better earning structure.
Conclusion
The Platinum Delta Skymiles card from American Express offers a compelling welcome bonus, some nice perks for status hunters, but a lackluster earning structure.
The 70,000 increased offer make this card a no brainer to get, that is enough for a one way ticket in Delta One to Europe. But the long term prospects are a little murkier. If you need more MQM’s or find value in the companion certificate than this could be a long term card for you. If you don’t find value in those two options then it would be best to cancel or downgrade at the end of the first year.
The other nice part with this offer is the $100 statement credit which helps offset the $195 annual fee. The ease with which you can earn the credit, and the fact that you don’t need to spend the full $100 to get it, basically cuts the annual fee in half.
If you have not already received the bonus for this card, which makes you ineligible for the bonus unless you get a targeted offer, than this could be the perfect time with the increased offer. The offer has never been higher.
As always make sure you have a use for Delta Skymiles before applying. The fact that Delta does not have an award chart makes their valuation murky at best. It also allows them to devalue the program without prior notice.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
bonus_miles_full
Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
