Similarly, if you spend $10,000 on purchases within one calendar year, you will receive a $200 Delta flight credit for future travel. This means you can also cover the cost of your annual fee simply by using your card for your everyday purchases. One of my favorite perks of the SkyMiles Gold card is the TakeOff 15 feature, which allows you to take 15 percent off when booking award travel on Delta-operated flights (be sure to book directly on Delta’s website or app, and know that partner-operated flights aren’t eligible for the discount), helping you earn substantial savings.
A brand-new cardholder benefit is up to $100 as a statement credit after booking prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays. Other perks include 20 percent off in-flight purchases, priority boarding in Main Cabin 1, and secondary car rental loss and damage insurance. When downgrading from the SkyMiles Platinum, I chose the SkyMiles Gold over the SkyMiles Blue primarily because of the TakeOff 15 and free checked bag perks, which are invaluable to me as a frequent flier. I find the small annual fee is more than justified by these benefits.
Current welcome offer
New cardholders can earn a solid 70,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in purchases within six months of account opening. This is a high welcome offer for the card and is easily attainable—you just need to spend $500 per month for six months to reach it. If you’re considering the card, you may want to act quickly, as this welcome offer ends on March 27, 2024. New cardholders also get a $0 introductory annual fee before paying $150 each year after that. So, you can enjoy the benefits for an entire year before paying your annual fee.
How to earn points
The SkyMiles Gold has a pretty straightforward earning structure. Cardholders earn two miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, on takeout and delivery in the US, at US supermarkets, and on purchases made directly with Delta. All other purchases earn one mile per dollar. This is my go-to card for any Delta purchase. As a digital nomad, I’m rarely in the US, so I can’t take advantage of the bonus points at grocery stores or delivery services. I also have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which gives me three points per dollar at restaurants, so I don’t use my SkyMiles Gold card for these purchases, either.
If you’re new to the world of points and miles, you can certainly use your SkyMiles Gold card at restaurants and supermarkets until you have a card in your wallet that accumulates higher earnings. I prefer to keep the card exclusively for Delta purchases.
How to spend/redeem points
The primary way to use your points is on Delta flights. This year, I plan on using my points to visit a friend in Melbourne, Australia, for her birthday. A one-way business class flight from Paris (CDG) to Melbourne (MEL) with one layover in Hanoi, Vietnam (HAN), costs just 90,000 miles, plus €131 in taxes and fees. This is over 24 hours of travel, but I can sleep comfortably on a lie-flat bed to be perfectly rested before the birthday festivities. Unfortunately, this flight is operated by Vietnam Airlines, so I don’t get an additional 15 percent off for being a cardholder, but the mileage is reasonable enough to justify the spending. The same flight in cash costs €2,656, giving a valuation of almost three cents per point.
