topic Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get? in Credit Cards

Which Delta AmEx would you get?

summerterrace — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 18:46:25 GMT

I live near a mid-market airport that offers all airlines but most are SW and Delta. I am wanting to pick up a Delta card, and am deciding between Gold and Platinum. Those of you who chose between them what helped you make that decision?

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

TampaBAY86 — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:03:39 GMT

@summerterrace wrote:
I live near a mid-market airport that offers all airlines but most are SW and Delta. I am wanting to pick up a Delta card, and am deciding between Gold and Platinum. Those of you who chose between them what helped you make that decision?

I'm curious about this too. SW and Delta are the major ones here as well. How often do you fly?

I would lean toward Platinum for the companion pass, which would likely cover the annual fee.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:32:48 GMT

Obviously you would weigh the perks of each card against the AF and see which one best suits you and your needs, then app for that one. Each individual's experiences are different and doesn't apply to everyone. If in doubt start big with Plat and if it doesn't work out as planned then go for the Gold later on, It's not like it's one or the other for life.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

summerterrace — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:14:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Obviously you would way the perks of each card against the AF and see which one best suits you and your needs, then app for that one. Each individual's experiences are different and doesn't apply to everyone. If in doubt start big with Plat and if it doesn't work out as planned then go for the Gold later on, It's not like it's one or the other for life.

Yes I was just curious to hear how others decided.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

K-in-Boston — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:17:33 GMT

If you fly with a companion at least once a year, Platinum or Reserve are a much better option than the Gold since the AF is more than paid for that way. If you have or want elite status and can do a fairly significant amount of spending each year ($25k or $30k increments), Platinum and Reserve are generally going to be better options than the Gold. If you want upgrades, Reserve is almost a must. If you want to do Pay With Miles, you will need Platinum or Reserve.

Gold can be a good entry to see if SkyMiles cards make sense though, and as long as you and/or up to 8 companions would pay for baggage fees on at least 4 bags a year, it's not a loss. There are usually upgrade offers later on after a year if you would prefer not to have another new account (although you would miss out on higher new card Welcome Offers) and the fee is almost always waived the first year for Gold.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

coldfusion — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:16:58 GMT

How often do you fly?

Do you usually fly alone or with a companion?

How much yearly spend do you expect to place on the card - corrolary is how motivated are you to accumulate Delta miles from normal spend?

Do you have another card that will cover the cost of a TSA Pre/Global Entry application?

How much of a stretch would it be to spend $3K on the card in 3 months vs $2K on the card in 3 months?

Answering these questions to yourself should help guide you as to which card would be the better fit.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:31:29 GMT

One question, tangentially related but possibly helpful in deciding whether the platinum is the better option. I think I know the answer to this (thinking it's a No), but I've never come across it being explicitly answered. With the annual companion passes: when one receives it on the anniversary, if it isn't used in the next year, is it kept and another granted on the next anniversary? Or is it forfeit and "replaced" by a new certificate? I've wondered this in the past and never got around to asking. It'd be great if they weren't expiring, and a cardmember could save a few of them over the course of a few years to use together, but I'm assuming that's not how it works.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

notmyrealname23 — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:47:19 GMT

@summerterrace wrote:
I live near a mid-market airport that offers all airlines but most are SW and Delta. I am wanting to pick up a Delta card, and am deciding between Gold and Platinum. Those of you who chose between them what helped you make that decision?

I'm a temporary Delta Gold through status match (figured I'd take a free sample in 2021 and see how I liked it, since due to pandemic circumstances I can requalify as an elite on Alaska for 2022 with very little effort). My home airport is SEA, and domestic airline usage for me on paid, non-award fares generally goes:

1. Alaska

2. T-Delta and Southwest

4. American

5. United or Spirit maybe once every other year on a VERY good fare

Delta usually throws a few thousand miles at me every year for living in Seattle, enough for a cheap one way somewhere every so often, and their planes and relibaility are pretty good, so I'm willing to fly them occasionally. If Alaska starts really crapping the bed with program changes I'll end up complete free agent (already I play hooky more than I used to because you can't get upgrades on the cheapest fares).

