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Many who fly Delta Air Lines hold either personal or business Amex Platinum cards for not just the power of the points to transfer to many partners (including Delta if you want) but also for the yearly perks the cards provide. One of those perks is, once you select an airline (in this case Delta) you can get credits each year up to $200 for many spend points.
Amex tells us that currently:
We “can receive up to $200 back per calendar year in statement credits for incidental travel fees charged by the one selected airline to an eligible” and ” Airline tickets, mileage points purchases or mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, upgrades, duty–free purchases, or award tickets are not eligible for statement credits.” – bold mine
Well that is somewhat helpful but also somewhat frustrating. Back “in the day” it was simple to lock in the value of this perk, that is, you would buy $50 Delta e-Gift cards (four of them) and they triggered the credits – but that died a long time ago. After that, for a while, buying gift cards in the Delta Sky Clubs triggered the credit but then that also died.
Some who don’t hold any Delta Amex cards for the free bag perk (and 15% off award tickets) use the credit for bag fees. I think if you are using them this way you need help with math but yes this does still work from reports I have seen in 2024.
For the rest of us what does still work to trigger the credit in a more meaningful way? The simple “trick” if you will still works in 2024 as you can see from my test above, that is, buy any Delta ticket with the card (after you have selected Delta as your preferred airline as I have in the shot in the opening of the post) and use any amount of Delta gift card (physical or digital) as part of the payment and that does trigger the credit. What else?
If you happened to have any amount of old ticket credit on Delta.com and use that in combination with your Amex Platinum card that too in 2024 will also trigger the yearly $200 credit (yes I know I messed up and came up $2.40 short – ah well). This works either online purchase or calling and having a rep apply the credits.
The above two are the simplest and quickest ways to lock in the full value of this yearly perk of the card and I like to do this as soon as I can so I do not forget about these valuable card perks. There may be others that you have used and if so feel free to share data points but I want to at least share what works the best for me and is still working in 2024! – René
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Is there any way to make the credit work on a domestic upgrade from economy to first class?
@Bear – Have not tested but likely if you used a Delta gift card as part of that upgrade fee it should work.
Yes, I am very new to this, and your help will be greatly appreciated. So, if I use my platinum AMEX card, which is affiliated with Delta, to buy Delta gift cards, it will trigger the $200 credit? Hope this isn’t a silly question.
Thanks!
@Mitchell – No. The Delta Platinum card does not have this perk. The generic Amex Platinum cards do. You must first choose your default airline (in my case I chose Delta) then pay for the ticket with the card (and a gift card or travel credit) to trigger the $200 yearly credit. If you simply pay for a ticket with the Amex card it will not trigger the credit.
OK – so if I buy $200 of Delta cards an use them towards a $300 ticket, i will get the $200 back, or I can buy a lesser amount ($25) towards a $300 ticket and still get $200 back?
@Marky Mark – Use the smallest gift card you can. Say upgrade was $300 and you used a $100 gift card and then the Amex card for the rest you may get full $200 yearly credit.
If your credit doesn’t post, try calling AMEX and have them adjust it manually. This worked for two purchases I made last year that never credited me and they customer service agent was able to apply the credit.
So help me bet this straight please,sorry for my confusion
First, buy $200 in Delta gift cards with my platinum AMEX. I will not get any credit for this transaction.
Next, buy a ticket with my AMEX platinum and use the $200 in gift cards towards the ticket. This will trigger a credit.
Which essentially pays for the gift cards i bought earlier?
@Craig – You are a bit confused. A Delta gift card of any amount will work when used to purchase a ticket. As an example:
Ticket cost $250
Use Delta gift card $50
You are billed $200 to Amex Platinum
You shortly get $200 credit
Clear?