topic Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold in Credit Cards

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 15:40:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

Happy Easter, Passover, or day 4,830,583 of quarantine.

I'm hoping for advice in picking the Chase Sapphire Preffered vs Delta Amex Gold.

I have the Amex Platinum and Chase Freedom Flex, so I at least earn rewards that I could transfer the the preffered with chase and points on Amex Plat that I could transfer to any airline. Delta is my primary airline and I want another card for travel points/redemption. I'm not concerned with approval odds, so I think it comes down to experiences with the Delta Amex Gold and the minimum spends.

The SUB for Chase is 80k for a 4k spend in 3 months and the Delta is 70k for a 2k spend in 3 months.

AF for Chase is $95 a year and Delta is $99 with the first year waived ($0).

I'd prefer the lower spend and I know the Preferred doesn't offer the same $300 travel credit as the Reserve, but if in practice the Delta Amex Gold seems more of a burden given the cards I already have, or if the transfer/combination of points with the Preferred and Flex seems more favorable I'd consider that.

Thanks in advance!

TU: 787

EQ: 788

Cards:

Amex Platinum

Amex Gold (Platinum AU)

Amex Blue Sky

Discover It

Chase Freedom Flex

Amazon Prime Visa

Apple GS

Barclays Apple Visa (soon to be Barclays View MasterCard)

Best Buy Visa

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

K-in-Boston — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 17:17:27 GMT

Looking purely at the value of the SUB, with the common redemption methods of booking through Chase Travel or booking an award fare (outside of sales) with Delta, even after paying the AF on CSP the first year you'd still come out $65 ahead, and the value of the points earned on CSP from spending would be worth a little more that way as well. They really aren't cards one would typically compare, as they offer substantially different benefits and earnings.

The Delta Gold will really only make sense past the first year if you normally pay to check 4 or more bags per year, or spend at least $10,000 a year on it to get the $100 flight credit that offsets the annual fee. Do you fly with a companion at least once a year? If so, perhaps consider the Platinum SkyMiles card instead. The Main Cabin companion certificate issued at each renewal should more than offset the annual fee, and the SUB is currently 90k on it. If you fly at least once a year with a companion in First, or if you have/want elite status and can spend $30k or more on the card each year, consider the Delta Reserve. The AF on that one would be completely taken care of with the companion certificate, it has an 80k SkyMiles + 20k MQM welcome offer currently, plus it would make you eligible for upgrades after Silver Medallions even if you don't have status, or be a tie-breaker if you do and another elite at the same level in the same fare class does not have the card.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

Loquat — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 18:57:21 GMT

I agree. Outside of the sub on the Delta Gold, the card just doesn't seem to be worth it unless you can benefit a lot from the checked bag benefit.

I do agree with K that the Delta Platinum or Reserve is a much better card. Those cards I view like I do my Marriott card, the annual certificate more than covers the AF and that's if I never swiped the card for anything or take advantage of any Amex offer; the companion certificate keeps such card cemented in the line up.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

summerterrace — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 19:20:22 GMT

@Loquat wrote:
I agree. Outside of the sub on the Delta Gold, the card just doesn't seem to be worth it unless you can benefit a lot from the checked bag benefit.

I do agree with K that the Delta Platinum or Reserve is a much better card. Those cards I view like I do my Marriott card, the annual certificate more than covers the AF and that's if I never swiped the card for anything or take advantage of any Amex offer; the companion certificate keeps such card cemented in the line up.

The first year return doesn't seem as good for the delta platinum though. An extra $150 annual fee for only 20k more points and an extra $1k minimum spend. I agree long term it's a better deal if you want to stay loyal to one airline. If you are a shopper for airfare then the CSP would be better IMO.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

K-in-Boston — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 19:51:29 GMT

20k SkyMiles would have a minimum award value of $240 for Main Cabin. The companion certificate doesn't really require loyalty, just one flight a year with a companion.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

summerterrace — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 19:53:08 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
20k SkyMiles would have a minimum award value of $240 for Main Cabin. The companion certificate doesn't really require loyalty, just one flight a year with a companion.

True but also requires 2 annual fees before getting 1 certificate.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

NRB525 — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 07:27:59 GMT

To get to the Delta Platinum Companion Certificate, yes you would pay $500 in the 13 months ( two AF ) to get there. But you'd pay $200 of that on a Delta Gold AF for two years, so the marginal fee to get to the first Companion Cert is $300. However that Companion Cert is only Main Cabin, whereas Delta Reserve has First Class.

I went through the Delta cards list over several years, used the Companion Certs on both DP and DR. The sign up miles are useful if Delta is your main airline, so I'd suggest approaching it as a series of try-outs rather than trying to get the one Delta card you want forever.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

summerterrace — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 12:09:22 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
To get to the Delta Platinum Companion Certificate, yes you would pay $500 in the 13 months ( two AF ) to get there. But you'd pay $200 of that on a Delta Gold AF for two years, so the marginal fee to get to the first Companion Cert is $300. However that Companion Cert is only Main Cabin, whereas Delta Reserve has First Class.

