topic Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it? in Credit Cards

Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

Dw4250 — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 16:18:17 GMT

I got this card 18 months ago and have not used it as much as I anticipated.

I fly maybe 3-4 times/year, so I guess the checked bag "perk" is good (although a couple of my trips were overseas where I get the free bag anyway).

I read over the weekend Delta is again planning to devalue their miles. So at this point is having the Skymiles card (or any airline card for that matter) worth it for the casual traveler? Would it be better to close and move the limit to my BCE? Or maybe PC it to another card with no AF (HIlton Honors)?

Thoughts?

Current CL:

Skymiles: $10,500 ($95 AF)

BCE: $10,000 (no AF)

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 16:48:04 GMT

Can deffinetly PC it to HHonors, but will lose out on the signup bonus.. My problem is mine is backdated to 1990 and don't want to give it up for that reason only or would of cancelled it by now.. Granted yes it does stay on your credit history for 10 years, still don't want to give it up.. Thinking about cancelling my none backdated HHonors card that I got 2 months ago and PCing it at 13 months to HHonors since I already got the signup bonus.. The Delta is not a valueable card to me at all. Dunno with your care if Back dating is a huge thing or not and based on that partially factor into your decision?

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 16:51:46 GMT

Delta points, not confidence inspiring but usable on some partners.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

kdm31091 — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 16:52:50 GMT

Eh if youre only flying a few times a year, may not be worth it. The only other thing I can add is that if you feel its worthless, generally its not going to become more useful for you so there's no point in hanging on to it forever. If you dont want it anymore, id move on

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

BigBS — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 17:13:57 GMT

@CreditCuriousity wrote:
Can deffinetly PC it to HHonors, but will lose out on the signup bonus.. My problem is mine is backdated to 1990 and don't want to give it up for that reason only or would of cancelled it by now.. Granted yes it does stay on your credit history for 10 years, still don't want to give it up.. Thinking about cancelling my none backdated HHonors card that I got 2 months ago and PCing it at 13 months to HHonors since I already got the signup bonus.. The Delta is not a valueable card to me at all. Dunno with your care if Back dating is a huge thing or not and based on that partially factor into your decision?

Would PCing bring a change to the date? I am in a similar situation and never really thought of that aspect.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

B335is — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 18:00:58 GMT

Why PC? Just reallocate the limit to BCE and close out Delta.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 19:08:18 GMT

@BigBS wrote:
@CreditCuriousity wrote:
Can deffinetly PC it to HHonors, but will lose out on the signup bonus.. My problem is mine is backdated to 1990 and don't want to give it up for that reason only or would of cancelled it by now.. Granted yes it does stay on your credit history for 10 years, still don't want to give it up.. Thinking about cancelling my none backdated HHonors card that I got 2 months ago and PCing it at 13 months to HHonors since I already got the signup bonus.. The Delta is not a valueable card to me at all. Dunno with your care if Back dating is a huge thing or not and based on that partially factor into your decision?

Would PCing bring a change to the date? I am in a similar situation and never really thought of that aspect.

PC'ing if you did would allow you to keep backdate people like Baller4life recenty has done this a month or two back... As stated you would lose the 40k or 60k points depending on promo of the HHonors, but if you want a $0 AF card and keep a backdate then it is certainly an option.. Or if you don't care about it then as B said you can move the limit to the BCE.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

vanillabean — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 19:09:27 GMT

Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 19:22:18 GMT

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Only applies ot plantinum skymiles?

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

iCoop — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 19:24:25 GMT

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Because that's not on the gold version of the Delta Skymiles card. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card or Delta Reserve Credit Card are the only two that receive the annual companion certificate.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

vanillabean — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 19:27:04 GMT

@iCoop wrote:
@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Because that's not on the gold version of the Delta Skymiles card. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card or Delta Reserve Credit Card are the only two that receive the annual companion certificate.

You can't PC from Gold to Platinum?

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

Dw4250 — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 19:52:01 GMT

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
@iCoop wrote:
@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Because that's not on the gold version of the Delta Skymiles card. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card or Delta Reserve Credit Card are the only two that receive the annual companion certificate.

You can't PC from Gold to Platinum?

I believe I could PC to a platinum, but the AF is signifcantly higher on the Plat and again, I wouldn't really get that much benefit from it since I'm not a frequent traveler. I think I will just go ahead and move the CL to the BCE, or maybe wait until next March 2016 (when the AF is due) to see if AMEX has any other interesting credit products coming down the line.

Thanks everyone for their input!

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

taxi818 — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 21:42:55 GMT

@iCoop wrote:
@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Because that's not on the gold version of the Delta Skymiles card. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card or Delta Reserve Credit Card are the only two that receive the annual companion certificate.

Yep. ^^^this exactly +1

Edit. its an upgrade from delta to plat.

they don't call it pc. as it is still a Delta.

ok. lets see. $95 a year for Gold. 2 trips with companion pays for itself.

