Updated 04.02.2026

This limited-time offer has ended, sorry for the confusion.

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Promotions are back for Delta cards issued by Amex. 

All three personal cards and all three business cards have updated offers, and you can get up to 125,000 miles as a welcome bonus.

Out of the six options, the Personal Gold Card is the one I would highly recommend as a solid first Amex card.

This card (Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card) is, 

• Annual fee for the first year $0 ($150 starting in the second year)
• 100 credit toward hotel bookings on the Delta site (calculated on a calendar year basis, so you can use it twice before paying the annual fee)
• $200 Delta credit when you spend $10,000 (in calendar year) (subject to redemption within one year of receiving credit)
• Save 15% When You Redeem Delta Miles
• 70,000 miles for spending $3,000 in 6 months + an additional 20,000 miles for spending an additional $2,000 within the same 6 months, for a total of 90,000 miles
• These 90,000 miles have the benefit of being redeemable on Delta's site like $900 cash for a ticket.

Therefore, If I spend $10,000 in a year, I can find at least $1,300 worth of value.. Even if you can't spend $10,000 and get the last $200 in Delta credit, you can easily get $1,100 in benefits.

If you've already created a Personal Gold card in the past, you can work your way up to a Personal Platinum card, and then a Personal Reserve card.

This is because it is problematic to create a higher-rated card first and then create additional lower-rated cards, but it is possible to work your way up from a lower-rated card.

If you've created Personal Gold in the past, you may want to consider Personal Platinum this time around.

In today's post, we'll detail the benefits of the Personal Gold Card and explain what to look out for.

1. annual fee of $0 for the first year, $150 for the second year onwards

Amex Personal Delta Gold Cardhas great benefits, starting with the annual fee.

There's a lot of psychological resistance to cards with high annual fees.

This card has a $0 introductory Annual Fee for the first year, then $150 for the second year ("Enjoy a $0 introductory Annual Fee for the first year, then $150.")

Considering that the annual fee was $$99 before the early 2024 update, that's a $50 annual fee increase, but as I'll explain later, the new $100 hotel booking credit more than makes up for it.

You can also downgrade or cancel to the annual fee-free version in the second year after signing up for a 12-month card, so I don't think the annual fee part is a big deal.

Of course, I recommend keeping your Amex card as long as possible, and you'll need to have at least one Gold level or higher card to get the 15% discount described below, so it's worth keeping that in mind.

2. 15% discount on Delta flight tickets with miles

As I just mentioned, if you have a Gold level or higher Amex Delta partner card, you're eligible for the 15% mileage redemption discount.

The discount is only available on full Delta flights, not on tickets on Korean Air or any other partner airline.

15% discount It may not seem like much, but it's a lot of money for a single ticket, especially on Delta, which is over 100,000 miles per ticket.

For example, a March 10 Atlanta-Incheon Delta One (Business) one-way is 150,000 miles for non-cardholders.

The mileage deduction is huge, but with a cash purchase price of $$4,679, you can see that the value per mile is squeezed down to 1 mile = 3 cents.

Importantly, cardholders get the 15% discount.

As you can see in the image below, the Gold Card TakeOff of 15 reduced my deduction to 127,500 miles.

For a single person, that's 22,500 miles, and for a family of four, that's a difference of nearly 100,000 miles.

3. up to 90,000 welcome bonus

But it's all about the welcome bonus, right?

During the limited-time promotion, which runs through April 1, the

• After spending $3000 for 6 months, you'll receive 70,000 miles.
• If you spend an additional $2,000 in the same time period, you'll get an additional 20,000 miles.

In other words, you'd get 90,000 miles for spending $5,000 in 6 months. 

Compared to the previous promotion, the spending requirements are higher, but the mile total is also a little higher.

So the question is, how much are 90,000 miles worth? 

With Delta miles, redemption inflation has been so bad that 90,000 miles often doesn't even get you a one-way economy ticket to South Korea in peak season.

However, that doesn't mean you can't redeem miles at all.

1) Ticketing Delta One (Business) during the promotion period

The best way to do this is to ticket a Delta One (Business) ticket during the promotion period.

Combined with the card's 15% discount, as shown in the example above, you can get a business one-way ticket in the 130,000-150,000 range, although the redemption varies by region. (You can pull the shortfall from Amex MR points at a 1:1 ratio).

Of course, this is not always possible, only if Delta releases miles seats cheaply. Usually only 30-40k just come out like that ;;

However,

• We've had a steady stream of discounts over the last 3-4 years, including peak summer months.
• Given Delta's multiple Korean destinations, I'm hopeful that the promotion won't suddenly disappear.

If this continues, When it comes to peak season business ticketing, Delta isn't the only option.It looks like it will. 

2) Short-haul international flights

In the U.S., a nearby international flight like Atlanta to Cancun is a good option.

As you can see in the image below, even during spring break in March, there are plenty of nonstop flights for 11,000 miles each way, even without the cardmember discount.

