American Express today has launched awesome temporary perks for most of their airline and hotel co-branded cards. In this post I’ll highlight the perks available to Delta cardholders. In separate posts I’ve covered perks for Marriott and Hilton cardholders:
- Hilton cards: Enhancements for 2021 (dining, wireless, and spend bonuses)
- Marriott Amex cards: Enhancements for 2021 (dining, wireless, and spend bonuses)
Most of the perks listed below should be found when you log into your Amex account, select your Delta card and scroll down to view “Amex Offers & Benefits” (or, on mobile, click the tab labelled “Offers”).
Note that, except for the status boost offers, the following offers are only for those who’s accounts were active as of January 1, 2021.
The Amex Press Release regarding these offers can be found here.
Restaurant Rebates
Each Delta consumer card is offering a monthly rebate for spend at U.S. Restaurants, as follows:
- Delta Reserve: $20 per month
- Delta Platinum: $15 per month
- Delta Gold: $10 per month
Simply use your card for restaurant spend each month in the U.S. and you should receive the rebate automatically. These offers will work for dine-in, take out, or delivery.
Eligibility for this offer is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.
Cell Phone Service Rebates
Each Delta business card is offering a monthly rebate for U.S. wireless telephone services (e.g. cell phone service):
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: $20 per month
- Delta Platinum Business: $15 per month
- Delta Gold Business: $10 per month
Use your card to pay towards your cell phone service each month in order to earn $10, $15, or $20 back.
Eligibility for this offer is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.
Delta Spend 5X
Eligible Consumer and Business Delta SkyMiles® Gold, Platinum and Reserve cardholders can earn 5X miles on eligible Delta purchases through December 31, 2021. Since Delta cards natively earn either 2X or 3X on Delta spend, this offer shows up as either “Earn 2 additional miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases” or “Earn 3 additional miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases.” Either way, you end up with a total of 5 miles per dollar on Delta spend.
Eligibility for this offer is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.
Status Boosts
Delta Platinum and Delta Reserve cards are offering 25% more MQMs (Medallion Qualifying Miles) towards elite status this year with big spend. Unlike the other offers in this post, you do not need to enroll in this one. Also, this offer is valid for new cardholders, not just those who have had their card since January 1st.
- Delta Platinum and Delta Platinum Business. For each $25K of calendar year spend (up to $50K), earn 12,500 MQMs in 2021 (usual: 10K MQMs).
- Delta Reserve and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card. For each $30K of calendar year spend (up to $120K), earn 18,750 MQMs in 2021 (usual: 15K MQMs)
More details can be found here: Delta boosts elite status boosts for 2021
My Take
The restaurant and wireless rebates are like free money for most of us. Yes, it requires a tiny bit of work to make sure to use them each month but still… it’s easy money. One exception is for Verizon customers who get a $10 monthly discount by auto-paying via debit card or bank account.
The 5X offer for Delta spend is nice, but hardly newsworthy for most of us. How much Delta spend does anyone expect to do this year? Plus, some ultra-premium cards offer 5X transferable points for airfare. I’d much rather earn transferable points than Delta miles.
The Status Boost offer is also a nice addition for those spending their way to Delta elite status. I would have liked to see more than a 25% boost on these boosts, but it’s still much better than nothing.
Any idea if Google FI will work?
I think so but it’s always a bit weird how credit card companies code it so I’m not 100% sure.
So far it hasn’t worked for me. I posted this just in the Facebook group but here’s what the CSR told me. I’m hoping it’s just the same delay that’s happening with the Paypal credits for Feb… but I fear unless it’s auto billed, it will be a problem.
Google Fi transactions may be eligible for the wireless credit, depending on how you pay for the charges. If you pay for Google Fi through Google Play or Google Pay, the charge isn’t eligible for the credit. You must pay directly on the Google Fi platform to receive the credit.
Probably common knowledge, but it may be worth including the detail that the wireless credits ONLY work for stand-alone wireless service. If you’ve bundled together internet service or TV service with your wireless service to achieve lower bundled pricing, these credits will not pay out.
Today was like my birthday with all the Amex offers I woke up to. Got the ones mentioned in the post, plus a few to some of my favorite clothing retailers.
Interesting that the Hilton no AF card received a dining credit, but the Delta Blue card continues to get nothing.
I was surprised by that too
If the dining credit works with Uber Eats, it might be possible to stack it with the Gold/Platinum Uber cash each month (paying the balance with your Delta card if the order is large enough).
Agree that I wish the MQM boost was bigger or that they kept a variation of the 500 MQM per $1,000 spend that was offered in late 2020.
Now we will spend $70 per month across our four Delta cards in 2021 instead of zero. Delta miles have become worth MUCH less over the last 12 months (how was that even possible?) and becoming worth less every day (shame on you Delta). Until this trend reverses (it won’t), we will be flying on whoever and not putting spending on our Delta cards. Plus, why would one put Delta purchases on these cards to earn 5x x 0.9 = 4.5%, when you can earn 4x -5x 1.7 = 6.8-8.5% on AMEX MR cards? As the retention incentives to keep the Delta cards open run dry, they will be closed. Bye Delta!
I hope everything thinks this was. 2 tickets to brazil $950 each and used my GUC for business will be even easier if we can get all of you off delta