The American Express Delta Gold card is a great credit card for those who fly Delta several times once a year, and want some benefits from their card without paying a several hundred dollar annual fee. With only a $99 annual fee (which is waived the first year of ownership), you can easily get substantial value from this card.
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Sign Up Bonus + Annual Fee
American Express is quite tricky when it comes to sign up bonus (SUBs). Location, VPN use (to spoof location), browser cookies, and relationship with American Express all can affect the offer you see. Try using the “Pre-Qualify” or “Check for Offers” button on the American Express site to check to see if there are more competitive offers. If you don’t find a more competitive offer, please consider using our referral links.
The American Express Delta Gold card typically offers a signup bonus of 35,000 Delta SkyMiles after spending $1,000 over the first 3 months. However, the card will often increase their welcome offers all the way up to 90,000 SkyMiles. The card has a $99 annual fee, although the fee is waived for the first year.
Review
The American Express Delta Gold card is my go-to card for Delta purchases. With a solid sign-up bonus and several great benefits when flying on Delta, it is a good companion card for those who travel on Delta.
Who is this card for?
I wouldn’t recommend this card to someone who doesn’t fly at least once a year on Delta. You get the most value from this card when you fly Delta domestically to take advantage of the free first checked bag, since the first checked bag is typically free for international travel. Additionally, if you typically make purchases on airplanes, you can earn value through the card’s 20% back on in-flight purchases benefit. Finally, if you value boarding the plane earlier, you can take advantage of the Main 1 Cabin Priority Boarding.
The American Express Delta Gold card has a downgrade option to the American Express Delta Blue card, which has no annual fee. If you frequently fly Delta and want even more benefits, you can upgrade to the American Express Delta Platinum ($250 annual fee) to earn a free Global Entry credit, annual companion pass, Delta status boost, and earn 3x SkyMiles on Delta flights and hotel purchases. You could also upgrade to the American Express Delta Reserve ($550 annual fee), which gives you benefits of the American Express Delta Platinum card in addition to Delta SkyClub access, complimentary upgrades, and an even greater Delta status boost.
Multipliers
2x SkyMiles on purchases made directly through Delta
2x SkyMiles on purchases at US supermarkets
2x SkyMiles on purchases at restaurants
1x SkyMiles on everything else
Benefits
1st checked bag free (a $60 roundtrip savings per person, includes up to eight travel companions on the same reservation)
Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding
Pay with Miles - a feature that lets you pay for all or part of your reservation with Delta SkyMiles
20% savings on in-flight purchases
$100 annual Delta credit after spending $10,000 on the card in a calendar year
No foreign transaction fee
Global Assist Hotline
Authorized user benefits
Various travel, shopping, and phone Insurance
1st Checked Bag Free
One of the best benefits of the American Express Delta Gold card is the ability to have your first checked bag fee waived. This includes the baggage fee for both the cardholder and up to 8 other passengers on the booking. Considering the checked baggage fee is typically $60 per person roundtrip, this can add up to a $540 savings per trip. Keep in mind the waived baggage fee does not apply for baggage that is oversize or overweight.
Delta one-way checked baggage fees without the American Express Delta Gold card
Another part of this benefit is the fact that you don’t need to use the American Express Delta Gold card to purchase the Delta flight to receive the free checked bag. This is a great feature because the American Express Delta Gold only receives 2x SkyMiles per dollar spent on Delta flights, whereas other cards such as the American Express Platinum earns 5x MR points per dollar spent on travel. This means you can use both the benefits of higher multipliers from one card while still getting the free checked bag from the American Express Delta Gold. If you use a separate card to book your Delta flight, you simply need to have the American Express Delta Gold card linked to your Delta SkyMiles account.
Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding
One of the other main benefits of the American Express Delta Gold card is Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding. This means you get to board immediately after in uniform Military, Delta One, First Class, Premium Select, Comfort Plus, and Sky Priority passengers. While this sounds like you are behind a lot of passengers, you still get to board before the majority of most economy passengers, which is most of the plane’s passengers. This is important because you get to put your carry-on luggage in the overhead bins before other economy passengers, potentially saving time if the carry-on baggage were to instead be checked if you were in a later boarding group.
