Is the Delta Gold Amex annual fee worth it?

As a points and miles enthusiast, I have over 10 cards from four issuers. Many of these cards have annual fees, and every year, a few days before that annual fee posts to my account, I have to decide if that card is worth it or if I should downgrade it.

Even if the card charges a low annual fee, you still need to get more value from the card’s benefits than the cost of the annual fee. This can be an especially tough decision for those with cobranded airline cards.

So, is the entry-level Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card’s $150 annual fee ($0 introductory annual fee the first year; see rates and fees) worth it? Let’s jump into it.

Welcome offer

The Delta SkyMiles Gold card offers 70,000 bonus SkyMiles after you spend $3,000 within the first six months of card membership. TPG values Delta SkyMiles at 1.2 cents per mile, which makes this offer worth $840. This offer ends March 27.

Note that you can’t get this welcome offer if upgrading or downgrading from other SkyMiles Amex cards. If you’re looking to upgrade or downgrade, you should check your Amex account and see if it has any offers for you to upgrade or downgrade.

Earning rates

With the Delta Gold, cardmembers are limited to only earning Delta SkyMiles. This card earns 2 miles per dollar on all Delta purchases and at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets. It earns 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases. This is a 2.4% and 1.2% return on spending, respectively.

There are many other cards with higher returns on spending, even within the Delta Amex range, but if you’re looking for a card in SkyMiles family with a low annual fee, this is a reasonable option.

Related: The best airline credit cards

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Flight credit

With this card, you’ll receive a $200 Delta flight credit after spending $10,000 or more on qualifying purchases in a calendar year. This is a very large amount to spend for what would net you only $120-$240 in value in SkyMiles, depending on which category you’re spending in.

If you spend large amounts with Delta, this can be an added perk, but there are better cards that earn more, such as the American Express® Gold card, which earns 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar on flights. Since Delta is a transfer partner of Amex, you can then take those (more valuable) Membership Rewards points and transfer them to Delta.

Award flight discount

Delta Gold cardmembers receive 15% off the cost of all award flights operated by Delta (but not partner airlines.) This is known as the TakeOff 15 benefit and is my favorite perk of this card.

The nice thing about this 15% off an award flight is that it is valid on all cabins. I have used this card perk many times to take 15% off last-minute transcontinental flights and flights to Central America.

Delta travel perks

Free checked bag

With the Delta Gold card, the cardmember and up to eight people in their party on the same reservation get their first checked bag free. This benefit of the card nets me great value as I am a chronic overpacker.

Last year, I checked a bag eight times with Delta. Given that it usually costs $30 to check a bag, I would have paid $240 in baggage fees, easily covering the annual fee.

Priority boarding

The Delta Gold card comes with priority boarding. Priority boarding is a great way to ensure there’s enough overhead bin space for your carry-on bag. But don’t get too excited with priority boarding; if you hold this card, you board behind Sky Priority in Main Cabin 1. This is Group 7 out of 10 in Delta’s boarding order.

20% inflight discount

Cardmembers also receive 20% back as a statement credit on prepurchased meals and inflight purchases of food and drinks.

Delta Stays credit

A new perk Delta added to cards this year is the Delta Stays credit. Delta Gold cardmembers receive up to a $100 statement credit for Delta Stays reservations annually. This is an online travel agency powered by Expedia that you can use to book hotels and vacation rentals. This is essentially a free night if you can find a room under $100 — but that may be difficult to achieve.

Bottom line

The Delta Gold card is an entry-level credit card in the SkyMiles Amex family that cardmembers can receive outsize value from if they utilize the free checked bag, the inflight discounts and Delta Stays credit.

The perk of 15% off award flights is a solid benefit and can make notoriously devalued SkyMiles go slightly further.

If you don’t fly Delta at least twice a year or check bags when you fly Delta, it is difficult to justify the $150 annual fee (see rates and fees), and you might want to consider the no-annual-fee Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card (see rates and fees) instead.

To learn more, read our full review of the Delta Gold Amex card.

Apply here: Delta SkyMiles Gold

For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles Gold, click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles Blue, click here.

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