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Update 5/8/21: The best offer for the Amex Delta Gold that it’s possible to provide a direct link to dropped this past week to 40,000 miles plus a $50 statement credit for restaurant purchases. However, it’s still possible to get the 70,000 miles plus $200 statement credit version of the offer that we wrote about below by following the instructions provided in the post.
Unfortunately the way that Delta displays the application form while making a dummy paid booking means that we’re unable to provide a direct link to the increased offer, otherwise we’d add that link to our Best Offers page. The 90,000 bonus SkyMiles offer while making a dummy booking appears to have expired, but this 70k + $200 offer is still a solid welcome offer, especially when compared to 40k + $50. The downside is that it’s only possible (as far as I’m aware) to get the 70k + $200 offer by doing a dummy booking rather than being able to generate the offer for P2 via P1’s referral link as that would be even more rewarding. Having said that, it might still be possible to generate a 75k referral offer (i.e. without any statement credit) – see this post for more.
Update 3/13/21: As per Brian’s comment below, some people are seeing an offer for 90,000 SkyMiles rather than 70,000 SkyMiles + $200.
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American Express came out with a host of increased offers on its cobranded Delta credit cards last week (See Awesome new Delta offers for 70-90K miles, up to 20K MQMs, and more).
One of those increased offers was 70,000 bonus miles on the Delta Gold card with no annual fee in the first year. Miles to Memories has noticed that it’s possible to get an even better offer which includes a $200 statement credit when making a dummy booking on Delta’s website.
The Deal
- Earn 70,000 bonus SkyMiles when applying for the Delta SkyMiles Gold credit card from American Express and spending $2,000 in the first three months. Also earn a $200 statement credit after making a Delta purchase in your first three months of card membership, or
- Earn 90,000 bonus SkyMiles when applying for the Delta SkyMiles Gold credit card from American Express and spending $2,000 in the first three months.
Key Terms
- Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this or previous versions of this Card.
Quick Thoughts
70,000 SkyMiles with no annual fee the first year is a decent offer, but having a $200 statement credit thrown into the mix makes this even more tempting if you’re eligible to earn a bonus on the card.
To get access to this offer, you have to make a dummy paid booking on Delta’s website. After you’ve selected which flights you want, scroll down a little and you should see this box:
As always when applying for a new card, be sure to take a screenshot of what’s being offered to you. If you’d like to apply, check the box in the bottom-left corner and continue through the booking process (you don’t have to actually book the flights).
When continuing the booking process, a popup will appear where you complete your details and get a decision. Once again, take a screenshot at this point to make sure the offer matches what you’re expecting.
Note that the $200 statement credit is only triggered when you make a Delta purchase. In the past, these types of statement credits have been triggered when paying the $5.60 fee when booking an award flight, so you shouldn’t need to spend $200 on Delta flights in order to earn the $200 – any kind of Delta spend should trigger it. With one-way award flights from only 2,000 SkyMiles, it shouldn’t be hard finding a way to earn the $200.
Another method that worked in the past to trigger these types of statement credits was to buy a Delta gift card (n.b. this type of statement credit was different to the airline fee credits on Amex Platinum cards). I’ve no idea whether or not that still works; the terms of the $200 statement credit specifically exclude Delta gift card purchases, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work.
Another option which might work would be to buy a Delta gift card in the Fluz app. Delta gift card purchases in the app code as travel, but I’m far from certain it’ll trigger the statement credit as the merchant category is 4722 which is ‘Travel Agencies and Tour Operators’. The transaction would likely appear on your statement as something like ‘BT*FLUZAPP*DELTA NEW YORK NY’ which might be enough to trigger the statement credit seeing as Delta is mentioned. However, with a minimum transaction amount of $50 for Delta gift cards in the Fluz app, the gift card exclusion already mentioned and no data points to support that it’ll work, this option isn’t ideal.
As a result, paying $5.60 to earn $200 will likely be the easiest option for most people if you don’t have any other plans to spend anything with Delta in the next three months. Delta’s flexible cancellation policy is another option, but with this being Amex then there’s the potential for a clawback of the statement credit if your Delta payment is reversed in the future.
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what’s the cheapest Delta award flight now? I need to trigger the $200 statement credit.
OK, found it. 2,000 miles +$5.60. Used orphan miles in an old account.
What’s the route that you have used? thanks
Seattle to Spokane or reverse
if I buy a drink flying delta, will that qualify for the 200 credit?
My wife wanted to apply. After being approved today, I realized she had/closed this card 7 years ago. Think she’ll still get bonus? Should she call and confirm before activating card once it comes in mail?
Yes, don’t worry. If Amex thought she wasn’t eligible, there would have been a pop-up saying so.
Does anyone know if purchasing SkyMiles from Delta will trigger the $200 statement credit? When I signed up for the card, the terms and conditions said the purchase of cash equivalents such as gift cards would not trigger the $200 statement credit, but purchasing SkyMiles was not specifically mentioned. I would think SkyMiles are a cash equivalent, but since they are nonrefundable, maybe not. Thoughts?
Hmm…interesting question. I’d thought that the payment would’ve been processed by Points.com and so wouldn’t be eligible, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. From what I can tell, Delta processed payment for purchases of SkyMiles themselves and so it might work, but I’m far from certain.
“As a result, paying $5.60 to earn $200 will likely be the easiest option for most people if you don’t have any other plans to spend anything with Delta in the next three months.” – here is my question: after booking award mile and paying $5.60, wouldn’t I have to cancel the flight within 24hours to avoid cancelation fees? but then wouldn’t be too early for 5.60 pending to be posted on the statement? I dont fully understand how it works
sorry I meant posted on the transaction, not
statement. anyway, even if the amount posted on the transaction, once the ticket get canceled, the amount would be refunded back to my card, would i still get $200 credit back?