I picked up the Delta Gold Amex yesterday because I don't wanna spend ALL the monies on my Delta AMEX to get an MQD waiver (and I'd need it to requalify for Gold or even Silver), and there's an offer for $200 statement credit with Delta purchase + 70k miles on $2k spend, first year AF is waived. Basically that's a 45-50%ish rebate on spend with a pretty low bar to hit, even if you don't value Delta miles much above a penny a mile (I don't- I place no faith in programs without award charts). I think I'll likely spend those down with Pay With Miles or on awards for a while. Plan is to retention offer the card in 2022, if I don't like the offer it becomes a Blue if I still want PWM, with an outside shot of taking an upgrade offer to Platinum if it makes sense, but it probably won't though. Between my Southwest and Delta mileage balances (plus some Delta gift cards I picked up on an AMEX offer, plus the airline misc fee reimbursements on my Hilton Aspire + AMEX Gold) I'll be able to do a lot of domestic travel in 2021-2022 for essentially $0 in further spend beyond credit card renewals for a while (and I'll figure out requalifying on Alaska for 2023 as 2022 goes along).

If you think you can get outsize value from the Platinum card (MQD waiver + MQD bonuses, companion certificate at renewal) it can make more sense than a Gold, but you probably need to be an actual "I'm going for status" flier for that (or flying some hyper-expensive coach fare with a companion once a year). If you're a more casual flier who just wants a SUB and free bags the Gold is probably more your speed.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

K-in-Boston — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 20:45:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
One question, tangentially related but possibly helpful in deciding whether the platinum is the better option. I think I know the answer to this (thinking it's a No), but I've never come across it being explicitly answered. With the annual companion passes: when one receives it on the anniversary, if it isn't used in the next year, is it kept and another granted on the next anniversary? Or is it forfeit and "replaced" by a new certificate? I've wondered this in the past and never got around to asking. It'd be great if they weren't expiring, and a cardmember could save a few of them over the course of a few years to use together, but I'm assuming that's not how it works.

The certificates typically expire one year from issue. Due to the pandemic, they keep getting extended though. I currently have six of them in my SkyMiles account from 2019 and 2020 renewals on 3 cards and they all currently expire 30 June 2022. From my understanding, any new ones issued in 2021 will be valid through 31 December 2022.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

K-in-Boston — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 20:42:31 GMT

@notmyrealname23 two quick things I wanted to address.

While Delta does not have an award chart, main cabin award fares are at worst essentially tied to revenue prices and would yield a minimum value of 1.2 cents per mile. Paid upgrades to Comfort+, Premium, First, and Delta One seem to be pegged at 1.15 cents per mile. For PWM, they are 1 cent if redeemed in 5k blocks (it's 5000 per $50, so $201 would require 25k, and it's better to use 20k to cover $200 and pay the $1 out of pocket so you don't waste 5k SkyMiles on $1 in this example). PWM really only makes sense if you need MQMs, although for 2021 award fares are earning MQMs and MQDs (a first for a US carrier). But with frequent award fare sales, you can do much better than 1.2 cents.

As for hyper-expensive tickets needed for companion fares, it's actually the exact opposite. All L, U, X, T and V fares are eligible for the companion tickets - those are the discounted cheap main cabin fares. It's actually the expensive last-minute tickets (like full fare Y) that are excluded from companion fares. Similarly for the Delta Reserve pass, it includes those, the C+ W fares, and the cheaper First Class tickets (not full fare J and F fares).

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

notmyrealname23 — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 22:12:33 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@notmyrealname23 two quick things I wanted to address.

While Delta does not have an award chart, main cabin award fares are at worst essentially tied to revenue prices and would yield a minimum value of 1.2 cents per mile. Paid upgrades to Comfort+, Premium, First, and Delta One seem to be pegged at 1.15 cents per mile. For PWM, they are 1 cent if redeemed in 5k blocks (it's 5000 per $50, so $201 would require 25k, and it's better to use 20k to cover $200 and pay the $1 out of pocket so you don't waste 5k SkyMiles on $1 in this example). PWM really only makes sense if you need MQMs, although for 2021 award fares are earning MQMs and MQDs (a first for a US carrier). But with frequent award fare sales, you can do much better than 1.2 cents.

As for hyper-expensive tickets needed for companion fares, it's actually the exact opposite. All L, U, X, T and V fares are eligible for the companion tickets - those are the discounted cheap main cabin fares. It's actually the expensive last-minute tickets (like full fare Y) that are excluded from companion fares. Similarly for the Delta Reserve pass, it includes those, the C+ W fares, and the cheaper First Class tickets (not full fare J and F fares).

I haven't found a ton of Delta award sales where I do a lot better than 1.2 cpm (I suppose they're out there though, and I'll have enough SkyMiles at the beginning that at least a one way to Europe/Asia is possible under the right conditions).

