Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express

Tough redemption — but free checked bag

We are reluctant to recommend this card unless you are a frequent Delta flyer looking to top off your account. Delta Air Lines has some of the most difficult airline miles redemption in the industry at the standard reward levels available on other airlines. Part of this is due to a poor online search engine which has been reported to be laden with bugs that prevent full display of flight options. Another factor is Delta’s three tier pricing for miles tickets — which offers domestic tickets at 25,000, 35,000, and 50,000 miles. Travelers report the inflated 35 and 50,000 levels are much more common than the 25,000 standard on other airlines.

A recent survey indicates a standard reward ticket is available just 12% of the time with Delta SkyMiles. The airline sent a notice to frequent flyers in May 2010 apologizing for poor redemption tools and opportunities, and has more recently taken some steps to improve availability recently, which could make the card more viable..

Delta also offers a ‘pay with miles’ feature that isn’t subject to capacity restrictions. However when you use ‘pay with miles’ your miles are only worth $0.01 each. As a comparison, if you redeemed 25,000 miles on another airline for a standard reward ticket that would have cost $400 in cash your miles would be worth almost $0.02 each. In other words, ‘pay with miles’ offers the bare minimum acceptable redemption level and is not an efficient use of points.

If you are looking to top off a Delta account, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express lets you transfer points directly to Delta SkyMiles with a much lower annual fee, and the flexibility to transfer to over 20 other airlines.

Features

Annual fee: No annual fee the first year, then $95
Intro Bonus: 30,000 miles when you spend $500 within the first three months of account opening — good for a free flight!
Earning: 1 mile per dollar spent
Foreign Exchange Transaction Fee: 2.7%
Miles can be used for travel with:  Delta Air Lines, Air France, Alaska, KLM, Korean Airlines, Aeroflot, and others.

Other benefits:

• Baggage fee waiver: The card offers a waiver of the first checked bag fee — a savings of up to $50 roundtrip.
• Priority boarding: Board in ‘Zone 2′ before general boarding and extend the benefit to companions in the same reservation
• 20% discount on in flight purchases. Most except internet and duty free.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.