American Express Blue Delta SkyMiles Credit Card Now Live – Plus New Application Rule

Update: Card is now available for sign ups. Interestingly you’re not eligible for the sign up bonus if you:

• Have or have had this product or the Delta SkyMiles^® Options Credit Card, or
• Currently have or have had one of the following products in the last 90 days: Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, or Delta Reserve^®Credit Card.

Normally American Express cards just state: “Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.” I checked the other Delta cards and they still contain the old language.

As correctly rumored by us American Express has launched a new Delta co-branded credit card called Blue Delta SkyMiles.

• No annual fee
• Card earns at the following rates:
  • 2 miles per dollar spent at U.S. restaurants
  •  2 miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
  •  1 mile per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases
• Medallion Qualification Dollar Waiver (MQD) until the end of 2017. Starting 1/1/18 spend on this card will not count towards the MQD waiver unless you have another American Express Delta card.
•  20 percent savings in the form of a statement credit on all eligible in-flight purchases when flying with Delta
• A welcome offer of earning 10,000 bonus miles after spending $500 in purchases on the Card within the first three months of Card Membership for new Delta SkyMiles American Express Card Member
• If approved you can get a minimum instant credit limit of at least $1,000 to use on Delta.com
• Foreign transaction fee of 2.7%

 

American Express & Delta are also offering a competition to celebrate the new card. For whatever reason American Express hasn’t actually added the card to their website yet, but we have received the official press release announcing the new card (update: Card will be available starting September 7th. It’s possible they rushed the announcement due to the new Chase United card). What’s interesting is that this no annual fee card earns 2 miles per $1 spent at U.S. Restaurants while the other three co-branded cards with annual fees ($95, $195 and $450 annual fees) don’t. This isn’t that unusual with cards like the American Express Platinum earning at lower rates than cards with lower annual fees. I do suspect that American Express will refresh their other Delta cards at some stage in the future as they have been doing with their whole card portfolio gradually. Those cards do contain benefits this card doesn’t such as bag fee waivers and elite qualifying miles for meeting spend thresholds. It’s also worth noting that other cards earn at a higher rate on restaurant purchases.

What are your thoughts on the new card? Love it or hate it?