I tend to see this happening a lot though over the years.

https://onemileatatime.com/delta-skymiles-devalues-partner-awards-again/

No notice devaluations don't make me fond of a program, or willing to accumulate large balances in a program just to see the award goal I'm saving for go up in smoke. I'm thus more likely to burn Skymiles for that $80 flight to Vegas or LA (admittedly I've seen some very low cost awards I've booked lately go at something like 1.5-2 cpm- 4000 miles for a one way that's $60-80 is very solid when it comes to Delta).

Also... so if the Platinum certificate's only good on cheap fares, the annual fees you need to pay to get one are $500 ($250x2). That's a pretty steep hill to climb on a domestic round trip coach fare to get positive expected value just from the certificate (though I imagine there are some markets out there where LUTXV fares on a round trip are over $500- I'm thinking markets where Delta has a hammerlock on where you need to go). So it doesn't sound like it's a selling point until you hit year three and beyond (where you only need $250) and the card is thus a long term keeper? Am I misunderstanding something here- like cancelling right after the certificate hits or something?

(If you were getting the certificate as part of the SUB, like for some other airline cards, I'd say it's more of an even deal. I might even do it.)

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

summerterrace — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 23:14:37 GMT

@notmyrealname23 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@notmyrealname23 two quick things I wanted to address.

While Delta does not have an award chart, main cabin award fares are at worst essentially tied to revenue prices and would yield a minimum value of 1.2 cents per mile. Paid upgrades to Comfort+, Premium, First, and Delta One seem to be pegged at 1.15 cents per mile. For PWM, they are 1 cent if redeemed in 5k blocks (it's 5000 per $50, so $201 would require 25k, and it's better to use 20k to cover $200 and pay the $1 out of pocket so you don't waste 5k SkyMiles on $1 in this example). PWM really only makes sense if you need MQMs, although for 2021 award fares are earning MQMs and MQDs (a first for a US carrier). But with frequent award fare sales, you can do much better than 1.2 cents.

As for hyper-expensive tickets needed for companion fares, it's actually the exact opposite. All L, U, X, T and V fares are eligible for the companion tickets - those are the discounted cheap main cabin fares. It's actually the expensive last-minute tickets (like full fare Y) that are excluded from companion fares. Similarly for the Delta Reserve pass, it includes those, the C+ W fares, and the cheaper First Class tickets (not full fare J and F fares).
I haven't found a ton of Delta award sales where I do a lot better than 1.2 cpm (I suppose they're out there though, and I'll have enough SkyMiles at the beginning that at least a one way to Europe/Asia is possible under the right conditions).

I tend to see this happening a lot though over the years.

https://onemileatatime.com/delta-skymiles-devalues-partner-awards-again/

No notice devaluations don't make me fond of a program, or willing to accumulate large balances in a program just to see the award goal I'm saving for go up in smoke. I'm thus more likely to burn Skymiles for that $80 flight to Vegas or LA (admittedly I've seen some very low cost awards I've booked lately go at something like 1.5-2 cpm- 4000 miles for a one way that's $60-80 is very solid when it comes to Delta).

Also... so if the Platinum certificate's only good on cheap fares, the annual fees you need to pay to get one are $500 ($250x2). That's a pretty steep hill to climb on a domestic round trip coach fare to get positive expected value just from the certificate (though I imagine there are some markets out there where LUTXV fares on a round trip are over $500- I'm thinking markets where Delta has a hammerlock on where you need to go). So it doesn't sound like it's a selling point until you hit year three and beyond (where you only need $250) and the card is thus a long term keeper? Am I misunderstanding something here- like cancelling right after the certificate hits or something?

(If you were getting the certificate as part of the SUB, like for some other airline cards, I'd say it's more of an even deal. I might even do it.)

Yes it's basically paying $400 for 20k extra miles and a companion pass. I guess they don't want people cancelling after the 1st year so the companion pass is to keep people paying it.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 01:50:18 GMT

Started with gold to get back in with amex. Ended up liking delta so I applied for the platinum to get the elevated sub. Didn't really care about the companion pass as I normally don't fly less than comfort+. Upgraded the gold to reserve because the companion pass covers the higher rates. Will probably downgrade the platinum to blue when renewal time comes, if I don't flat out cancel it.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

K-in-Boston — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 00:32:55 GMT

If one is looking at the card only in terms of 2 years, I suppose the math may not work out as well. Most of my domestic Main Cabin fares are usually in the $300-500 range, so $250 would be an easy justification for a companion. If one is only doing short hops with lots of competition, it may not make sense. I'd never use one for BOS-JFK for example where I can pretty much guarantee I'll be going in F round trip for $150 or less. BOS-SFO or LAX or SEA would make much more sense.