Add to that the cardmember 15% discount, and it drops below 10,000 miles.

3) Korea-Japan, 7,500 miles one way? 

You can book Korean Air with Delta miles, and for 7,500 miles for a one-way nonstop in Korean Air economy and 15,000 miles for a one-way nonstop in business between Korea and Japan, you can get a lot of bang for your buck (if seats are available).

It's important to note, however, that mileage space is as scarce as beans in a drought these days, so it's hard to make recommendations with the same confidence as in the past.

4) Use like cash on Delta sites

Delta Miles have one last option.

The idea is to use miles like cash for Delta ticketing.

If you look at the image below, it says Pay with Miles Eligible below the ticket price, right?

This A feature called Pay with Milesis a feature that lets you literally use Delta miles like cash.

It's only available to Delta Gold, Platinum, and Reserve cardmembers, and miles can be redeemed for tickets starting at a minimum of 5,000 miles = $50.

90,000 miles is worth at least $900 in Delta ticket purchasesin the end.

4. $100 credit for prepaid hotel and vacation rental bookings on the Delta site

This is the most important new benefit that was added when the card benefits were updated in 2024.

Travel booking sites affiliated with Deltais a $100 credit per calendar year when you use your Delta Gold Card to book and pay for a hotel or vacation rental at a prepaid rate.

If you do a search, it seems like all the hotels with paid reservations are listed.

In my personal experience, I've had credits come through immediately after hotel bookings with no issues.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, it's based on a calendar year, not a membership year, so if you were to create a card now, you could get it twice, once in 2026 and once in early 2027.

5. $200 Delta credit when you spend $10,000 in one year (must be redeemed within one year of receiving credit)

Finally, we have the Delta Flight Credit $200 offer.

It's not a new offer, it's been around for a while, and it didn't mean much before because it was spend $10,000 and get $100, but now it's been bumped up to $200, so it's a pretty good offer.

If you spend $10,000, you're getting $200 in Delta credit (albeit Delta credit) in addition to the miles you're earning, so roughly speaking, you're getting an extra 2%.

You can also use it for third-party ticketing, including family members, which is a nice perk if you plan on flying Delta paid.

Of course,

• You'll need to spend an additional $5,000 on top of the $5,000 in spending to maximize the bonus, so if you're not a big spender, you might be better off putting that money towards another card to fill up your spending.
• Also, the $200 credit is issued in the form of a Delta eCredit, which can only be used to purchase Delta tickets and has an expiration date of 1 year after issuance. If you don't plan on flying Delta within a year, this may not be the best deal for you, so be aware of that.

Let's summarize the basic features.

Let's talk about some of the downsides.

1. the miles you earn are Delta miles;; 

This card is a Delta partner card, which means that the miles you spend each month are automatically transferred to your Delta account each month.

Delta has five nonstop air routes to Korea: Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Salt Lake, so as I mentioned, it's great for business travel.

However, it's worth noting that during non-sale periods, mileage redemptions are often ridiculously high, so this may not be a good option for those looking for economy options to Korea, and it's not possible to transfer or convert miles to other airlines.

For off-peak economy ticketing, American Airlines miles seem to be the best value right now. 

In this case, we recommend a Citi AA partner card that earns AA miles or Citi ThankYou points that can be converted to AA.

2. If you previously created a personal Delta Platinum or Delta Reserve card, the Welcome Bonus is not available.

Previously, Delta cards were considered separate products and could be held concurrently and each card could be created once.

This was until September 2023, when the so-called "family" rule was introduced for personal cards, complicating the rules.

The rule says that if you've created a higher-tier card with a higher annual fee, you'll be able to open a lower-tier card, but you won't get the welcome bonus.

That is,

• The Personal Gold Card is not eligible for the bonus if you have ever opened a Personal Platinum or Personal Reserve Card. ("You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.")
• Personal Platinum will not receive the bonus if you've ever created a Personal Reserve card.

Therefore, If you're new to creating a Delta Personal Card, the lowest tier is the Personal Gold Cardand build up from there, It's important to remember

Note that this family card rule only applies to personal cards. There are no such rules for business cards, so if you're wondering if you're eligible for a personal card, you might want to look into the business card side of the equation.

The business card is also currently on promotion, so the offers are good.

3. Pay attention to the flippers on your Amex card. 

With Amex cards, sometimes you don't get the welcome bonus even after you've been approved for the card. If you look at the terms and conditions, it says it'll pop up and let you know in advance, but I've read on message boards that it's not always 100%.

So it's a good idea to keep this in mind and be careful.

Below is the text of those terms.

".... You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application."

Let's wrap up today's post.

I've been recommending the Hilton Personal Card from Amex for the past few years as a great first card to get in the U.S.in the past.

Considering the absolute value of the welcome bonus, I think the Delta Personal Gold Card is a decent offer.

However, it's not the right choice for everyone, so it's best to do your research before making a decision.