Delta SkyMiles Gold Credit Card Review

The Delta SkyMiles Gold Credit Card is best for someone who wants basic frequent flyer perks with Delta and the ability to earn Delta SkyMiles from common credit card purchases. This card offers 2 miles per $1 spent on two popular spending categories—restaurants and U.S. supermarkets, which can really add up. Purchases with Delta also earn 2 miles per $1. The regular earning rate of 1 mile per $1 spent is lackluster, but it also means every dollar spent brings you a mile closer to a Delta award flight, seat upgrade, or other reward.

• Lucrative welcome offer: You’ll have to spend $2,000 within three months of account opening to get it, but the 60,000 bonus miles could be worth nearly $1,000 in airfare.
• Access Delta’s Pay with Miles feature: If you can’t find an award ticket for the Delta flight you want, this program can be a big help. Use 5,000 miles to buy a $50 discount off any Delta flight—or use more miles to buy a bigger discount. You can redeem for any amount in increments of 5,000 miles. 

• No boost to elite status: Delta credit cards with higher annual fees offer Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) good toward elite status as part of their welcome offers, which can be used to reach elite status sooner. However, the Delta SkyMiles Gold Card doesn’t offer any MQMs, which means you’ll have to earn elite status through flying instead of credit card spending. 
• No Delta Sky Club access: Other co-branded Delta credit cards with higher annual fees offer entry into Delta Sky Clubs, either as a complimentary perk or at an exclusive per-visit rate. Unfortunately, the Delta SkyMiles Gold credit card doesn’t offer any Sky Club access as a cardholder perk.

Through April 1, 2020, the Delta SkyMiles Gold Card has a welcome offer of 60,000 miles when you spend $2,000 on your card within three months of account opening.

According to our valuations, Delta SkyMiles are worth 1.6 cents each. This makes the welcome bonus on this card worth approximately $960, although your return will ultimately depend on the itinerary you redeem for. 

This is a strong welcome offer relative to competing cards and it gets stronger when you factor in the additional 10,000 miles awarded on account anniversary (and paid the next year’s annual fee).

The Delta SkyMiles Gold Credit Card returns 2 miles per $1 spent on Delta purchases, and the same 2 miles per $1 spent at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets. Like most other airline credit cards, this card affords you a regular earning rate of 1 mile per $1 spent on other purchases. 

Note that you’ll get a $100 flight discount after you spend $10,000 on your credit card within a calendar year. This flight credit can be used toward any flight marketed on Delta.com, or through Delta reservations. You can also use it toward the flight component of a trip booked through Delta vacations. 

One frustrating aspect of the Delta SkyMiles program is that it does not provide a standard award chart. Unfortunately, this means you may not know how many miles you’ll need for an award flight until you’re ready to trade in your miles. Plus, redemption amounts can be all over the place, so there’s no real way to estimate ahead of time.

Generally speaking, you can normally find round-trip domestic flights starting at 30,000 miles, and international round-trip flights starting at around 60,000 miles. However, you may also find flight awards for fewer miles or considerably more miles depending on your destination and travel dates.

On the upside, you can redeem Delta SkyMiles for flights with Delta Air Lines or with more than 20 airline partners, including Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic (you'll still have to book through Delta, though). 

Besides flights, you’ll also be able to redeem your miles for: 

• Seat upgrades
• Delta Sky Club membership
• Delta vacation packages
• Delta SkyMiles experiences
• Delta gift cards
• Shopping in the Delta SkyMiles marketplace
• Magazine subscriptions

However you decide to spend your miles, you’ll do it through Delta’s website.

Obviously, to get the most out of the Delta SkyMiles Gold Card, you should use it on all your regular spending, but particularly on Delta purchases, restaurants, and U.S. grocery store spending. If you use your card to pay for a purchase with Delta within three months of account opening, you’ll secure a $50 statement credit. That’s basically a $50 discount off the flight of your choice. 

It also goes without saying that you should grab the welcome offer. The spending threshold is reasonable, and the miles could be worth a significant amount of airfare.

Another tip: Delta’s Pay with Miles program can help you score discounts on flights if you can’t find the award availability you want. The catch is, you have to redeem your miles in increments of 5,000 (worth $50 or 1 cent per mile), so be careful how you redeem them. For example, if you use Pay with Miles for a flight that retails for $315, you’d have to cash in 35,000 miles to cover the cost, wasting $35 worth of miles. Instead, you could cash in 30,000 miles for a $300 discount and pay for the rest on your credit card.

The Delta SkyMiles Gold Card has a handful of perks deemed "excellent" by the editors of The Balance. These include:

• Free checked bag: This card offers a free checked bag on Delta and Delta-operated flights for the primary cardholder and up to eight companions on the same itinerary. 
• Priority boarding: The primary cardholder and up to eight companions on the same itinerary will also receive Main Cabin 1 priority boarding on Delta and Delta-operated itineraries.
• Insurance coverage for lost or damaged luggage: You’re covered for the cost to replace lost luggage on a trip paid for with the card for up to $500 for checked bags and $1,250 for carry-on.

• Discounts on in-flight purchases
• Rental car collision insurance (secondary to your own policy)
• Extended warranties
• Insurance for stolen or damaged purchases

American Express boasts its own mobile app that lets you track your spending, pay your bill, and more using your mobile device. If you’re a frequent Delta flyer, you can also download Delta’s app in order to manage your rewards, search for award flights, and access a mobile boarding pass when you fly. 

J.D. Power’s 2019 Credit Card Satisfaction Study ranked American Express 2nd of 11 credit card companies. This study considered feedback from over 28,000 credit card customers nationwide.

The Delta SkyMiles Gold Card from American Express offers industry standard card and identity theft protections, including zero liability for fraudulent purchases. 

Fees charged by this card are standard for a card of its type. Consistent with its status as an airline travel rewards card, you won’t have to pay foreign transaction fees when you use this card for purchases made overseas.