colin1898      2024-09-12     2024-10-24 108 Comments

Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum Card from American Express Review

2024.9 Update: The new offer is 90k. Expires on 2024.10.23. Expired now.

2024.6 Update: The new offer is 85k. Expires on 2024.7.17. Expired now.

2024.2 Update: The new offer is 90k, and there are a few changes to this card:

• Annual fee is increased from $250 to $350.
• New benefit: $10 Resy Credit per month.
• New benefit: $10 Rideshare Credit per month.
• New benefit: $150 Delta Stays Credit per year.
• MQD Headstart: receive $2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) each Medallion Qualification Year with MQD Headstart.
• Complimentary Upgrade List. Well, but your position is after Delta SkyMiles Medallion Members and Reserve Card Members.
• Companion pass now includes Central America and Caribbean.

• Hertz Five Star Status.

Application Link

• Public offer: AmEx Delta SkyMiles Platinum
• Targeted offer: AmEx Delta SkyMiles Platinum targeted offer. If you see “PLEASE VERIFY THE INFORMATION YOU ENTERED IS CORRECT AND TRY AGAIN.” it means you are not targeted.

Benefits

1. 90k Miles: earn 90,000 Miles after spending $4,000 in first 6 months. The recent best offer is 90k+$200.
2. We value Delta Miles at 1.3 cents/mile (Airline Miles Value). So the 90k welcome offer is worth about $1,170! See A Beginner’s Guide to Delta Miles to check for details about Delta Miles.
3. With the Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, you’ll receive a Companion Certificate each year just for renewing your Card. With this Certificate, you can invite someone special to fly with you on an eligible round-trip domestic flight. If you use it properly, it is worth about $500 and it is easy to cover the annual fee.
4. Earn 3 miles per $1 spent on hotels and Delta purchases; 2 miles per $1 spent on restaurants and U.S. supermarkets; 1 mile per $1 spent on other purchases.
5. [New] $10 Resy Credit per month.
6. [New] $10 Rideshare Credit per month.
7. [New] $150 Delta Stays Credit: Get up to $150 back per year as a statement credit after using this card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays on delta.com/stays.
8. First checked bag free on Delta flights.
9. Enjoy the right to priority boarding Delta Flight fly.
10. 20% savings on in–flight foods and entertainment.
11. MQD Boost: Earn $1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) for each $20 of purchases.
12. [New] MQD Headstart: receive $2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) each Medallion Qualification Year with MQD Headstart.
13. [New] Complimentary Upgrade List. Well, but your position is after Delta SkyMiles Medallion Members and Reserve Card Members.
14. Global Entry or TSA Pre✔ Fee Credit.
15. Cell phone protection: get up to $800 per claim and 2 claims per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Deductible $50.
16. With this credit card, you can get access to Amex Offer, which usually offers very good discounts at some stores, such as: spend $15 or more and get $5 back at Walmart; spend $75 or more and get $25 back on Amazon.com.
17. No foreign transaction fee.
18. Refer a friend: You can earn 10,000 bonus Delta miles for every approved account you refer, up to 55,000 Delta miles per calendar year.

Disadvantages

1. $350 annual fee, NOT waived for the first year.

DL Companion Certificate Rules

• You can only use the companion certificate on Delta flight only (including Delta connection, Delta shuttles)
• You’ll need to buy your tickets at least 14 days in advance with a minimum 3 night stay
• You must book seats in fare class L, U, or T (discount coach class) only
• You and your companion must fly the exact same itinerary
• Taxes and Fees apply to the companion ticket
• Companion certificates can be transferred，but are not eligible for upgrades
• If you cancel a companion itinerary, you won’t get the certificate back
• You’ll earn miles on the paid ticket, but not the companion ticket
• You must use your Platinum Delta SkyMiles card to pay for the tickets

Recommended Application Time

1. You can only get the welcome bonus once in a lifetime, so be sure to apply when the historical highest offer appears.
2. [New] [Family language] AmEx begins to add family language: higher annual fees cards will affect the welcome offers on lower annual fee ones in the same family series. Delta personal cards family is affected. So if you want more than one welcome offer, you should apply for cards with lower annual fee first.
3. AmEx doesn’t care about the number of hard pulls.
4. You can try to apply for it when you have a credit history of 6 months.
5. Only 2 AmEx credit cards can be approved within 90 days, but this rule does not apply to charge cards. Multiple cards approved in the same day will only have one Hard Pull.
6. You can keep at most 5 AmEx credit cards, but this rule does not apply to charge cards.

Summary

The welcome bonus is very generous, therefore this card is very worth applying. The best part of this card is the Companion Certificate which often worth more than $500 and you can easily use that to cover the annual fee. If you can’t take advantage of the Companion Certificate, then you can consider downgrading it to the no fee AmEx Blue Delta card after one year.

Related Credit Cards

• AmEx Blue Delta SkyMiles
• AmEx Gold Delta SkyMiles
• AmEx Gold Delta SkyMiles Business
• AmEx Platinum Delta SkyMiles (this post)
• AmEx Platinum Delta SkyMiles Business
• AmEx Delta Reserve
• AmEx Delta Reserve Business

Recommended Downgrade Options

• AmEx Blue Delta SkyMiles

After Applying

• Click here to check AmEx application status.
• AmEx reconsideration backdoor number: 877-399-3083. The “real” backdoor number of Amex is well protected. Different from Chase, the representatives from this AmEx reconsideration backdoor number only have the right to help you submit requests.

Historical Offers Chart

Application Link

• Public offer: AmEx Delta SkyMiles Platinum
• Targeted offer: AmEx Delta SkyMiles Platinum targeted offer. If you see “PLEASE VERIFY THE INFORMATION YOU ENTERED IS CORRECT AND TRY AGAIN.” it means you are not targeted.

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