A Few Interesting Things I’ve Recently Learned about Delta SkyMiles Amex Gold Card

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I went on a cruise to Alaska without kids. Meanwhile, my MIL was planning to take my children to Michigan in order to visit my recently-married SIL. It worked out well, since they would have an adventure of their own while my husband and I were away.

My son caught his first fish

For their award flights I was able to use my Delta SkyMiles stash, which was our best option for nonstop flights from Fort Myers to Detroit. You hear a lot of criticism towards Delta program (a  lot of it deserved), but in this case I paid 21k miles roundtrip per person with the help of 15% discount for Delta Gold cardholders. Not bad for a summer flight, wouldn’t you agree? Of course, YMMV

Anyway, the only issue was the fact that we would have to pay for my MIL’s checked bag. Unfortunately, she doesn’t believe in traveling with carry-on only, and I gave up trying to persuade her. She is 80 years old and is set in her ways. So, the day before the flight I  told her to pay for the bag at the airport ($70 roundtrip), and I would reimburse her.

She then proceeds to tell me that my SIL asked her to apply for Delta SkyMiles Amex Gold card before her visit in the fall. Since my MIL plans to travel to Michigan at least a few times each year, it really makes sense for her to pick up this product. And of course, getting the initial signup bonus doesn’t hurt either. Hmm… We obviously didn’t have enough time to get the card in the mail, but it made me wonder if we could somehow get the “free checked bag” benefit by applying for the card the day before the flight.

My MIL agreed to be my guinea pig, and her application was approved. I told her we would hold off checking in for the flight until the following day with the hopes of the new benefit being attached to her Delta SkyMiles number by that point. It worked! Even though the redemption was made from my account, once we added her Delta number, the benefit was reflected during check-in process. I was thrilled to save $70 for something she planned to do anyway. It’s nice that you are not required to pay taxes with the associated Delta credit card in order to utilize this benefit.

Btw, at the time she applied, our affiliate link wasn’t the best offer available, so I directed her to Delta website. That said, as of right now, all the Delta offers, including Delta SkyMiles Amex Gold (our affiliate link) are increased through July 17th. It’s not my  number one pick, but if you plan to apply, we would appreciate your support. For other hot deals, see this post written by Nancy.

New $100 hotel benefit 

A few months ago, I’ve written about using the  newly introduced $100 credit via Delta SkyMiles Amex Gold, valid towards prepaid hotels booked on associated website. I’ve mentioned that I wasn’t sure if we would end up keeping the reservation and indeed, I had to scrap it, since my relatives will have to spend a few nights in Krakow instead of Warsaw. Since my credit card was already canceled by that point, I wasn’t sure if Amex would claw back the $100 portion of the refund. Nope.

I ended up getting a check in the mail for the whole amount. That was a pleasant surprise. I can’t guarantee the same will happen to you, but it was an interesting discovery nonetheless. Btw, since I can’t make Krakow hotel reservation until my relatives cross Belarus-Poland border (an ordeal), I asked my MIL if I could utilize her $100 hotel benefit for them. She happily agreed, since it would be wasted otherwise. A win-win.