Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card: Best Ways To Spend The Welcome Bonus

When you’re on the hunt for a new airline credit card, it can help to be strategic about when you sign up. That’s because, over the course of any given year, rewards credit cards will bump up their welcome offers in order to entice new customers to give their cards a try.

If your goal is earning miles for a free flight, it definitely makes sense to sign up for a card when its sign-up bonus is at its peak. After all, a higher-than-normal welcome bonus will go a lot further when you go to redeem it for airfare and other options.

The Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card’s current welcome offer of 50,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 within the first six months of account opening is still a decent welcome bonus. But the best part? The Delta SkyMiles Gold Card offers a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year (then $150 thereafter).

There are plenty of excellent ways to spend the Delta SkyMiles Gold welcome offer, but the best way for you depends on where you want to travel and how you want to get there. Read on to learn more about Delta SkyMiles Gold Card benefits and how to use the Delta SkyMiles Gold welcome bonus to its maximum potential.

Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card details

Here are the main Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex card benefits and earning rates to know about before you sign up:

Welcome bonus	Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 within six months of account opening
Rewards rate	2X miles at U.S. supermarkets, restaurants worldwide and on Delta purchases 1X miles on all other eligible purchases
Annual fee	$0 the first year, then $150
Highlighted benefits	A free checked bag on Delta flights Zone 5 priority boarding 20 percent statement credit back on select in-flight purchases No foreign transaction fees

How to redeem the Delta SkyMiles Gold’s welcome bonus

When you carry the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card and start earning miles, you can easily redeem them through your Delta SkyMiles account. All you have to do is create an account (or log into your existing account) at Delta.com. All the miles you have earned are safely kept there, and remember that miles earned in the Delta SkyMiles program never expire.

Once you’re ready to redeem your rewards for flights, you can search for the airfare you want on the Delta website. To see the cost in “miles” instead of dollars, you just have to click on “Shop with Miles” before you search.

With the Delta SkyMiles program, you can redeem your miles for flights to over 1,000 destinations around the world. This is made possible through the Delta frequent flyer program as well as their SkyTeam airline alliance partners.

You can also redeem Delta miles for:

• Seat upgrades
• Checked bags
• Premium travel upgrades
• Delta gift cards
• Car rentals
• Delta Sky Club Membership
• SkyMiles experiences
• Delta vacation packages
• Magazine subscriptions

How much Delta SkyMiles Gold rewards are worth

Generally speaking, you’ll get more value from your Delta miles if you redeem them for airfare, although you may find better value for premium cabins or international flights. Based on Bankrate’s latest points and miles valuations, Delta SkyMiles are worth approximately 1.2 cents each with the right transfer partner.

The value of using miles for seat upgrades and Delta vacation packages varies. If you redeem your miles for a Delta Sky Club membership, you’ll get exactly 1 cent per mile.

Best ways to use the Delta SkyMiles Gold’s welcome bonus

The best way to use the Delta SkyMiles Gold welcome bonus really depends on where you want to travel. However, your best option will always be for flights. That’s the whole point of earning airline miles, but flights also tend to give you more bang for your buck.

You can typically find round-trip domestic flights on Delta starting at around 15,000 miles and round-trip international flights in economy starting at around 30,000 miles. Note that, when it comes to domestic or international itineraries, you’ll usually find the lowest redemption options from main Delta hubs and markets. According to Delta, these include Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Example flights

Let’s take a look at some example flights for early 2025 that show excellent use of the Delta SkyMiles Gold card’s welcome bonus of 50,000 miles.

For example, you could fly from Detroit to Atlanta starting at 20,000 miles (plus $12 in airline taxes and fees).

You could then use your remaining bonus miles to fly from New York-JFK to Amsterdam (starting at 28,000 miles, plus $12 in airline taxes and fees).

Although these are just examples, keep in mind that international flights in premium cabins will cost considerably more miles. If you want to get a good deal on a trip you want, your best bet is to be as flexible as you can with dates so you can snag your flight for the lowest amount in miles.

Redemption options to avoid

When it comes to using Delta SkyMiles, we recommend skipping over magazine subscriptions and gift cards in particular. This is because you’ll get less value for these options overall. Not only that, but Delta miles never expire, so you don’t have to use them until you’re good and ready.

Also, note that you don’t have to redeem Delta gift cards in order to use your rewards to book flights for other people. Like other frequent flyer programs, Delta lets you use your miles to book flights for anyone you want.

The bottom line

If you have been thinking of picking up a Delta credit card, and the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card is on your radar, now is a great time to sign up. However, note that this card has previously had a higher welcome offer, so you may want to wait to see if they bring that limited-time offer back before you sign up. You may want to take a look at other Delta credit cards.

Additionally, Amex credit cards that earn Membership Rewards points let you transfer to the Delta SkyMiles program, so they are also worth considering if you’re looking for a travel rewards card.