I went through the Delta cards list over several years, used the Companion Certs on both DP and DR. The sign up miles are useful if Delta is your main airline, so I'd suggest approaching it as a series of try-outs rather than trying to get the one Delta card you want forever.
@NRB525 wrote:
To get to the Delta Platinum Companion Certificate, yes you would pay $500 in the 13 months ( two AF ) to get there. But you'd pay $200 of that on a Delta Gold AF for two years, so the marginal fee to get to the first Companion Cert is $300. However that Companion Cert is only Main Cabin, whereas Delta Reserve has First Class.

I went through the Delta cards list over several years, used the Companion Certs on both DP and DR. The sign up miles are useful if Delta is your main airline, so I'd suggest approaching it as a series of try-outs rather than trying to get the one Delta card you want forever.

Actually the annual fee on the Gold is waived the first year. Therefore, it's $100 for 2 years making marginal difference $400. I've never once flown first class so that wouldn't matter to me about the ticket bring economy but op should note if they value higher class tickets.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

notmyrealname23 — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 16:45:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi everyone,

Happy Easter, Passover, or day 4,830,583 of quarantine.

I'm hoping for advice in picking the Chase Sapphire Preffered vs Delta Amex Gold.

I have the Amex Platinum and Chase Freedom Flex, so I at least earn rewards that I could transfer the the preffered with chase and points on Amex Plat that I could transfer to any airline. Delta is my primary airline and I want another card for travel points/redemption. I'm not concerned with approval odds, so I think it comes down to experiences with the Delta Amex Gold and the minimum spends.

The SUB for Chase is 80k for a 4k spend in 3 months and the Delta is 70k for a 2k spend in 3 months.
AF for Chase is $95 a year and Delta is $99 with the first year waived ($0).

I'd prefer the lower spend and I know the Preferred doesn't offer the same $300 travel credit as the Reserve, but if in practice the Delta Amex Gold seems more of a burden given the cards I already have, or if the transfer/combination of points with the Preferred and Flex seems more favorable I'd consider that.

Thanks in advance!

TU: 787
EQ: 788

Cards:
Amex Platinum
Amex Gold (Platinum AU)
Amex Blue Sky
Discover It
Chase Freedom Flex
Amazon Prime Visa
Apple GS
Barclays Apple Visa (soon to be Barclays View MasterCard)
Best Buy Visa

Your CSP Unlimited Rewards points can become Delta flights through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Air France/KLM Flying Blue award redemptions, so that wouldn't be an issue there.

Is Delta an "always fly, this is the only realistic option from my airport" from you, or is it a preferred but not required option? Flexibility is nice and there are other redemptions in other Chase partners (Southwest, British Airways and partners, Iberia, Emirates) that can be really worth your time and nice experiences.

Also, if you do a booking on Delta's website, you can add a $200 statement credit to the Delta AMEX Gold offer.

https://frequentmiler.com/get-70k-amex-delta-gold-offer-with-200-statement-credit-when-making-a-dummy-booking/

Delta AMEX Gold also has a no-annual fee downgrade path (Delta AMEX Blue).

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:35:59 GMT

Thanks for the input, I don't think I'll have much use for companion certificates so I'm going to go ahead for CSP.

All the best!

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:38:55 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for your reply!

I've decided to go with the CSP. Since you mentioned virgin, are the miles not directly transferrable to Delta? I have a few thousand miles there that I was hoping to use with UR for a first class international trip, so I would have to have a way to pool them to meet the reward fare.

Thanks again.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

summerterrace — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:52:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for your reply!

I've decided to go with the CSP. Since you mentioned virgin, are the miles not directly transferrable to Delta? I have a few thousand miles there that I was hoping to use with UR for a first class international trip, so I would have to have a way to pool them to meet the reward fare.

Thanks again.

Chase is not a direct transfer partner with Delta.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Delta Amex Gold

K-in-Boston — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:07:55 GMT

For Delta you will either need an American Express card earning Membership Rewards or points in a hotel partner's loyalty program to transfer to SkyMiles. Note that Delta themselves do not have a First Class cabin for long haul international flights, as those will be in Delta One which is business class.

From Chase URs, you do have several options for Delta flights:

1. Use your URs to book in the Chase Travel portal with a 25% bonus. i.e. for your international business class ticket, you might only need 800,000 URs rather than 1,000,000 URs to book the ticket. (If you are going this route, it would be a waste not to get the CSR for the 50% bonus as you'd be saving yourself about $2000 in URs just on this one example ticket).

2. Move points to Marriott in increments of 60k and then transfer to Delta at a 2.4 to 1 ratio (i.e. 480,000 URs would become 200,000 SkyMiles). Outside of fare sales, this will likely result in fairly poor value, but sales like 80-120k for Delta One to Asia or Europe have happened in recent years and this would be a great value.

3. Move your points to Air France/KLM or Virgin Atlantic to book Delta flights. This will generally be the best value. AF/KL can be chaotic and all over the place though, so plan to look for alternate dates and routes. Virgin will be a better value the more direct the flight is.