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Our experts rate credit cards based on several factors including card benefits, bonus offers and independent research. Credit card issuers do not influence or have a say in our card ratings. Read our credit card methodology here.The information related to the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card has been independently collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication.
If you’re a loyal Delta customer, live near a Delta hub, or fly with a partner airline, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card easily offers enough perks and rewards to cover its annual fee ( $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.) (see rates & fees).
The card’s best benefit may be that it allows the cardholder and up to eight companions to check their first bag for free. At a cost of $35 for every bag, the savings alone from using this benefit four times a year offsets the annual fee. You’ll also get a solid welcome offer, decent earnings on everyday categories and priority boarding.
However, the remainder of this card’s perks are less-than-impressive considering its high fee. There are other travel cards that offer more value, especially when it comes to travel protections and flexible rewards. If you’re not loyal to one airline, you should consider a more general travel rewards credit card, like the American Express® Gold Card.
*To see rates & fees for Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, please click here.
Want to see more rewarding cards for travel? See our list of best travel credit cards
Solid welcome offer
New cardholders earn 40,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $2,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. LendingTree values Delta points at 1.1 cents each, so 40,000 points is worth $440.
Should you apply now?
You may want to wait to apply for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, as the welcome offer is currently the lowest it’s been in several months.
| Recent offers for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card | |
|---|---|
| Date | Number of miles |
| July 2024 | 40,000 |
| June 2024 | 65,000 |
| March 2024 | 40,000 |
| Febrary 2024 | 70,000 |
| August 2023 | 40,000 |
Free first checked bag
With the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, you get a fee waiver on the first checked bag for yourself and up to eight travel companions booked on the same reservation. Bag fees add up quickly, especially if you’re taking a week-long family vacation. For a family of four, this benefit could save you $280 — $130 over the card’s annual fee.
Up to $300 in statement credits
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card offers a couple of travel statement credits that can also wipe out the annual fee, especially if you’re a big spender. You can earn a $200 Delta Flight credit after you spend $10,000 in purchases on your card in a calendar year. Also, you can get up to $100 back per year as a statement credit after using your Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays.
Earn 2X miles on a variety of purchases
When you use your Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card you’ll earn earn 2X Miles on Delta purchases, at U.S. Supermarkets and at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S. Earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases.
This is a decent earning rate on a variety of purchases. However, some cards, including the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, offer 3X points on dining and 2X on all travel, making it possible to accumulate a larger stash of points in the same amount of time.
Good award availability
Since Delta is part of the SkyTeam Alliance, you can use your Delta SkyMiles to book travel to more than 1,000 destinations worldwide. Delta has hubs in nine major cities across the U.S. and serves nearly 300 locations on six continents.
Delta miles don’t expire as long as your account is active and in good standing, so there’s no rush to use them. You can save them up for an overseas trip or splurge for first-class seats. There’s also an option to pay with miles and money, in case you’re short on miles.
Award seats are also easier to find with the Delta SkyMiles program. Awards are available on most flights in all fare classes: Basic, Main, Comfort+®, and First. The basic fare is generally the cheapest, and taxes and fees on award seats are $12 round trip.
| Usability overall score = 3.4 (Good) | |
|---|---|
| Miles expiration | 5 out of 5 |
| Flight network | 4.5 out of 5 |
| Award availability | 4 out of 5 |
| Ease of booking | 3.4 out of 5 |
| Complexity | 0 out of 5 |
Along with flying on Delta, you can book award travel on a large number of Delta’s SkyTeam travel partners, including:
Insurance and travel protections
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card offers decent — though not spectacular — travel protections. Cardholders receive:
You can find cards with similar annual fees and much better travel protections, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and United℠ Explorer Card. These cards offer a more generous luggage policy and additional coverages, including trip cancellation and trip delay insurance.
Discounted rates on flights and in-flight purchases
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card offers a few notable discounts that make flying cheaper:
High annual fee
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150. While annual fees are common for higher-end airline credit cards, this card may not offer enough for casual travel to justify the expense.
