New Updates To The Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards

by Daniel | Last Updated Feb 3rd, 2023

New Updates To The Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards

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Just yesterday Delta announced a new benefit that will be available as of February 3rd for the Delta SkyMiles Gold, Platinum, and Reserve consumer and business credit cards.
The new benefit is called ‘TakeOff 15’ and with this benefit, it is possible to receive a 15% discount on Delta-operated award flights when using your own Delta SkyMiles.

Now there are a few things that you need to know about this benefit:
To actually take advantage of this benefit you must make the booking through the Delta Website site or app and then log into your SkyMiles account to apply the discount.

Once you have made the booking on an eligible flight you will see the miles discount applied to your itinerary. 

Also, this benefit is only available for primary cardholders, not authorized users.


Now along with this new benefit, the Delta Skymiles Gold, Platinum, and Reserve credit cards have just increased their sign-up bonus until the 29th of March.
So let’s just take a quick look at how much each card is offering from its sign-up bonus.
And just note that Delta SkyMiles are worth about  1.2 cents per mile.

Starting first with the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card it is currently possible to earn 70,000 bonus miles if you spend $2,000 on the card within the first 6 months of opening the account.
So this sign-up bonus is worth approximately $840, which is pretty decent!
Now the Gold card is currently free for the first year of card ownership and then each year thereafter will cost you $99.


Now with the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex card, the sign-up bonus on offer is currently 90,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on the card within the first 6 months of card ownership, and this 20,000 more miles than what the gold card is offering.
So this sign-up bonus is worth approximately $1,080.

Now it’s worth noting that the Platinum card is more expensive than the gold card, currently, the annual fee is $250, which is quite a bit more expensive.

But one benefit that comes with the Platinum card and not the gold is an Annual Companion Certificate.
This is good for a Main cabin return domestic flight each time you renew your card for the following year, and needless to say, this benefit alone can be worth quite a lot depending on what flight you book.


Now finally, with the Delta SkyMiles Reserve card, the sign-up bonus is the same as the Platinum card, which is 90,000 bonus miles, and this is worth $1,080.

Also, the Reserve card is substantially more expensive on an annual basis than the Platinum card, currently, it will cost you $550 a year to use the card.
Now with the Reserve card, to receive this bonus you will need to spend $6,000 on purchases within the first 6 months of card ownership, which is $2,000 more than what you will need to spend with the Platinum card.

So although it does require you to spend more to receive the same signup bonus as the Platinum card, and the annual fee is more than twice that of the Platinum card, the Reserve card does offer quite a lot more value.

One notably more valuable benefit is the Delta Reserve Annual Companion Certificate, and with this, it is possible to receive a domestic First Class round trip each year upon renewal of the card.

And another nice added benefit this card has over the Platinum card is complimentary access to both the Delta Sky Club and the Centurion Lounge.
This is a really nice benefit to have if you do travel a fair bit as lounge access does make flying that much more enjoyable. 


Now another new benefit that is starting to roll out this month for all Delta SkyMiles members is free in-flight Wi-Fi with no session limits.
Initially, this will only be available on specific domestic flights. By the end of 2023, free Wi-Fi should be available on more than 700 Delta flights, and by 2024 it is expected to be available on international flights as well.
So if you don’t have a Delta SkyMiles account it’s worth signing up for one as it is free to do and will allow you to get free WiFi!


Now finally, this week Delta made it just that bit more difficult to access the Delta Sky Club to try and combat overcrowding of their lounges, which has become somewhat of an issue.

So If you are a Sky Club member and are flying on a basic economy ticket it will not be possible to access the Delta Sky Club unless you have an eligible Amex card which is currently The Platinum Amex card or Delta SkyMiles Reserve card, and this can be either the personal or business version of the card.

Then if you are a Gold, Platinum, or Diamond elite member traveling on an international flight, it will only be possible to access the Delta Sky Club if you are flying on either Premium Select or Delta One, or if you have a Sky Club membership or one of the approved Amex credit cards I just mentioned before.  

Now the cost of a Sky Club membership has also increased quite a lot, and it will only be available to anyone with Silver Medallions status or higher. 

So for an Individual membership, the price has increased from $545 (or 54,500 miles) up to $695 (or 69,500 miles) which presents a $150 price increase.
Then for an Executive membership, the price has increased from $845 (or 84,500 miles) all the way up to $1495 (or 149,500 miles), this represents a rather large $650 price increase.

Now along with this, Delta has also increased the cost of a Sky Club pass from $39 (or 3,900 SkyMiles) up to $50 (or 5,000 SkyMiles).


So that pretty much covers everything new with the Amex Delta SkyMiles credit cards.
And if you’d like to learn even more about these cards, check out my review here where I do a full in-depth review of all four of the Delta SkyMiles credit cards. 

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