Delta Amex Credit Cards Relaunch (Major Updates)

UPDATE: Some or all of the offers below have expired

Delta and American Express are relaunching and offering high signup bonuses on their co-branded cards and these offers are going to expire on October 30th. So if you’ve been eyeing an Amex Delta Card recently or looking to make an award redemption with Delta but don’t have enough Skymiles; this is the time to open a Delta Amex Card. Lucky for you there are three variations of Amex Delta cards that are worth opening that offer great benefits and high welcome bonuses.

The increased welcome bonuses are available from now until October 30th but there are major benefits updates that are going to take effect starting January 30 2020. In this post I’ll go over all the changes that are coming to the Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card, Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card and the Delta Reserve® Credit Card.

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Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card

Welcome Bonus: 60,000 Skymiles after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months plus a $50 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase within the first three months.

New Benefits starting January 30th: 

• You’ll begin to earn 2x miles at restaurants and US supermarkets
• You’ll also earn a $100 Delta flight credit towards future travel when you spend $10,000 in a calendar year.

Negative Changes:

• The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card won’t offer a MQD waiver for earning status with Delta.
• You won’t get discounted access to Delta Skyclubs whenever you fly Delta (currently the card lets you access Delta Skyclubs for $29 per person)
• Annual fee increasing from $95 to $99

What’s NOT Changing:

•  Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding
• Free first checked bag
• Earn 2x miles per dollar on Delta purchases

My Thoughts:

The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card is a great card to open to earn the welcome bonus and a good card to keep if you fly Delta with any frequency especially if you usually check bags. Just having the card gives you benefits that are similar to entry level elite status with Delta. You get priority boarding and the free first checked bag benefit is worth $60 in savings on one roundtrip.

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Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card

Welcome Bonus: 75,000 Skymiles plus 5,000 Medallion qualification miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months plus a $100 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase within the first three months.

New Benefits starting January 30th: 

• You’ll begin to earn 3x miles on hotel purchases
• You’ll begin to earn 3x miles on Delta purchases
• You’ll begin to earn 2x miles at restaurants and US supermarkets
• You’ll also get a statement credit for the application fee of Global Entry or TSA Precheck every 4 years

Negative Changes:

• Miles Boost will be changing to Status Boost™, and bonus miles will no longer be included starting January 30, 2020
• Access to Delta Skyclubs whenever you fly Delta will cost $39 instead of $29 per visit
• Annual fee increasing from $195 to $250

What’s NOT Changing:

•  Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding
• Free first checked bag
• Annual Companion Certificate (available for Domestic Main Cabin round-trip flights)

My Thoughts:

The Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card is totally worth opening for the amazing 75,000 miles welcome bonus but it’s my long term keeper Delta credit card for the annual companion certificate alone. I already used this benefit a few times for flights that are worth over $400 which totally outweighs the annual fee even after the increase. On top of that, I save a minimum of $60 per roundtrip flights on checked bags plus I get priority boarding. I personally love the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card.

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Delta Reserve® Credit Card

Welcome Bonus: 75,000 Skymiles plus 10,000 Medallion qualification miles after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

New Benefits starting January 30th: 

• You’ll begin to earn 3x miles on Delta purchases
• You’ll get complimentary access to the Amex Centurion Lounge when you use your card to book a Delta flight
• You’ll get two one-time guest passes to Delta Skyclubs every year on top of Delta Skyclub membership that already comes with the card
• You’ll be on the upgrade list even if you don’t have Medallion status
• You’ll earn 15,000 bonus MQMs after spending $90,000 and $120,000 in a calendar year (this is in addition to the current thresholds of $30,000 and $60,000, meaning you can earn up to 60,000 MQMs per year)
• You’ll also get a statement credit for the application fee of Global Entry or TSA Precheck every 4 years

Negative Changes:

• Miles Boost will be changing to Status Boost™, and bonus miles will no longer be included starting January 30, 2020
• Losing the ability to use Sky Priority Security Access with the Delta Reserve Card
• Annual fee increasing from $450 to $550

What’s NOT Changing:

•  Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding
• Free first checked bag
• Complimentary Delta Skyclub access
• Upgrade priority for Medallion members
• MQD Waiver
• Annual Companion Certificate (available for Domestic Main Cabin, Comfort+ and First Class round-trip flights)

My Thoughts:

The Delta Reserve® Credit Card is clearly not for everybody, it’s for the ultimate Delta flyer since you get complimentary access to Delta Skyclubs when you’re flying delta and now you’ll also get access to Centurion Lounges when you use your card to book a delta flight (Platinum Card from American Express has a much better lounge access policy even for Delta flyers). More importantly, if you splurge on a First Class flight for you and a companion at least once a year, you can easily offset the annual fee and a lot more with the annual companion certificate.

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Bottom Line:

Overall, I believe these are positive changes, especially for those who live in a Delta hub city and are frequent Delta flyers. All these cards are great for earning a ton of bonus Delta Skymiles. If I had to choose one of these cards to keep long term, it’ll definitely be the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card for the priority boarding, free first checked bag and the annual companion certificate.

Which Amex Delta Card are you going to get?