You mentioned traveling solo, so Delta Platinum and Reserve cards would likely not be good choices for you without a companion or needing them to help with elite status. Sounds like the free bag perk on Gold wouldn't make sense for you since you travel solo without bags domestically, and as mentioned in another thread with Delta and its partners you will almost always have baggage allowance on international flights anyway (although again, it does stack with Delta-operated flights).
Gold is unquestionably a better value with its SUB alone. Piggybacking on the above post, when redeeming SkyMiles for an award flight you will get a minimum value of 1.2¢ per mile (there are other cases such as upgrades and Pay With Miles where you could go as low as 1.0¢) but Delta has very frequent sales where that can be raised fairly considerably even on Main Cabin flights. So even a fairly standard 70k Welcome Offer on Gold would be valued at a minimum of $840 toward award flights, while I have never seen Blue above 10k. There are some other perks with Gold as well that you won't get with Blue. Since you mentioned that you sometimes fly Spirit, Delta's Basic Economy fares can be made much more bearable with the Delta Gold card as you would be able to board with Main Cabin 1 and be less likely to need to gate check your carry-on, plus with the recent expansion and terminal upgrades, Delta is making a serious push to be more dominant at LAX.
@Anonymous wrote:Confusing. Some says on the Surpass thread that Gold only apply 2% for US restaurants. Websites does say US restaurants.
But other websites, Nerdwallet, Forbes, TPG, wallethub all say restaurant worldwide.
Blue says on the website:
'At restaurants worldwide'
😵
Amex clearly states any distinctions directly on the card information pages where it shows elevated rewards. They do differ at times even within the same family of cards. Do keep in mind that in the middle ground between fine dining and international fast food chains where it is more likely, Amex acceptance at restaurants can be fairly limited at in many areas of the world so the distinction may not really matter to many cardholders.
Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card - 2x miles on dining at restaurants worldwide, and for takeout and delivery in the U.S.
Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card - 2x miles on dining at U.S. restaurants, plus takeout and delivery.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card - 6x points on dining at U.S. restaurants, including takeout and delivery.
American Express® Gold Card - 4x points on dining at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
American Express® Green Card - 3x points at restaurants including takeout and delivery in the US.
It is mostly math for your use pattern for any of the Delta cards.
One thing I have not seen emphasized is that with Gold, you and everyone in your travel party gets a free checked bag. That alone can easily be worth the AF, but again, it depends on how you'd use the card.
All four of the cards make sense for some segment of users, you just need to figure out which segment you are in.
Sidenote, I am thinking about downgrading my Platinum to Gold since I am not flying much lately and am unlikely to take advantage of the companion certificate soon. I would downgrade to Blue except that I have already gotten the Gold SUB and I have not gotten the Blue sub, so I want to leave that possibility open.
@Anonymous wrote:This is why I'm hesitant to apply for Delta now:
Still bucketed. I'm in a similar boat. I got a Platinum in 2016 with no credit score, between credit steps and account consolidation I got it to $4500 in 2017, where it's sat ever since. I've gone between 615 and 700 FICOs and nothing has changed. I've got a couple small things on it just to keep it open for the time being.
I see this type of post allot on the forum.
A higher Fico score alone never means a higher CL. Only putting small charges on the card is the problem, they are not going to give you a higher limit if all you are doing is buying a candy bar once a month.
The entire point of a credit card is to use it, you’re going to have to put real spend through the card before they start treating you better as they have plenty of other customers that will do it.