Delta boarding priority. Note that Main Cabin 1 boards after uniformed Military, Delta One, First Class, Premium Select, Comfort Plus, and Sky Priority passengers, but boards before the rest of Main Cabin passengers
Of course, if you are in a higher boarding group due to Sky Priority or a premium seat selection, you get to board with that boarding group instead of Main Cabin 1. Similar to the 1st free checked bag benefit, Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding also extends to up to 8 travel partners on your reservation.
Pay with Miles
The Pay with Miles benefit allows you to pay for a portion of your Delta purchase at a fixed 100 SkyMiles to $1 rate. This does require a minimum of 5,000 SkyMiles to use, and is only applicable to customers with one of Delta’s branded credit cards. This benefit allows card members to reduce their flight price by increments of $50 (5,000 SkyMiles). For example, as shown in the screenshot below, I was able to reduce the cost of a flight by $100 using 10,000 SkyMiles via the Pay with Miles tool. The flight went from $212.40 to $112.40 once using 10,000 SkyMiles. You can find the Pay with Miles tool on the checkout page when booking a flight. Keep in mind you need to have the American Express Delta Gold card linked to your Delta SkyMiles account in order for the tool to work.
Example of using the Pay with Miles tool
How to use Delta’s Pay with Miles
Delta does has a similar buying feature called Miles + Cash, which is available to all customers with a SkyMiles account, but typically is a worse deal than the more exclusive Pay with Miles. For example, using the same $212.40 flight as above, the Miles + Cash feature only reduced the flight cost by $21.20 using 7,000 SkyMiles. 7,000 SkyMiles using the Pay with Miles benefit would save $70 off the cost of the same flight.
Same flight as above using Delta’s Miles + Cash tool, available to all Delta SkyMiles members
20% savings on in-flight purchases
Another great benefit of the American Express Delta Gold card is the 20% off in-flight purchases. This 20% savings is via a statement credit, not 20% off at the time of purchase. Keep in mind that the savings typically only applies to food, beverages, and headsets, and does not apply to wifi or other purchases.
$100 annual Delta credit after spending $10,000 on the card in a calendar year
For those who are able to spend at least $10,000 per year via their American Express Delta Gold card, Delta will award a $100 Delta flight credit. This credit alone covers the annual fee, assuming you would normally spend $10,000 on the card.
Additional Card Member Benefits
The American Express Delta Gold card does allow additional card members to have their own Delta Gold card, for the great price of free!
Additional Card members do not receive the free first checked bag, Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding, or Pay with Miles benefits, but do still receive 20% off in-flight purchases, a slew of insurances and protections, and 2x SkyMiles on Delta purchases, US supermarkets, and restaurants.
Baggage Insurance
If something happens while you are on a trip, it is good to have baggage insurance. If it falls under the category of covered instances you would be covered by simply using your American Express Delta Gold card for your purchase. This benefit can be applied to airlines, trains, ships, and busses, not just Delta Airlines.
Please call American Express customer service to be sure that your situation will be covered.
Shopping Insurance
The American Express Delta Gold card might not have good multipliers for purchase for things on eBay or websites that you might not trust, but sometimes, it is worth it, due to the card’s extended warranty and purchase protection. These benefits allow you to extend the warranty on certain purchases, and also covers stolen or damaged purchases. Every case may have varying results and it is important to pay attention to American Express terms and conditions.
Car Rental Insurance
Similar to the shopping insurances, the American Express Delta Gold card might not have the best multipliers for generic travel, but the card does provide rental car insurances. These benefits provide coverage for damaged or theft of a rental car, as long as you use your American Express Delta Gold card to pay for the entire rental. Additionally, the card provides primary coverage for theft or damage, and excess medical coverage in an accident. Again, every case may have varying results and it is important to pay attention to American Express terms and conditions.
ShopRunner
The American Express Delta Gold card also provides ShopRunner membership as a benefit. With ShopRunner you can get free 2 day shipping on eligible items, from specific stores at no cost to you. All you need to do is enroll from the benefits tab. You can use this benefit with stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Under Armour, Bloomingdale’s, and NBA Shop.
Summary
The American Express Delta Gold card is the perfect card for people who fly Delta several times a year. It comes with free first checked bag, Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding, 20% off in-flight purchases, Pay with Miles, and a slew of insurances. These benefits can easily outweigh the $99 annual fee (which is waived the first year of ownership), especially if you fly with others.
If you think this card would be a good fit for you please consider using our referral link below.
