Considering a Delta Amex Gold card

[drsmith]

I was wondering if anyone could shine any light on the companion ticket. Are you eligible for one your first year with the card or only after the first annual fee since the first one is waived?

[drsmith]

Itchy trigger finger

instant approval. Couldn't turn down the free checked bag and companion ticket

[ferrari]

there is a 30000 miles bonus now, how much did you get?

[drsmith]

It's only 20,000 miles

You get 5,000 for additional cards though

[drsmith]

So I've got the 1,000 available credit line until the physical card comes in, and the tickets I wanted to buy are $1,018 total. I called Amex and the CSR couldn't add anything on to the $1,000 limit. Delta also wasn't able to do anything

Just my luck

[ferrari]

Use your bank to push like 50$ to your delta card and then you'll have 1050 in available credit and use that to buy the tickets so that you get the miles. Don't forget to link your card to your skymiles account if you did not provide your skymiles number when you signed out for the card. The way to do this is to call delta skymiles. If you do not have a skymiles account then open one and then call delta and have them link the account to your card.

[drsmith]

I app'd with my skymiles number attached. I'm not understanding what you mean to use my bank to push another $50 on the card though.

[Anonymous]

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@drsmith wrote:

I app'd with my skymiles number attached. I'm not understanding what you mean to use my bank to push another $50 on the card though.

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ferarri is saying to use your bank's bill pay to "pay" your zero balance Amex account, effectively creating a credit of $50. Your purchase of $1018 would then go through.

[drsmith]

Interesting

I'm surprised the Amex rep didn't recommend this. I'll give it a shot. Is there a downside to this plan? If it doesn't work will Amex strike me down if my first purchase attempt is declined?

Edit

I just attempted to create an account on the Amex website and it says my account is locked out and unable to create an account until I have the physical card. I don't think I'll be able to pay the bill without access to the card on their website.