Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
| Sorry, this deal is no longer available. Do you want to be alerted about new deals as they’re published? Click here to subscribe to Frequent Miler's Instant Posts by email. |
Several of the Delta SkyMiles credit cards are offering new limited-time spending bonuses, including both extra miles at restaurants and on Delta purchases and extra MQMs with spend through the end of 2020.
The Deal
As of yesterday and through 12/31/20, the following cards are offering 4x miles at restaurants (includes takeout and delivery) and 5x miles on Delta purchases:
-
Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express
-
Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express
- Enroll at Americanexpress.com/
deltagoldoffers
The following cards will earn 5x miles on Delta purchases and also earn 500 Bonus Miles and 500 MQMs after spending $1,000 in purchases on your enrolled Card (up to 25K Miles and 25K MQMs):
-
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express
-
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express
-
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express
-
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express
-
Purchases made from Additional Cards do not qualify for the bonus miles and MQMs offer
- Enroll via Amex Offers in your online account
Key Terms
- Valid through 12/31/20
- No limit on the number of miles customers can earn at restaurants or on Delta
- You must have had an eligible card on 7/1/20 to be eligible for these offers (no product changing now to get them)
Quick Thoughts
The offer for dining purchases on Gold cards is quite good if you value Delta miles. Even if you were to use miles at a value of $0.01 toward airfare, that represents very good return on dining spend. If you value your miles closer to our Reasonable Redemption Value of 1.3c each, the return here is like 5.2% (at 4x) – that’s certainly not bad.
I suspect that many readers who value Delta elite status will be intrigued by the possibility of earning additional MQMs. If you have a Delta Platinum card and are starting from scratch, you normally get 10K MQMs for each $25K spend (up to two times per year), so $50K spend normally results in 20K MQMs. Now you would get that same 20K MQMs plus a bonus 25K MQMs for a total of 45K MQMs with $50K spend (just short of Gold status).
The Delta Reserve cards normally get 15K MQMs on $30K spend (up to four times per year) so $60K spend would now get you 30K MQMs plus a bonus 25K MQMs = 55K MQMs. That is more than enough for Gold status.
Keep in mind that Delta MQMs roll over as long as you have earned status. For example, if you have a Delta Reserve card and spend $60K as shown above to get 55K MQMs, you’ll earn Gold status and 5K MQMs will roll over to next year.
If you already have your current elite status level extended as per COVID status extensions, I believe that all of these MQMs will roll over. That could potentially make it really easy to re-qualify next year.
Overall, these spending bonuses will likely appeal most to those who were already considering meeting them — though I imagine that those who would be considering them may already be in progress toward the normal spend levels, which will make the incremental value vary based on your situation.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Nick,
Thanks for the writeup! Just saw your,
“You must have had an eligible card on 7/1/20 to be eligible for these offers (no product changing now to get them).”
Where did you get the bit about no product changes, please? I had a chat rep confirm that if I upgraded my Delta Business Gold card, I’d qualify. On that basis, I did upgrade, and 1-2 days later, no offer so far.
This doesn’t help me. I need some way to get MQD’s.
With limited travel this year that could be tough – you could just spend the 25k on the card for the waiver.
Do you know if the bonus MQM offer is per transaction or per dollar. If I make a $10k purchase is that the same as making 10 $1k purchases?
It is per dollar, so yes a $10K purchase is the same as 10 $1K purchases.
Thank you
I’m not getting more than 500 MQM’s and I’m spending more than $2K a month on the card. Are you having the same experience? Wondering if I should call?
I do not see this offer in my Amex offers. Did u get notification from Amex?
I didn’t get a notification, but it showed up when I logged into Amex
This offer (MQM) showed up on my platinum) but not my Delta Reserve.
It’s a good offer if you value status (especially if you can boost it up at least one level). Plus it offsets the loss of bonus SkyMiles when you hit the MQM bonuses.
Arguably the Delta Reserve should have offered 5X SkyMiles on Delta flights permanently when it was relaunched to match the Amex Platinum’s 5X (transferable to Delta) since they now have the same annual fee and same-day lounge access for one person. The Platinum’s 3X does match Amex Gold’s 3X for the same annual fee so no arguments there.
I am not too clear about the wording for the second offer, $1000+ for 500miles plus 500MQM. So, say, I spent $2000 on a laptop, will I get 2000miles, plus 1000MQM, plus the standard 2000miles?
With a $2,000 purchase you would get:
thanks Greg! this is going to be very useful for me, as i plan to spend to get high status next year.
I just don’t feel safe spending with these offers. They clawed back all our 4x Delta miles from Reserve last month. I got DM by spending 250k, but what if RAT claw back MQM in the future.
I received the email from Delta about this. The email states 5x Delta points earned. However, when I click thru to the actual offer on the am ex offers page, it mentions nothing about 5x Delta miles per purchase as it specifies only the bonus miles (500) and extra MQMS earned with the $1000 spend.
Look for another offer to earn an extra 2X for Delta purchases. I’ve added a picture to this post. Since the card already earns 3X Delta, the offer is to get 2X additional miles per dollar.
Any idea why I see the offer on my Plat but not Reserve Delta card in the offers section? I’m a few k away from the MQM bonus on the reserve so I’d like to add this there but no such luck yet – not sure if this is card/user targeted or just a timing thing.
I’m in the same situation. It looks like the offer might be targeted to specific cards. That would be a bummer. It’s worth contacting Amex to ask if there’s a way to get the offer on your Reserve card (before loading it to your Platinum card)
Actually, I take that back. I forgot that I had downgraded one of my cards so it isn’t eligible. My wife has both a Platinum and Reserve and had the offers on both cards. She was able to load both offers to both cards.
GRRRRR! I waited a few weeks, still don’t see it on my reserve, contacted Amex via chat and was told they can’t move the offer. Thought maybe it wasnt displayed so added offers until the relogin didn’t show 100 still nothing…. that stinks.