Delta changed its policy due to COVID, so you can cancel award tickets more than 24 hours after booking and have the miles redeposited to your account. Just make sure it’s not a Basic Economy fare as that’s not refundable, but regular Main Cabin award tickets are refundable.
For anyone who is having trouble making a Delta purchase to qualify for the $200 statement credit, the cheapest way I could find (assuming no refunds or Delta e-credits) is to book one of the many Seattle to Spokane 2,000 mile flights + $5.60 in fees available.
Will advise if the $200 statement credit posts.
If you value points at .012 and $5.60 cash outlay, its under $30 to get the $200.
I can confirm that the $5.60 fee on reward flights does trigger the $200 statement credit. My credit posted 2 days after the fee posted.
Good luck.
Thx for the confirmation. This seems to be the best route since GCs are excluded.
How long for the 70k miles to post in your skymiles account. I applied to this offer when purchasing delta tickets total cost $3,200. So it meets the $2,000 minimum purchase and the delta purchase. I got the $200 statement credit but no miles yet. Or does this purchase does only meet one of the requirements?
Your spend would’ve met the requirements for both. How long ago did you complete the spend?
Thanks, for replying. Just a couple of weeks ago. I saw the $200 credit and expected the miles to be posted too. I guess, I’ll wait until the statement closes. I’ll have 2 months to do purchases in case it doesn’t go through or to call amex.
Oh, if you only got the card recently I wouldn’t worry about it for now. It’s a shame if you were hoping to get the miles for using ASAP, but if you don’t have any immediate redemptions in mind then the miles will show up in due course. It’s not easy to predict when Amex will award signup bonuses – sometimes it’s as soon as you’ve completed the spend, sometimes after the statement closes and other times a month or so down the line.
Has anyone had luck making a purchase on the delta flight and getting a statement credit? I was planning on using this card when I actually purchased the the flight but Amex never gave me my card number so I had to use a different card. Will a snack purchase on the flight qualify and allow me my statement credit?
Stephen – Just fyi – yesterday, 5/23/21 – I was offered (took and approved) the 90k offer at the time of making my delta reservation.
It allowed me to use the new card to pay for the Delta bookings; I’m hoping that counts as the Delta purchase for the additional 20k miles. Thx!
I was declined despite suitably high credit (750 to >800 depending on reporter)… I called in and was told it was due to “too many recently cancelled accounts?” I didn’t know that was a thing? I usually hold two cards and get 1 new one / cancel 1 approximately yearly. I can’t find much info about this and what would constitute “too many?” Is this a new anti-churning measure?
[…] 21:10 Amex Delta Gold 90,000 Offer (HT Brian at FM) […]
I already have flight booked for delta coming in next 1 month. I saw this offer later on. I am not eligible for this offer as having amex cards already. My it seems my wife do i have few questions as below.
please help to understand this.
1) Provided your wife’s SkyMiles number is linked to the reservation for her own ticket, you’ll both be eligible for a free checked bag.
2) In the past it’s worked when paying the $5.60 taxes & fees on award tickets, so I expect that still works. If you’re talking about spending $5 on a flight buying a snack, I don’t know if that will work.
Thanks a lot for reply.
I just got this card a week ago with only the 70,000 bonus miles and no statement credit. Can I get matched to the better offer?
It’s certainly worth reaching out to Amex to see if they’ll match it. There’s no guarantee that they’ll match it, but there’s nothing to lose by asking.
They wouldn’t match it. Oh well, I tried!
When I do the dummy booking in multiple different browsers both logged in and through incognito mode I am getting the 70,000 miles + $200 offer only on the Delta Business Gold Credit Card. However, I would prefer the personal credit card and can’t seem to find a way to get the dummy booking to offer me a personal card. Have tried flights with 7 days instead of 3, 2 passengers instead of 1, basic economy instead of economy, etc. Nothing triggers the personal offer to show. Only the business offer. Yet, I do see the personal offer of 70,000 miles and 20,000 miles after a delta purchase if I do a rewards search.
I had the opposite problem, wanted the biz gold offer but could only get the personal one to show up. I settled for a referral from my wife’s BCP for $75 (referral) + $50 + 70k, which is still pretty good.
“As a result, paying $5.60 to earn $200 will likely be the easiest option for most people if you don’t have any other plans to spend anything with Delta in the next three months.” Shouldn’t it be $5.60 plus 2K SkyMiles? Also can we book and cancel but ask Delta to issue eCert instead of refund to credit card to trigger the statement credit?
Yep – I was just thinking in terms of monetary cost. With regards to booking and cancelling, I imagine you can get the $5.60 back as a Delta credit rather than refund, but I’ve not tested that out.
My dummy booking was with using points. My offer was for 20,000 additional points rather than the $200
Just to check, you’re saying that you got a 90,000 SkyMiles offer for the Delta Gold card?
70,000 points plus the $20,000 instead of the $200 bonus, So total of 90,000 points with no bux
Excellent, thanks – I’ll update the post to include that.
Yes, I got the same. 70,000 sign up and then when I was closing out a purchase (similar to your photo clip above), My offer said 20,000 additional miles (instead of $200). I last had the Delta Gold Card like 5 years ago which I think was before their “once in a lifetime” AMEX policy — so hoping the 90,000 miles will credit after I meet the 2K minimum spend.
So have the eventually credited you the 90 miles?
Sorry for the delayed reply. No, actually, in the end, I was relying on a vendor in Mexico to charge my account some $6,000 within the window and they got behind in billing by a month so I was outside the date to receive the 90K miles. I fought it with American Express and they wouldn’t budge, so I paid the bill and closed the card.
is 20k bonus still work?