Amex Adds New Welcome Bonus Restriction for Personal Delta Cards

September 15, 2023

You Can Get Only One Delta Card Bonus

American Express and Delta Air Lines have changed the fine print on welcome bonuses for select consumer Delta credit cards. There is now a new restriction that could limit you from getting a bonus, if you have held another consumer Delta credit card in the past. Here are the three Delta consumer cards and links to the terms:

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Offer Terms)
- Not eligible for bonus if you have or have had this Card, Delta SkyMiles Platinum, or Delta SkyMiles Reserve.
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (Offer Terms)
- Not eligible for bonus if you have or have had this Card or Delta SkyMiles Reserve.
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Offer Terms)
- No added restrictions. (A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that these changes applied to Delta Reserve as well).

Here are the terms on the current welcome bonus for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card for example:

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. 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.

This is similar to the recently introduced rule for American Express Platinum credit cards. It’s interesting though that the SkyMiles Platinum card bonus only mentions the SkyMiles Reserve card in the terms, and the SkyMiles Reserve card bonus doesn’t have these restrictions.

Business Delta cards don’t have this new family restriction at all. The terms on these cards are still the same as before:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. 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.

Guru’s Wrap-up

These changes are another step in the wrong direction for Delta, just a day after revealing its new SkyMiles status requirements and lounge access restrictions. However, Delta normally has targeted bonuses with no lifetime language at deltaamexcard.com, so that could be a way around these new terms.

With these new restrictions, it’s now best to start with the Delta SkyMiles Gold Card, and then continue with Delta SkyMiles Platinum and Delta SkyMiles Reserve.

HT: mage_boot