Delta and American Express sell seven co-branded cards between them, and the SkyMiles Gold sits in the middle of the personal lineup. It's pitched at people who fly Delta a few times a year and want the airline basics without paying premium-card prices. Right now that pitch is fairly convincing.
The card waives its annual fee for the first year, then charges $150. New applicants can be eligible for as many as 80,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 in the first six months — worth roughly $880 at the reviewer's valuation of about 1.1 cents per mile. Note the fine print: the bonus is once-per-lifetime, and if you've held the personal Platinum or Reserve Delta Amex, you're locked out of the Gold bonus too. If you're planning to collect several Delta cards, apply for the Gold first, since the reverse doesn't hold.
Where the card earns its keep is the perks. You get a free first checked bag on Delta flights worldwide (a second free bag on domestic flights), covering the cardholder and up to eight companions on the same reservation — and with Delta now charging $45 for a first bag and $55 for a second domestically, one roundtrip with checked luggage roughly repays the annual fee. Add Zone 5 priority boarding, 20% back on inflight food and drink, and the TakeOff 15 perk, which shaves 15% off Delta award bookings paid with miles.
There are also a few spend-based credits: spend $10,000 in a calendar year and you get a $200 Delta flight credit; there's up to $100 per year back on prepaid Delta Stays hotel bookings; and after your first renewal, up to $10 a month in statement credits on US rideshare spending. Earning rates are unremarkable — 2x on Delta purchases, restaurants worldwide and US supermarkets, 1x elsewhere — and there are no foreign transaction fees.
The main limitation is status. Delta elite status is earned via Medallion Qualifying Dollars, and the Gold card earns none of them. Frequent flyers chasing Medallion status need the Delta Platinum or Reserve cards instead, which do let spending count. The Gold is deliberately positioned below them.
For the right traveller, though, the maths is simple: if you check a bag on Delta even a couple of times a year and occasionally book with miles, the fee pays for itself before you count the welcome bonus. If you're chasing status or spend heavily on credit cards generally, other cards earn more. One quirk of SkyMiles worth knowing: the programme's award pricing tends to offer better value on partner redemptions — think Air France, Korean Air or China Airlines — especially on itineraries that don't touch the United States.
Who it's for: casual Delta flyers in the US who want free bags, early boarding and a decent pile of miles, and who can stomach the $150 fee from year two. Frequent or status-driven Delta customers should look one tier up.
Story via One Mile at a Time.
