Please be advised that this site includes affiliate links that pay commission and referral links that provide other forms of benefits such miles or points. Should you apply for a credit card and get approved through the links that were provided by this website, it is understood that some form of compensation will be made to the website owner. You can read the full advertiser disclosure here. All information related to credit cards has been collected independently by MileMoa.com and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuers of credit cards discussed here. While the offers mentioned below are accurate at the time of publication, they are subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
For the past decade, Delta Air Lines has been a symbol of devaluation for the Wizards.
It's been suggested that Delta Miles should be called "Delta Pesos" because, like the South American peso, they're worth less every day. It's already 2009, In fact, it's been well over a decade.
This doesn't mean we can't abandon deltas altogether.
- It was the best performing airline in terms of actual flights (before the crowd-strike disruption this summer).
- In addition, US airlines have the most routes from the mainland US to South Korea, making them an unavoidable option for those looking to fly to Korea.
But then the delta started to change.
- Back in July, the "Have Our Deltas Become Good?"we talked about discounts on Delta's business seat, Delta One, and now that we're in the off-season, we're going to be looking at the Great deals on economy seatsand so on.
- In addition, the Kamnol Announces Nonstop Salt Lake City-Incheon Serviceto South Korea, and we're growing our share of the market.
What I'm saying is that (we'll have to wait and see) the delta may not be the same delta it was a few years ago.
In today's post, we'll use the
- Delta's Route Status to Korea and Schedule to Salt Lake City
- Westbound - Taipei, Kwok Nol Economy Discount
- Here's a quick rundown of the current Delta Affiliate Card offers.
Table of Contents
1. Delta Route Status
Despite Korea's increased prominence, U.S. carriers are still not flying nonstop to Korea.
- AA Airways' Dallas-Incheon (DFW-ICN), daily flights
- San Francisco-Incheon (SFO-ICN) on United Airlines, twice daily during peak season
- Hawaiian Airlines' Honolulu-Incheon (HNL-ICN), five times weekly
This is it.
By comparison, Delta's operations are overwhelming.
- Seattle - Incheon (SEA-ICN), daily
- Minneapolis-Incheon (MSP-ICN), daily flights
- Detroit - Incheon (DTW-ICN), daily
- Atlanta-Incheon (ATL-ICN), with 2 daily flights
We've added Salt Lake City (SLC) to our list of new destinations, already averaging five flights per day, and we're excited to announce that we've added a new destination.
This announcementAccording to the
- The first flight is next year on June 12, 2025.
- The airplane will be the A350, which is the newest of the fleet.
- Flights from the U.S. depart Salt Lake at 11:05 a.m. and arrive in Incheon the following day at 3:20 p.m.
- Flights from South Korea depart Incheon at 7:40 p.m. and arrive in Salt Lake at 5:20 p.m. the following day
This is how it's supposed to be.
Currently, from Incheon, Detroit is scheduled in the morning, Atlanta in the afternoon, and Seattle/Minneapolis/Atlanta in the evening, but it's interesting to note that the Salt Lake City route is also scheduled in the evening.
The schedule appears to have already been updated on Delta's system, and when I do a search on Delta's site, I see all the miles-priced seats.
Of course, as you'll see below, the mileage credit itself isn't a great deal, so it's not a great time to be ticketing right now, but it's still good news to have a new nonstop route.
2. Economy seats on sale now: Westbound to/from Taipei
The other reason I feel like Delta is changing is that the flash sale promotions are popping up at random.
That was the case with the Delta One promotion last summer, September West-Tokyo ticket discounts announced by Green & Sky at the end of Augustwas fine.
This time, the Football shared the following ticketing deductions for Economy Basic to/from Taipei, Taiwan to Western Citiesis a rare mile redemption deal in recent memory.
Mr. Miszon described Delta as an airline with no middle ground, and that's exactly what we're experiencing.
I'm going to look at some subtractions.
1) Seattle-Taipei
Through November 15, there are 15,000 miles for a one-way Economy Basic seat on the nonstop Seattle-Taipei route, and seats are available every day.
On November 16, one-way Economy Basic goes up to 20,000 miles, but considering that even one-way domestic US flights these days are often 20-30,000 miles, that's a pretty good deal.
You know that Delta Alliance cardholders get the 15% discount on direct Delta Air Lines flights only, right?
So, when I search for a date of October 9, I find the cheapest Economy Basic at 12,700 miles and Economy Main, the regular economy, at 21,200 miles.
2) LA-Taipei
For places like LA, which doesn't have a direct flight to Taipei, it's a one-stop itinerary.
I did a search and Basic Economy comes up at the same 12,700 miles, but Delta One, a business seat, comes up at a heavily discounted 114,700 miles.
Considering the same flight (DL 69) from Seattle, I'd say it's a one-stop itinerary, but a whopping 170,000 miles cheaper.
3) LA-Incheon
Unfortunately, the LA-Incheon redemption isn't particularly discounted, so if you're thinking of flying to Korea, including LA-Incheon, you're probably better off using another mileage program.
