Delta SkyMiles American Express® Cards Got a Free Second Bag — Here’s Which One to Get

A major airline and banking giant’s love affair celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year. To make the occasion, they gave their cobranded card lineup a glow-up: new card designs, bigger welcome offers, and a couple of fresh benefits.

You guessed it:

the Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards are inviting new and existing card members to celebrate with them. (Gives you the feels, doesn’t it?)

The headline for most of you looking for a new card: welcome bonuses across six of the cards just got meaningfully bigger, with the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card now offering its biggest welcome bonus in recent memory.

Plus, six of the cards added a second checked bag free benefit — but there is a big, big asterisk to it.

For the full, evergreen breakdown of every card’s perks, fees, and earning rates, we keep this guide updated year-round — this post is about what just changed.

Table of Contents

• The Elevated Welcome Offers (At a Glance)
• Delta SkyMiles Card Welcome Offers
• Which Card Makes Sense for You?
• New Card Art
• A Sneaky-Good Addition: Free Second Checked Bag
• Rideshare Credit Comes to the Gold Cards
• Companion Certificate Now Works on Delta Vacations
• The One Catch: Lounge Layover Rules
• Final Approach

The Elevated Welcome Offers (At a Glance)

Here’s the whole co-brand lineup, old offer versus new. Every elevated offer ends July 15, 2026.

Delta SkyMiles Card Welcome Offers

Here’s what each elevated offer looks like, plus the spend you’ll need and the annual fee. Personal offers are tiered: you earn a base chunk after the first spending threshold, then the rest after spending a bit more.

Which Card Makes Sense for You?

The offers are bigger, but bigger doesn’t mean better for every situation. Here’s how I think about it.

The Delta Reserve Amex and Delta Reserve Business Amex

If you’re chasing Medallion® status, the Delta Reserve Amex is the card to have. It earns $1 MQD for every $10 in eligible spending, plus a $2,500 MQD Headstart each year. For a serious Delta flyer, that combination is hard to match anywhere else in the lineup.

The Delta Reserve Business Amex works exactly the same way — same $1 MQD per $10 rate, same $2,500 Headstart. If you can hold both and put meaningful spend on each, you’re starting every Medallion® year $5,000 ahead before you’ve set foot on a plane. That’s a real edge.

The $650 annual fee on each one is real money. But between the Companion Certificate, Delta Sky Club access, Resy credit, rideshare credit, Delta Stays credit, and the 125,000-mile welcome offer window, there’s a genuine case that the card pays for itself for a frequent Delta flyer. Run the numbers for your situation.

The Delta Gold Amex and Delta Gold Business Amex

For most Delta flyers who aren’t laser-focused on Medallion® status, the Delta Gold Amex is where the math gets interesting. The intro annual fee is $0 in year one, which means you can earn 90,000 bonus miles — yes, in two tiers, but still — and decide whether the card earns its $150 keep starting in year two.

The Delta Gold Business Amex follows the same logic for business owners. Same $0 intro fee, same 90,000-mile offer. If your business puts decent spend on it, the free first bag and TakeOff 15 discount add up faster than you might think.

Both Gold cards now come with a rideshare credit starting in year two — up to $120 annually on Uber, Lyft, Curb, and Alto. Not a dealbreaker either way, but it’s a legitimate addition at this price point.

The Delta Platinum Amex and Delta Platinum Business Amex

The Delta Platinum Amex sits between the Gold and Reserve in both price and perks. It makes the most sense if you’ll actually use the annual Companion Certificate — and I mean actually use it, not let it expire because the eligible routes didn’t line up. If you book one companion trip at a meaningful fare, the $350 fee earns its keep.

Same story for the Delta Platinum Business Amex. If you fly Delta for business and can build a companion trip around the certificate each year, you’re probably fine at $350. If you’re not sure you’ll use it, the Delta Gold Business Amex is a smarter entry point.

The Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card

The Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card is the no-fee entry point — $0 annual fee, 2X on Delta purchases and restaurants, no bells or whistles. It’s probably not the card for someone who reads Eye of the Flyer. But if you’re helping a family member or friend get into the Delta ecosystem without a fee commitment, it’s a reasonable starting point.

New Card Art

Ooh, boy. My wife is mad about this one. Purple is her favorite color. She is not happy about her Delta Reserve Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card new Slate Grey finishes. If you already hold a card, your existing one keeps working — new art typically shows up on renewal or replacement. She is savoring her final years with the “passport plum” shade or whatever it’s called.

Not exactly a reason to apply on its own, but it’s the kind of thing you’ll notice when your new card shows up in the mail.

A Sneaky-Good Addition: Free Second Checked Bag

Here’s the one that probably matters more to families than the bonus miles: eligible Delta SkyMiles American Express Cards now include a free second checked bag on domestic Delta-operated flights (U.S. 48, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and USVI).

One important limit: unlike the long-standing first-bag benefit — which extends to you and up to eight companions on your reservation — the second-bag waiver covers the cardholder only.

For example, if my daughter is traveling with me — a Delta Amex cardholder — she would not get her second checked bag for free. Only I would get the perk because I’m the cardholder.

Delta currently charges $45 each way for a second checked bag on domestic flights. On a roundtrip, that’s $90 back in your pocket from this benefit alone — enough to cover a meaningful chunk of the Gold Card’s $150 annual fee, or a small but real offset against the Platinum or Reserve.

Rideshare Credit Comes to the Gold Cards

The Platinum Card, Platinum Business Card, Reserve Card, and Reserve Business Card have carried a rideshare credit for a while. Now the Gold Card and Gold Business Card get one too: up to $10 in statement credits each month (up to $120 a year) on eligible U.S. rideshare purchases with Uber, Lyft, Curb, and Alto. Enrollment is required.

The fine print worth knowing: on the Gold cards, this credit kicks in after your first card renewal — so year two, not the moment you’re approved — unless you product-changed down from a Platinum or Reserve, in which case it starts right away.

Companion Certificate Now Works on Delta Vacations

The annual Companion Certificate on the Platinum Card, Platinum Business Card, Reserve Card, and Reserve Business Card just got more flexible: you can now apply it toward the flight portion of a Delta Vacations package, not just a standalone Delta flight. If you tend to book packages anyway, that’s a genuinely useful expansion. (New to how these work? Here’s our full Companion Certificate guide.)

The One Catch: Lounge Layover Rules

Not everything got more generous. Effective July 8, 2026, for the Delta Reserve Amex and Delta Reserve Business, Centurion Lounge entry during a layover now requires arriving within five hours of your connecting flight. And any guest you bring must be traveling on the same flight as you — not merely the same day.

Minor for most people, but worth knowing if you’ve ever used a Centurion Lounge as a long-layover hideout.

Final Approach

If a bigger Delta SkyMiles bonus has been on your radar, this is a real window — the elevated offers are some of the strongest we’ve seen on these cards, and they’re gone after July 15, 2026. Just go in clear-eyed about the tiered spend, and pick the card that fits your travel rather than the splashiest number.

For the full, always-current rundown of every card’s perks, earning rates, and fees, see our complete Delta SkyMiles card guide.

Which offer are you eyeing — or did the second checked bag quietly win you over? Let us know in the Comments!

For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, please visit this link.