Today Delta and American Express refreshed the lineup of Delta credit cards and launched new limited-time welcome offers. The Gold-level cards now get a rideshare credit starting after card renewal and all cards with an annual fee get a free second checked bag on domestic Delta flights for the cardmember.
Overview of the changes
Here’s what you need to know about the changes on the Delta credit cards:
New rideshare credits on the Gold cards. Both the business and personal Delta Gold-level cards pick up a $10 monthly rideshare credit. Enrollment is required and the credits on the Gold-level cards are available starting after the first cardmember anniversary. (The credits on the Platinum- and Reserve-level cards are unchanged—these cards get the credits in their first year.) Existing Gold-level cardmembers get the credits starting with their next card renewal.
New second checked bag benefit. All of the Delta credit cards with an annual fee now offer a second checked bag benefit to the primary cardholder. Unlike the first free checked bag benefit, the second checked bag is only offered to the primary cardholder and only applies on U.S.-domestic Delta flights. (There is no second checked bag benefit on either international flights or for traveling companions.)
New design on all cards. The cards also got a refreshed design. The changes are slight on the Blue, Gold, and Platinum cards, but the Reserve cards have changed from purple to dark grey.
My take: Positive changes, but confusingly marketed
Aaron Hurd
Executive Editor of Cards and Points
First off, let me say that these changes are 100% positive. The Delta credit cards are more valuable today than they were yesterday. So, kudos to Delta and Amex for that.
I do take a bit of an issue with how these changes were marketed. If you already have one of the Delta cards and have used the free first checked bag benefit, you know that it applies to up to 8 people traveling with you on your same reservation.
However, the second free checked bag is only for U.S. domestic flights and only for the primary cardmember. These details are alluded to on Delta and Amex’s marketing pages, but you have to dig into the terms and conditions on Delta’s website to find the details.
Surely there will be a fair number of people who get slapped with baggage fees they’re not expecting over the next year because they didn’t read the terms and conditions.
In my view, what Delta should have done is simply extend the second checked bag benefit to all people on the reservation for all Delta flights worldwide.
As for the rideshare credits, the new credits on the Gold-level cards start in the second year of card membership. I do think that benefits that begin only after the second year complicate products unnecessarily. And with a benefit like a rideshare credit that has relatively high breakage, I can’t imagine that it would cost that much more to offer this in the first year.
My bottom line take is that these changes are all positive, with no downsides, but that they could be made much simpler by making them slightly less restrictive.