Low travel. hmm. $450 AF. sure companion pass once a year. (Domestic) lots of other perks like plat. No thanks. may as well go regular Plat with louge access for that price.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

B335is — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 21:55:02 GMT

Yeah that's a hefty AF for an occasional traveler. And frankly, Delta devals are about as frequent as getting mail. I only got mine because Amex considers the Gold and Platinum two distinct products as far as sign up bonuses go.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

vanillabean — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 23:40:07 GMT

@taxi818 wrote:
@iCoop wrote:
@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
Why is no one mentioning the annual companion certificate?

Because that's not on the gold version of the Delta Skymiles card. The Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card or Delta Reserve Credit Card are the only two that receive the annual companion certificate.
Yep. ^^^this exactly +1
Edit. its an upgrade from delta to plat.
they don't call it pc. as it is still a Delta.
ok. lets see. $95 a year for Gold. 2 trips with companion pays for itself.
Low travel. hmm. $450 AF. sure companion pass once a year. (Domestic) lots of other perks like plat. No thanks. may as well go regular Plat with louge access for that price.

Aren't you getting the Platinum mixed up with the Reserve? The Platinum is $195.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 03:27:23 GMT

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:
@taxi818 wrote:

Yep. ^^^this exactly +1
Edit. its an upgrade from delta to plat.
they don't call it pc. as it is still a Delta.
ok. lets see. $95 a year for Gold. 2 trips with companion pays for itself.
Low travel. hmm. $450 AF. sure companion pass once a year. (Domestic) lots of other perks like plat. No thanks. may as well go regular Plat with louge access for that price.
Aren't you getting the Platinum mixed up with the Reserve? The Platinum is $195.

Yup the Delta Plat is only $195, not a hefty $450. 195 and gives you an annual domestic companion ticket i guess thats not too bad. but the fact that sky pesos are worth so little is not appealing.....

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

taxi818 — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 03:35:45 GMT

Thanks. I was mixing it up. Well to original. I say still worth it. If you shop thru deltas portal or website. They do offer some great mile deals. Example if you buy flowers for the Mrs. 35 miles per dollar. Nordstroms 8 miles per dollar. So you can earn lots of miles per dollar if you go through that. Don't think I can book intl flight with miles so easily, but if you mix miles and money it helps with the price. Will probably upgrade to plat or just of the thing to hilton before xmas. Possibly move most of my limit over and just straight out apply for Hilton. Not sure yet.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

NRB525 — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 04:00:26 GMT

@Dw4250 wrote:
I got this card 18 months ago and have not used it as much as I anticipated.

I fly maybe 3-4 times/year, so I guess the checked bag "perk" is good (although a couple of my trips were overseas where I get the free bag anyway).

I read over the weekend Delta is again planning to devalue their miles. So at this point is having the Skymiles card (or any airline card for that matter) worth it for the casual traveler? Would it be better to close and move the limit to my BCE? Or maybe PC it to another card with no AF (HIlton Honors)?

Thoughts?

Current CL:

Skymiles: $10,500 ($95 AF)
BCE: $10,000 (no AF)

I would consider this not infrequent flying. Keep in mind, if you no longer have the Delta card, and you fly Delta regularly, you don't get the automatic boost in early boarding. You don't get the first bag free (on 4 round trips that's $200 right there). If you buy anything on the plane, it's discounted. When you buy your tickets through Delta with the AMEX SkyMiles card, you get 2 miles per dollar spent, in addition to the 5 miles you earn in miles for the ticket itself. If you find yourself on a long layover, you can get access to the SkyMiles lounges for a day fee. And no FTF. You travel overseas. This has some value.

While Delta is "devaluing" their SkyMiles program at the upper end, keep in mind they are making SkyMiles more accessible at the smaller value ticket end. Adding short haul 5k miles awards, one way awards (book one leg of a ticket in miles, the other on dollars).

Even if Delta devalues the miles, you still earn the bulk of any miles by flying. A co-branded card for that airline brings along perks, and the spend flows to that same mileage account. With a card like Arrival+, to get any significant redemption, you have to spend a lot of money to see a benefit. With a co-branded card, you've got at least two avenues feeding miles to the same account.

Close it if you want to, everyone must make their own choices, just be aware you may have taken for granted some of the perks

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

B335is — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 06:13:58 GMT

Even at $195 AF, the companion availability is questionable at best. They have specific fare classes that are required to use the certificate. I'm not sure it's worth it.

Re: Delta Skymiles...still worth it?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 12:31:45 GMT

Its not worth it for the companion tickets, on the Delta Plat/Reserve or the Amex Platinum.

You have to buy the full fare ticket, which is ridiculously overpriced. For instance, a flight from MCI -> LAX was $700, 50,000 skymiles, or $1,400.00 for the full fare. I always find the best deal is buying a first class ticket with points, or buying a regular class ticket with cash and upgrading to first class with points or cash.

Now the full fare is refundable for a little bit longer, and you can make changes without as many penalties.

But the whole allure of "ooo I can travel across the world with a free first class ticket for the love of my life".....yea if you pay almost twice for it!