5 Fun Ways to Get $1,000+ of Travel From the AMEX Delta Platinum Bonus

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With the limited-time increased offer on the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express (that ends April 11, 2018!), you can earn 70,000 Delta miles after meeting minimum spending requirements.

The welcome bonus alone is worth $700 in travel when you redeem your miles using Delta’s Pay With Miles option.  And even MORE if you use them for award tickets on Delta and their partner airlines!

I’ll show you a number of ways to get the most Big Travel from the AMEX Delta Platinum welcome bonus!

AMEX Delta Platinum Card

Link:   Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express

Link:   My Review of the AMEX Delta Platinum Card 70,000 Mile Offer

Link:   11 Reasons Why the Delta AMEX Limited-Time Offers Are Worth Considering This Time Around!

Until April 11, 2018, you’ll earn 70,000 Delta miles and 10,000 Medallion Qualifying Miles when you open an AMEX Delta Platinum card and spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.  Plus a $100 statement credit after making a Delta purchase within 3 months of account opening.

The card also comes with:

• 1 free checked bag for yourself and up to 8 traveling companions on the same reservation
• 2 miles per $1 spent with Delta
• 1 mile per $1 spent on everything else
• 20% discount on certain Delta in-flight purchases
• Domestic round-trip companion certificate each year on your card anniversary
• 10,000 Medallion qualifying miles and 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $25,000+ in a calendar year.  And an additional 10,000 Medallion qualifying miles and 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $50,000 in the same time frame
• Priority boarding
• Discount on Delta SkyClub lounge passes
• Pay With Miles (each point worth 1 cent)
• NO foreign transaction fees
• $195 annual fee, NOT waived the first year
• Terms Apply

Note:   AMEX only allows folks to earn the intro bonus once per person, per lifetime, on ALL their cards.  But because each of the Delta cards is considered a different product, you’re eligible for 4 separate welcome bonuses!

Get Thousands of Dollars in Travel With Just One Welcome Bonus

Although Delta no longer publishes an award chart, you can use Delta miles to book Delta flights and flights with partner airlines like WestJet, Air France, KLM, and more!

You can book award flights on many routes where your miles are worth over 2 cents each.  And if you live in 1 of these 7 cities, earning and using Delta miles could be especially lucrative.

Here are a few great ways to make the most of your Delta miles, to spark your imagination. 

1.   One-Way Business Class Ticket to Europe

Redeeming your miles for an otherwise expensive Business Class ticket can make the limited-time AMEX Delta Platinum card welcome bonus incredibly valuable.

For example, you can book a one-way Business Class award seat from Salt Lake City to Madrid for 70,000 Delta miles (plus ~$6 in taxes and fees).

Paying cash for a ticket like this can easily cost ~$5,656!  That’s a LOT of savings!

2.   At LEAST 2 Round-Trip Tickets Within the US

With the bonus from the AMEX Delta Platinum card, you could get 2 round-trip coach tickets within the US, which cost 25,000 Delta miles apiece (50,000 Delta miles total).  And take a friend or loved one to a popular tourist spot like the Big Apple or the Windy City!

It’s also possible to find cheap one-way coach award flights at the following prices if you’re flexible with your travel dates:

• 5,500 Delta miles for short-haul flights (i.e. Los Angeles to San Francisco)
• 10,000 Delta miles for medium-haul flights (i.e. New York to Atlanta)
• 12,500 Delta miles for long-haul flights (i.e. New York to Los Angeles)

If you include the miles you’ll earn for meeting the card’s minimum spending requirements, you’ll have nearly enough miles for a 3 round-trip tickets!  Because you’ll have 73,000 Delta miles (70,000 mile welcome bonus + at least 3,000 miles from $3,000 spending requirement).  And you’d only need 2,000 more miles to have the 75,000 miles you’d need for 3 round-trip coach tickets (25,000 miles per ticket X 3).

For example, I found a non-stop, round-trip coach ticket between San Francisco and Chicago over the summer for $543.  So using your miles for 3 tickets would save you $1,629!

3.   One Round-Trip Ticket to Europe in Coach

Round-trip coach flights to Europe on Delta start at just 60,000 Delta miles.  But they can be very expensive when you pay cash!

For example, I found a coach flight between Atlanta and Paris for ~$1,243.  Or you could spend 60,000 Delta miles plus ~$86 in taxes and fees.  And it’s easy to use Delta’s website to book award travel.

After subtracting the taxes and fees needed for the award flight, you save ~$1,157 on your trip (~$1,243 cash price – ~$86 taxes and fees).  And your Delta miles are worth ~1.9 cents each (~$1,157 cash price / 60,000 miles).

That’s nearly double the value you’d get using Pay With Miles. 🙂

4.   One Round-Trip Coach Ticket to Hawaii

The welcome bonus from the AMEX Delta Platinum card offers more than enough miles to get you to Hawaii for nearly free!

Delta no longer has an award chart.  But as an example, I found a round-trip coach ticket between San Francisco and Honolulu over the summer for 56,000 Delta miles and ~$11 in taxes and fees.

This same ticket costs ~$1,247 if you paid cash!  That means you’re getting a value of 2.2 cents per mile (~$1,247 / 56,000 miles) from your Delta miles!

5.   Save on High-Season Travel

If you have flexibility with your travel dates, you can find great deals on award flights.  And if you’re traveling during peak dates, you can save even more when flights tend to be more expensive.

For example, I found 2 round-trip, non-stop award tickets from Austin to New York (JFK) over Christmas for 33,000 Delta miles and ~$11 in taxes and fees apiece.  But the same flights cost nearly ~$570 each if you pay cash!

That’s a savings of ~$1,140 for using 66,000 Delta miles (33,000 Delta miles per ticket) to fly during one of the busiest (and most expensive!) times of the year.  And you’d still have miles from the welcome bonus to spare!

Looking to Earn Even More Delta Miles?

Earning a lucrative welcome bonus with the limited-time AMEX Delta offers might be all you need to make your dream trip a reality.

But remeber, you can also transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to Delta at a 1:1 ratio.  Keep in mind, you’ll pay a small excise fee of 0.06 cents per point (up to a maximum of $99).

Or transfer Starwood points to Delta at a ratio of 1:1.  And, when you transfer in increments of 20,000 Starwood points, you’ll get a bonus 5,000 Delta miles!

Plus, don’t forget that the personal and small business versions of each AMEX Delta card, and the Gold and Platinum versions, are each considered different products.  So if you’ve had the personal version, you’re still eligible for the business version.  Or if you’ve had the Gold, you can still earn the bonus on the Platinum (or vice versa!).

And remember Delta miles never expire!

Bottom Line

For a limited time, you can earn 70,000 Delta miles when you apply for the AMEX Delta Platinum card and meet minimum spending requirements.  To take advantage of this increased welcome bonus, you must apply by April 11, 2018!

Just remember, this card WILL count toward card limits other banks have, like Chase.

At a minimum, you can use the card’s welcome bonus to get $700 worth of Delta airfare.  But you can get significantly more value for your miles if you redeem them for award tickets!

For example, I found a one-way Business Class flight to Europe for 70,000 Delta miles and ~$6 in taxes and fees, that would otherwise cost more than $5,650 if you paid cash.  And a round-trip coach ticket to Hawaii for 56,000 Delta miles, that would cost $1,200+ in cash!

How do you plan on using YOUR welcome bonus?  Let me know in the comments!