topic Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem? in Credit Cards

Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:05:08 GMT

So I was researching more on the Amex Gold Delta (current intro offer:30k miles after $500 spend in 90 days). That sounds greaatt, right??! I really need to stay in the garden lol my aaoa has dropped to like 2.2 years aaoa:-/.

But Ive read bad reviews on CreditKarma as well as a few other sites... Does anyone have experience with redeeming the 30k in points with Delta?!?

Is it hard to find eligible dates??
Hmm
Thanks :-)

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

CreditScholar — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 02:04:14 GMT

Delta miles are called Skypesos for a reason. They are worth less than the miles of any other major US airline, and redeeming those at a decent value are notoriously difficult. Delta miles do have advantages in a few places (like redeeming business class to Australia via Virgin Australia), but those are far and few inbetween when compared to the numerous disadvantages of the program.

IMO it goes something like this:

United

American/US Airways (normally I'd rank American higher but they're having so many issues as of late)

Delta

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:07:26 GMT

Eeekkk I'm so not wasting a hp or aaoa on that. The Jetblue Amex actually looks appealing, even with a $40 af. Ive never flown JetBlue though....

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

Duncanrr — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:16:32 GMT

I fly Delta often and the savings on checked bag fees alone make the card worth it for me. Plus the priority boarding and being able to ensure that I have overhead space is enough for me. I haven't tried to redeem miles yet but Ive read that they are really good to use on international travel or upgrading tickets to first class. I have about 50k miles right now and plan on using them in the next year to go to Europe so I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

TheConductor — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:30:38 GMT

Really, the airline-specific cards are gradually becoming dinosaurs. In the past, many companies exclusively booked their business travel through one particular airline. Consequently, if you traveled for work, it made sense to have the credit card for the same airline you flew on, so that you would amass all your points in the same place.

That may still be the situation for some companies, and it still makes sense if like I did you find yourself as an independent consultant commuting regularly to the same destination on the same flight (hence my prior ownership of the Delta card). But nowadays most companies require employees to book the cheapest flight or some variation thereof (one of the cheapest three, cheapest with no more than one layover, etc.) Consequently, it can ultimately be of more value to most people to amass reward points that can be exchanged for various types of miles, since you are probably amassing miles on 3 or 4 different carriers.

Of the point systems out there, there are three that have particularly good redemption values with a wide variety of partners:

AmEx Membership Rewards (Green/Gold/PRG/Platinum charge cards)

Chase Ultimate Rewards (Sapphire Preferred/JP Morgan Select)

Starwood SPG Points (AmEx SPG)

This site has a very good comparison of their different redemption rates, partnerships, etc. http://www.drcreditcard.net/fr-spg-vs-mr-vs-ur.html

Given that Delta redemption values are pretty weak, I can't say I would recommend that card for you unless you are flying Delta regularly. Nor would I recommend the jetBlue if you never fly with them. I'd garden a while and focus on acquiring access to one or more of these three primo reward points systems. That gives you the flexibility to conserve your points and just use them to "top off" your miles on a particular airline when your travel miles get high enough to bring a reward threshold within sight.

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:27:06 GMT

I like my Travelocity American Express... I get 3pts for everything booked on Travelocity.com, but I guess that is not an airline specific card... I just got a free night at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas with my points from that card :-D PARTAY!

haha

:-D

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

stefanc — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:41:50 GMT

I quite like my Delta card - in addition to the free bags etc. mentioned before - for myself, the points work out quite nicely - For instance a first class ticket on a route I fly with some regularity (an Alaska co-branded flight) is only 45K points round trip - if booked through Alaska themselves it is double that (same points but for each leg not round trip), same if booked at American etc. So at least for my particular flights Delta points are very worthwhile!

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

youngandcreditwrthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:00:20 GMT

Hmmmm... well that sounds good.. I mean, I fly a few times a year... it might be something worth me checking into.. I mean it's only a SP if I get denied since I have an Amex already, right?

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

stefanc — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:19:11 GMT

Yup it seems to be a soft if declined - hard if approved. If you have regular legs that you fly perhaps you can go in to Delta's site and check out point redemption's for your usual flights before pulling the trigger on an app.

WIth that one first class ticket I mentioned, as I said, it works out well -- a $1500 round trip ticket for 45K points works for me! I don't know what the point redemption's are for flights other than the ones I do regularly they may be good, may not be... There is also the perk of being able to partially pay for your flight with points (I think it is 10K points = $100) so you can mix points and cash to book on Delta's site.

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

Jazzzy — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:34:27 GMT

Duncanrr wrote:
I fly Delta often and the savings on checked bag fees alone make the card worth it for me. Plus the priority boarding and being able to ensure that I have overhead space is enough for me. I haven't tried to redeem miles yet but Ive read that they are really good to use on international travel or upgrading tickets to first class. I have about 50k miles right now and plan on using them in the next year to go to Europe so I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I agree with the above....plus the companion certificate each year. I'm flying to New York in November, and my daughter is flying with me for free on the companion certificate.

I have always been able to use my miles. I'm in the boondocks with fewer flights, and I've not had an issue. I have 160,000+ miles, and mine are being saved for Europe or Africa. I'm saving miles, but I did use them to fly to Boston for a medical conference in June. I had no issue using them.

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

Sparkz1920 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:57:33 GMT

Got my miles about 6 days after I charged 500.00

Got my ticket on Oct 4th free and have only had the card a little over a month

Also, free checked bags make it worth it. Plus it looks cool

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

youngandcreditwrthy — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:18:22 GMT

Wow Jazzy! New York is where I typically travel to, so that sounds perfect!!!

I checked the mileage credit reqs for redemptiom list thingy on delta's site... A round trip flight varies in cost from 10k miles to 25k miles.

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

youngandcreditwrthy — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:20:58 GMT

I might call customer service at Amex to inquire about an Amex Delta Gold.. I just don't want any more inqs. Did everyone here get good starting limits?! I got a 3,500$ starting cl with the Amex BCE.... Which is one of my lower lines... I'd not wanna start with <$2,000 prob.

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

Sparkz1920 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:10:53 GMT

I got 5K

Re: Amex Delta Gold points hard to redeem?

cardslayer — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:29:47 GMT

Some benefits that make me like the card -

* Free checked bag for up to 9 (I think?) people on the same itinerary (otherwise $35 each bag!)

* Priority Boarding Zone 1

* $99 companion ticket (domestic coach) yearly

And, that's without even having to use the card. Also, if you go to DeltaVacations.com, for example, you can redeem towards your vacation package @ $.01/mile. As many would say, that's not the best redemption value (if you do some legwork as others have mentioned and book through a partner airline, you can do much better). But as a baseline, you're getting minimum $300 for free to use towards delta flights / vacations.

But to more specifically answer your question, redeeming the miles for actual flights can and is a nightmare. Their website sucks, and you will almost never find low fare days to anywhere worth going. They are a little better with international (specifically to Asia) where you can find some decent low-fares. You can try to call in to a reservation person, I've heard they're better.

Some things to consider before app'ing for the Gold DSM -

* This card does not earn you MQM's which count toward medallion status, which is what you need if you want upgrades and stuff

* Due to the CARD act, you cannot upgrade the account until your 13th month.

* Considering the above, I would consider the Platinum @ $150.yr AF ($55 more per year)

* The platinum version has the same companion ticket benefit, but it's free instead of $99. If this ticket will be useful to you (which it should be), then this alone makes the AF difference worth it.

I was going off memory so please verify my numbers and sorry if I got any info wrong.