3. Delta Affiliate Card
As I just mentioned, Amex-issued Delta partner cardholders (but not Blue cards) are eligible for the 15% discount when redeeming miles for Delta-operated flights.
While this benefit may seem like a small difference, it's a significant enough difference to make the annual fee worth it if you're a mileage redemption program like Delta, where the redemption value is significant.
Delta offers six different card products: three personal cards and three business cards (not including the Blue card, which has few benefits).
The promotion is currently running.
For personal cards, there's the Gold (Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card), Platinum (Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card), and Reserve (Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card).
The relatively high annual fees for the Platinum card ($350/year) and Reserve card ($650/year) are a bit of a moot point, though, Personal Gold CardI'd say it's a decent first Amex card.
To recap the Gold Card (Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card),
- Annual fee for the first year $0 ($150 starting in the second year)
- 80,000 welcome bonus miles after 6 months of $3,000 spend is like $800 cash for Delta tickets
- 100 credit for hotel bookings on the Delta site (calculated on a calendar year basis)
- 200 Delta credit when you spend $10,000 (in calendar year) in a calendar year (subject to redemption within one year of receiving credit)
It has these benefits
I think the Delta Personal Gold Card is a good offer as well.
However, it's not the right choice for everyone, and Delta Card promotions only come around 2-3 times a year, so don't rush into it now.
Delta Personal Cards | |
---|---|
Basic features | There are three types of Delta personal cards issued by Amex. |
Cardholders can redeem miles like cash for Delta ticket purchases. 10,000 miles = $100. | |
For Platinum and Reserve cards, lounge access policies and elite tier calculations are changing completely starting in 2024. | |
Learn More | Gold Card English description page ($2,000 for 6 months, 50,000 miles) |
Learn More | Platinum Card English description page (63,000 per month, 60,000 miles) |
Learn More | Reserve card information page (65,000 per month, 70,000 miles) |
There are a few things to keep in mind
1) If you previously had a Delta Platinum or Delta Reserve card, you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus on the Gold card.
Previously, Delta cards were considered separate products and could be held concurrently and each card could be created once.
This was until last September when the so-called "family" rule was introduced, complicating the rules.
The rule says that people who have created a higher-tier card with a higher annual fee can apply for a lower-tier card, but they won't get the welcome bonus.
That is,
- Gold cards don't get the bonus if you've ever made a Platinum or Reserve card.
- Platinum will not receive the bonus if they have ever created a Reserve card.
So if you're creating a Delta card for the first time Gold CardYou'll need to build them one at a time.
It's important to remember that
2) 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 was worried that this summer's Delta One sale would be a one-off, but based on the way things are going now, I'm going to make a cautious guess (although it's impossible to predict) that the off-season sale will continue.
The announcement of direct flights to Salt Lake City is great news, to say the least.
It would be great to see Delta continue to improve in the future.
14 Comments. Leave new
This way, I can go to Taipei and then Korea 🙂 Thanks for the tip.
Yes. If you live in the west and have a flexible itinerary, it might be a good idea to stop in Taiwan for a few days before heading to Korea.
Isn't the Gold Card hotel credit worth $150?
I understand that the Business Gold card is $150, but the Personal Gold card is $100. In English, it says
"Elevate your travel experience with an annual statement credit of up to $100 after using your Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays on delta.com."
How do I apply the 15% discount...link to the
Should I...
I understand that once your membership number is linked to an affiliate card, it is automatically applied when you redeem miles.
Where is it usually cheap to fly to the UK? I have UR and I have AA miles, but I was wondering if there are other ways.
It's 1/7/25 San-Lon, 5/27 Lon-San. I have one baggage to check in - thank you in advance!
You'll have to do your own search for this one, but there are a lot of good mileage seat search sites like seats.aero that you might want to take a look at.
I signed up for the Amex Gold Card, but if I spend and get the miles, then cancel the card within a year or downgrade to a no annual fee card, will the miles be canceled?
I think so, the terms say you have to keep it for at least a year.
My husband has a Delta Gold card, so he put me on it and got the card separately, not together, but as a family card. I'm thinking of applying separately because I think the 80,000 mile bonus sounds good, but if I do, will I be considered as already having the card and not get the 80,000 mile bonus?
No, it's my understanding that Grace's application as a new primary applicant has nothing to do with whether or not she already has an AU card, as cardholding is based on being a primary applicant.
However, Amex may pop up a popup saying that they won't award the bonus based on a number of variables of their own, so that's something to keep in mind.
I'm currently Delta Platinum, will I still get the welcome bonus (110,000 points) if I open the Business Delta Reserve? ㅠㅠ
The whole point of the family rule is that if you apply for a lower tier card while holding (or have held in the past) a higher tier card, you may not get the welcome bonus. Since the Reserve is a higher tier than the Platinum, I don't know of any issues with the terms (though there's always the possibility of an Amex pop-up).