Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
July 18, 2024: Delta and Amex have ended the previous limited-time welcome offer on the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. The current new cardmember welcome offer is back down to the regular offer:
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Here are all of the details on the best welcome offer on the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card.
Best welcome offer: 60,000 SkyMiles after spending $5,000 in 6 months
Here are the details on the current Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card welcome offer.
Learn how to apply.
Annual fee: $650
(See Rates and Fees)
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card welcome bonus
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This is the card to get if you want access to the Delta SkyClub.
More about this card
Benefit highlights:
Annual first class companion certificate upon renewal.
MQD Headstart.
MQD Boost.
$240 Resy credit.
Complimentary Delta Sky Club® Access.
Rideshare credit. (Enrollment required.)
TakeOff 15.
Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck®
Rewards:
3x on Delta purchases made directly with Delta.
1x on other eligible purchases.
Rewards are earned as Delta SkyMiles.
Learn more:
Compare the Delta Reserve card against other Delta Amex cards in our overview of Delta credit cards.
How to get a bigger Delta credit card welcome offer
Most of the Delta Air Lines credit cards feature increased, limited-time welcome offers a few times a year. Typically Delta and Amex increase the spending requirements to earn the bonuses alongside the amount of miles they award for meeting the spending requirements. In most cases, your best bet for earning more SkyMiles with a new Delta credit card is to get a new card when there is a limited time welcome offer available.
Delta and Amex offer both small business and personal variants of most of the Delta credit cards. The small business cards usually award more miles as part of their new cardmember offers, but they also require more spending to earn the bonus. Our article on the best Delta credit card offers lists every Delta welcome offer currently available.
Get the bonus through a referral link and earn points for your friend
American Express offers some cardmembers the ability to refer others to Amex cards and earn points. If you have a friend or a family member with an American Express card and they can generate a referral link, you may be able to get this same welcome bonus and earn some points for your friend.
Most American Express-branded and Delta-branded cards will allow you to refer someone to a Delta credit card and earn points if they are approved. But you won’t be able to refer a friend to the Delta credit card from another co-branded card like a Hilton credit card or Marriott credit card.
You are not allowed to apply through a referral link that you have generated yourself.
Are you eligible to get this welcome offer?
The new cardmember offer on the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card contains American Express lifetime language, which prohibits you from receiving a bonus on this card if you’ve ever had the same card previously.
However, even if you may have had the card before, it is generally safe to apply for a new American Express card. Prior to processing your application, Amex will notify you if you are ineligible for the welcome bonus and give you a chance to withdraw your application.
My take on the Delta credit card welcome offers
Of all the Delta welcome offers available, I find the offers on the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card to be the most compelling. This is both because these cards offer the most miles per dollar spent while earning the welcome bonus and because the cards both offer a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year. If you are eligible for a business card, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card is the better pick, in my opinion.
Keep in mind that the Delta cards recently added Amex lifetime family language to the terms of the welcome offers. On the Delta cards, if you’ve had the same or a higher-tier card before, you are ineligible for a welcome offer. If you’ve never had any Delta card, going for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card welcome offer first will preserve your ability to earn a bonus on a Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card card later.
Amex considers the Delta business and personal cards to be separate product lines when it comes to welcome offer eligibility. Having previously had a personal Delta credit card won’t impact your ability to earn a welcome bonus on a small business card.
Historically Delta and American Express have promoted increased limited-time welcome offers every few months. Given that the current offers are the business-as-usual offers, it might make sense to wait around for a limited-time offer.
A few notes on applying for American Express credit cards
Here are a few things that you should know about applying for American Express cards.
- Amex will let you know if you’re ineligible for the new cardmember welcome offer when applying. If you don’t qualify for a welcome offer for any reason, American Express will inform you during the application process and let you withdraw your application before they perform a “hard pull” on your credit report. If you withdraw your application, the withdrawn application will have no impact on your credit score.
- No hard pull if they deny you. If Amex denies your credit card application, they usually won’t issue a hard pull on your credit report. This means that your credit score won’t decrease because of the denied application.
- One welcome offer per card per “lifetime”. Most Amex card terms say that you’re ineligible for a welcome offer if you’ve ever had the card before. Some targeted offers do not have this lifetime language. Readers and other blogs have reported that Amex may internally define “lifetime” as 7 years—if it’s been 7 years since you’ve had a card, you might be eligible to get a welcome offer again.
- Some cards allow one welcome offer per card “family”. Some American Express cards, like the personal Platinum card or the Charles Schwab Platinum card have language that prohibits you from earning a welcome bonus if you’ve ever had a card from the same card family before.
- Maximum 5 Amex credit cards and 10 pay-over-time cards. You can have a maximum of 5 American Express credit cards at one time. In addition, you can hold up to 10 American Express pay-over-time cards (like the Platinum, Gold, and Green cards.) These limits are known to occasionally be flexible for some cardmembers, some of the time.
- You might be able to get a better welcome offer than the public offer. American Express offers some customers targeted offers. See our post on how to get the best welcome offers from American Express and try those methods before applying for an American Express card. You might be able to get an elevated welcome offer.
- Check your application status online. You can check the status of your American Express card application online through the Amex website.
American Express card disclosures
- For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, please visit this link: See Rates and Fees
- For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link: See Rates and Fees
- For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link: See Rates and Fees
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
