Update 3/5/20: More people have been targeted for both the personal and business upgrade.
Update: Changing to YMMV as there is an upgrade link for the business card.
The Offer
- Upgrade to the Platinum Delta Skymiles card and spend $1,000 within the first 3 months and receive 40,000 bonus miles
Card Details
- Annual fee of $250 not waived first year
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 3x miles on all purchases made directly with Delta
- 2x miles on restaurants and U.S. supermarkets
- 1x miles on all other purchases
- First checked bag free
- Fee credit for Global Entry & TSA PreCheck
- No foreign transaction fees
- Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your Card (Payment of the government imposed taxes and fees of no more than $75 for roundtrip domestic flights (for itineraries with up to four flight segments) is required)
Our Verdict
Not really worth considering for most people due to the fact the annual fee is not waived. If you have questions about American Express upgrade offers they will be answered here. General questions about American Express answered here.
Hat tip to MtM
As a follow up to my comment below, get this: just checked the account of my recently upgraded Delta Platinum Business card (from Delta Gold Bus a couple weeks ago, see below) and it’s showing another upgrade offer to the Delta Reserve Business Card:
“You’ve Been Pre-Approved
For a limited time you can earn 40,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles after you upgrade to the new metal Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business Card. Terms apply.
Upgrade to the reimagined, metal Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Earn 40,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you upgrade to the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card and spend $4,000 in eligibile purchases within the first three months on the Card.”
I’m gonna go for it!! (kidding)
I got this offer when I called in yesterday to see if existing 1st year gold card members would get the 10K miles for the second year (No, we won’t). I inquired about any other retention offers for the gold card – there are none for me other than the platinum card upgrade offer. I said that I’ll likely just cancel my card or apply for the platinum card another time since the bonus offer is better for a new card vs. upgrade. I was already planning to close my gold card, so no love lost here.
Does the timing matter – whether you get the platinum first then cancel or vice versa?
I would open the new account first because then I would have a chance to see if the “Amex popup” comes up during the application (I’m referring to the popup that tells you you wouldn’t be eligible for the signup bonus based on your history with signup bonuses and account openings/closings). It would be helpful to know this before closing the existing account, in case that would make me change plans.
Just a guess, but I would suspect that closing your existing Gold Delta account might make it more likely that you would get the Amex popup for a little while (and not be allowed to get the sign-up bonus on the Platinum Delta) anyway.
I guess the only issue you might run into is that you’re only allowed to have 5 AMEX credit cards at one time, so if you’re at that limit, you would have a problem opening the new account first.
Could you theoretically earn the $100 Flight Credit on the Gold card and then upgrade to the Platinum?
For me, when I click the offer link, it loads 40k for 3k (not 1k) spend in 3mon when upgrading from my Delta Gold biz card. “Offer Ends 4/29/2020.” YMMV.
Again, the offer, for me anyway, is 40k for 3k (not 1k) spend. Expires 4-29-20 still. But the only way I can access the offer is through the direct link. No emails or Amex offers about it. With the airlines struggling right now due to global health issues, I gotta believe there will be better offers at some point down the line.
I received an email for $40k/3k spend to move from Business Gold to Business Platinum. Wouldn’t I be better off just getting the Platinum at its current 80k offer and cancelling the gold?
I see gold cards now offer 10k gold and platinum 20k at first anniversary which to me fully offsets the fee for the second year. I doubt I get the 10k on my gold card which is just about to hit the one year anniversary but I can always call and ask.
Somebody please answer Burton’s question? I got the platinum 40k upgrade offer in yesterday’s mail…Why not cancel my gold and then get the 80k platinum sign up bonus?
Yes, if I were in your position and wanted the Platinum Delta, I would apply for a new Platinum Delta and cancel/downgrade the Gold Delta, rather than using the upgrade offer.
I would also make sure to do it in that order (open new card first) just to make sure AMEX doesn’t give me the popup saying I’m not eligible for the signup bonus (in which case I might choose to just keep the Gold Delta card for now).
Aside from the size of the signup bonus, another reason to open a new card vs using the upgrade offer is Amex’s once in a lifetime rule for signup bonuses; if you were to use the upgrade offer, you would not be able to get the signup bonus on the Platinum Delta card in the future (whereas there will likely be future opportunities to get an upgrade bonus).
Just for some color, I was approved for the Delta Platinum Bus in early February, called a couple weeks after receiving my card to see if there were any upgrade/retention offers on my separate Amex Gold Bus card, and was told no but I could upgrade my existing Delta Gold Bus card to the Delta Plat Bus for the above offer of 40k points on $3k spend. I asked the Amex agent if this was possible since i already had the Delta Plat Bus and she said some people like to have more than one of the same card for families (e.g. two companion passes instead of one). I accepted the offer and now have two Delta Plat Bus cards in the span of a month and earned 120k Delta miles on $6k SUB’s for both cards (plus whatever miles I earned on spend)!
Correction needed: $3000 in 3 months for 40K miles. $1000 in 3 months is for the 15K offer.
A family member has an upgrade offer for Delta Gold to Delta Reserve (personal).
“Earn 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months.† Limited Time Offer ends 4/29/20.†”
Also, the direct link above mentions having to spend $3,000 (not $1,000).
This link is to upgrade the Amex Delta Business credit card not personal card.
Also earns 3x SkyMiles made directly with hotels.