That first year should be covered by a larger welcome offer and often some MQMs as well, and unless you're specifically only looking at 24 months (then close or downgrade) on the Platinum and Reserve it's not really a fair comparison to use 2 annual fees.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

notmyrealname23 — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 02:40:22 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
If one is looking at the card only in terms of 2 years, I suppose the math may not work out as well. Most of my domestic Main Cabin fares are usually in the $300-500 range, so $250 would be an easy justification for a companion. If one is only doing short hops with lots of competition, it may not make sense. I'd never use one for BOS-JFK for example where I can pretty much guarantee I'll be going in F round trip for $150 or less. BOS-SFO or LAX or SEA would make much more sense.

That first year should be covered by a larger welcome offer and often some MQMs as well, and unless you're specifically only looking at 24 months (then close or downgrade) on the Platinum and Reserve it's not really a fair comparison to use 2 annual fees.

OK, good, I'm glad my logic seems to be solid. At present, like I said, I don't think shooting for retaining Delta status for 2022 is feasible (the MQD spend on a Delta AMEX is a big opportunity cost against other cards I put spend on), but it seemed like a good idea to try it out in late 2020/early 2021 when Delta was being super generous with status matches (it's always good to peek on the other side of the fence and check out the grass color). The Platinum seems more suited for if I wanted long term retention as a DL elite (and grinding out a good chunk of spend), ditto Reserve.

(I hardly ever pack luggage on domestic trips so the bag fee waiver isn't really much use to me.)

I'm thinking the Platinum BOGO certificate has added value in more secondary airports or hubs where it is more likely Delta has you in the vise grip of higher fares, even in lower fare classes. BOS and SEA have LOADS of competitive routes that tend to drive things down.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 07:07:57 GMT

I did the gold last week because they had the best sign up bonus right now.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

staticvoidmain — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 08:53:15 GMT

Gold never made sense to me. I applied for the Platinum way before I knew what myFico was.

My reason being, I can see an immediate negative annual fee for me in the form of companion certs. AMEX is essentially paying me instead of the other way around. That and the ridiculously higher SUB of Plat (miles and MQM) made it a no-brainer for me.

Nowadays, Platinum can get you to SkyClubs / Delta Lounge (for a fee),

whereas it's not even an option for Gold anymore.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

EAJuggalo — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 12:04:57 GMT

@staticvoidmain wrote:
Gold never made sense to me. I applied for the Platinum way before I knew what myFico was.
Nowadays, Platinum can get you to SkyClubs / Delta Lounge (for a fee),
whereas it's not even an option for Gold anymore.

Gold made sense to me when I applied for it in 2019. First year annual fee waived, SC access and free checked bags for everyone in my party. Just before it came time to renew in 2020 AMEX and Delta changed the rules and made it not worthwhile for me so I downgraded to Blue. I'm considering upgrading to Platinum to get the companion ticket since it looks like my wife and I will be able to use it in future years. My nearest airport only offers ULCCs to a few destinations or any of the three legacies to the hubs.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

digitek — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 12:15:10 GMT

I put one down for the Delta Plat, too.

Long term it makes sense and will outpace the Gold in value if you use the Annual Companion pass.

There's a business version if you're feeling that route, too.

Re: Which Delta AmEx would you get?

Horseshoez — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 12:58:55 GMT

@staticvoidmain wrote:

Nowadays, Platinum can get you to SkyClubs / Delta Lounge (for a fee),
whereas it's not even an option for Gold anymore.

I'm surprised this isn't a widely spoken topic of conversation in this thread.

Back before I burned AMEX with my Chapter 13 I used the Delta Sky Club (and the Northwest club before that) on a regular basis; access to the clubs was, to me at least, well worth the annual fee, and then some. If/when AMEX ever lets me back in the door I'd gravitate to the Delta Reserve card as fast as I could; not only does this card grant Delta Sky Club access, but it also grants access to the AMEX Centurion Lounges.

In the meantime it looks like I'm going to be relegated to paying $545 per year to buy access to the Sky Club (assuming I start traveling again after this COVID thing is under some semblance of control).