If you’re willing to pay an annual fee, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers a number of perks — including 2X miles on all purchases and TSA PreCheck/Global Entry statement credit — for a lower $95 annual fee (see rates & fees).
Lower value miles
Delta SkyMiles have a fairly low value compared to the value of other airline miles, which means you’ll earn rewards at a somewhat tepid pace with this card. Not to mention, since you’re locked into redeeming your miles with Delta, you could be losing out on a lot of value compared to more flexible travel rewards cards.
Many general travel cards offer a higher reward rate because they allow you to transfer rewards to outside loyalty programs, which can vastly increase the value of your rewards. For example, the American Express® Gold Card, which lets you transfer points to more than 15 loyalty programs, offers an average rewards rate of $0.046 per $1 spent. Not only can you earn rewards faster with this card, but you’ll have more options for redeeming miles.
Average rewards earned per $1 spent
Somewhat complicated rewards program
The Delta SkyMiles program can be complex, especially if you’re just starting out using travel credit cards. The terms and conditions are dense; requiring a significant amount of time to read and process the information. Its website is also a little more difficult to navigate compared to other major U.S. airline programs.
Delta uses dynamic pricing, which means that the number of miles required for a particular flight can vary widely, even within the span of a week, making it hard to determine the best value for your miles. For some, the amount of effort required to use your miles could be frustrating to the point of switching to a more simple cash back credit card.
No Delta Sky Club Access
This card used to offer discounted access to the Delta Sky Club for the cardholder and up to two travel companions. This perk is no longer available. If you’re looking for SkyClub access, you’ll need to go for a higher annual fee card, like the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or The Platinum Card® from American Express.
Doesn’t help earn Delta Medallion status
Note that the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card doesn’t help you achieve status with Delta. Miles earned — and money spent — on your Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card don’t count toward MQD Headstart or MQD Boost. Consider the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card if you want to earn Delta status.
*To see rates & fees for Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card please click here.
| Credit Cards | Our Ratings | Welcome Offer | Rewards Rate | Annual Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card
|
Earn 40,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $2,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. | Earn 2X Miles on Delta purchases, at U.S. Supermarkets and at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S. Earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases. | $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150. | ||
American Express® Gold Card
|
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus, receive 20% back in statement credits on eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first 6 months of Card Membership, up to $100 back. Limited time offer. Offer ends 11/6/24. | Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants (on up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X), Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X). Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com. Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com. Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point on all other eligible purchases. Terms Apply | $325 | ||
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
|
Earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. | Earn 3X Miles on Delta purchases and purchases made directly with hotels. Earn 2X Miles at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S., and at U.S. supermarkets and earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases. | $350 | ||
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
 Apply Now
on Chase's secure site |
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. | Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more. | $95 |
Apply Now
on Chase's secure site |
You can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to more than 15 hotel and airline loyalty programs, including Delta SkyMiles. If you’re less interested in airline perks and more focused on earning miles for an award flight, this card could be a better option.
The annual fee is $350 (see rates & fees), but you also earn a boost toward elite status, an annual companion certificate each year on your card anniversary and a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit.* The high annual fee is a drawback, but if you prefer traveling with Delta and do so frequently, the additional airline perks could be worth it.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a better and more flexible card for earning rewards for free flights. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to more than 10 travel loyalty programs as well as redeem them for any type of travel through the Chase Travel portal. The card also offers statement credits for partner services like Instacart, DoorDash, Lyft and Peloton. Cardholders enjoy a variety of travel and purchase protections including trip cancellation/interruption insurance, primary auto rental coverage and extended warranty protection.
If you travel on Delta and don’t feel you’d get your money’s worth out of a higher-tier Delta credit card, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card may be the right airline card for you. If you fly with Delta just a few times a year, the card’s free bag benefit on its own could justify the annual fee.
However if you’re an occasional traveler or not loyal to any one airline, a more generic card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers the potential to earn higher rewards on travel purchases and a variety of statement credits on services you may already use.
