I’ve been in this hobby, passion, addiction for the last five years. Offers for 50k Delta miles come and go, but if you’re in the market for Delta Skymiles, now is a great time to pick up this card.
Link: Delta Amex Gold Personal/Business 50k Offer (expires 6/30/15)
50k Delta Miles Short Term Offer
On a rare occasion you’ll see American Express counter and offer a bonus like this. They’re responding to the 50k offer that Chase and United ran last month. For the most part unless you’re targeted the generally published offer is for 30k Delta miles.
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- Personal Card offers 50k & $50 Statement Credit
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- Business Card offers 50k Delta miles & $50 Statement Credit
Delta has been known as the company that doesn’t have SkyMiles as much as they have SkyPesos. This is a joke amongst travelers who have tried to use their miles, yet had a hard time finding availability in using the miles.
What Are the Terms of the Offer?
Annual Fee: $95 annual fee is waived for the first year
Foreign Transaction Fees: Waived
Baggage Fees: Waives the baggage fee (1st bag only) for yourself as well as up to 8 people traveling on the same booked itinerary.
Delta Bonus: You’ve got to spend $2000 in the first 3 months of card membership before they drop 50k Delta miles in your account.
Statement Credit: Also, the $50 statement credit is only applicable in the following scenarios:
One statement credit for $50 will be issued to your Card account after a Delta purchase is charged to your Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership. Purchases to meet the spend requirement include those made by both the Basic and Additional Card Members on the Card Account. Purchase must be made directly through Delta. A purchase may not qualify for the statement credit if it is submitted under a merchant code that has not been categorized as a Delta merchant code as of the date of the purchase(s).
This has not been tested: I believe that you should be able to buy a gift certificate from Delta.com for $50, which keeps you from having to actually purchase a Delta flight within the first 3 months of card membership.
How Far Will 50k Delta Miles Get Me?
Recently Delta completely removed their award chart and left a simple statement that talks about how many miles it takes to book a trip within the USA:
Within and between the Continental U.S., Alaska and Canada, round-trip Award Tickets will continue to start at 25,000 miles (plus taxes and fees). One Way Award Tickets for 10,000 miles (plus fees and taxes) are now available to select destinations.
Their old chart used to look like this:
New Delta Award Chart After June 2014
The 50k Delta miles should get you two roundtrip tickets within the USA. Living in Idaho makes Delta miles great because they actually fly out of Idaho Falls. That is a luxury rarely enjoyed.
Can I Get This Bonus Twice?
Back in the day Amex was liberal in offering bonuses multiple times throughout a lifetime. Today they’ve tightened up this, which gives you an even better reason to pick up this card while they’re having this splendid offer.
Personal Card says this:
“If we identify you as currently having an American Express® Card account, you may not be eligible for this welcome bonus offer. This offer is also not available to applicants who have or have had this product.”
Business Card says this:
“Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product within the last 12 months.”
It’s interesting to me that they’re willing to give the bonus to a business more than once, but a personal card you can only get it once in your lifetime. I made a huge mistake a few years back and picked up this card when the bonus was a measly 30,000, and it didn’t come with a statement credit either, ouch!
Why We Love It
I love this hobby. Traveling is part of my identity. Using miles to offset expensive airline tickets is always awesome. Pick up this card while the offer is up to 50k and score the extra 20k miles that will always benefit you!
What are your thoughts about this offer? Do you plan on getting this card?
I have racked up many Delta skymiles many years ago with multiple American Express Cards. I have not applied for American Express cards recently because everywhere I use credit cards I have not seen the logos that say they accept American Express? What is your experience with trying to hit the spending limit very difficult because multiple merchants do not accept American Express?
Yes, American Express is not as widely accepted as Mastercard and Visa are, and it is often frustrating to be carrying one card have have it not accepted at places I visit frequently.
Spending requirements have not been difficult for me to hit, though, because I have a number of business expenses that I can pay with AMEX easily.
You bring up a good point, though, that you should also consider whether those everyday expenses that you’ll pay to meet the minimum requirements will be enough.
One trick I’ve done often is to buy a sizeable Walmart gift card when I’m close to meeting a requirement but not all the way there. They accept AMEX and with as much money as we spend at Walmart, they’re as good as cash.
Brad