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Until July 5, 2017 the Platinum Delta credit card offers 70,000 bonus miles and the Gold Delta card offers 60,000 bonus miles. Both bonuses are enough for a roundtrip to Europe, and award space is fantastic with Delta miles to Europe for this September–when crowds have thinned, prices have fallen, but the air and water temperatures are still fantastic.
Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.
The Offers
- Sign Up Bonus: Platinum: 70k miles, 10k MQMs, and $100 statement credit after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Gold: 60k miles and $50 statement credit after spending $3,000 in the first three months
- Category Bonuses: 2 miles per dollar on Delta purchases
- Value of Delta Miles: Worth 1.3 cents each to me
- Free Checked Bag for you plus up to three others on same Delta reservation
- Priority Boarding
- No Foreign Transaction Fee
- Annual Fee:
Platinum: $195, not waived (so a net of -$95 after statement credit)
Gold: $95, waived for first year (so a net of +$50 after statement credit) - Eligibility: You can only get the bonus once per lifetime on public Amex offers. Example: if in the past, you have had only the Gold, you are ineligible to get the bonus on the Gold, but you can get the bonus on the Platinum.
The Award Space
All award charts show availability for one passenger. I only show the outbound award space, but return space is similar.
Atlanta to Paris
Atlanta to Paris has award space at the lowest 30,000 mile level on 31/35 days in September and early October.
New York to London
New York to London has award space at the 30,000 mile level on Delta flights on 33/35 days and the 35,000 mile level on partner flights the other two days.
Salt Lake City to Amsterdam
Salt Lake City to Amsterdam has award space on 31/35 days, so this award space is not confined to East Coast cities.
Los Angeles to Split
From Los Angeles to Split, Croatia, there is no award space across the Atlantic on Delta until the end of September, so the cheapest price is the partner price of 35,000 miles one way for most of the dates.
The shorter itinerary on Aeroflot is 35,000 miles + $176 one way.
The longer itineraries on Delta and partners within Europe cost 30,000 miles + $18.
I’ve never been to Split but nearby Dubrovnik is awesome during September and the very beginning of October when the water is still warm, the air is still warm, and the majority of tourists are gone.
Booking
With Delta miles, you can search award space to Europe on delta.com and book there.
Getting the Miles
Until July 5, 2017 the Platinum Delta credit card offers 70,000 bonus miles and the Gold Delta card offers 60,000 bonus miles. Both bonuses are enough for a roundtrip to Europe.
Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.
Bottom Line
Delta miles are frustrating because Delta doesn’t always offer great award space and because it constantly devalues its hidden award chart. But ignoring them means missing out on a free trip to Europe because right now the huge sign up bonuses on the Gold and Platinum Delta cards are enough to book the great award space Delta is offering to Europe this September, which is possibly the best month to visit Europe.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
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Scott
Great Post good deal I like Delta flts BUT the service on the phone is very poor (to change) hours for a 5 min phone call . Don’t worry about being Unsafe use common sense (BRAIN) I had no trouble in France . The whole time I wore my Bernie 2016 Hat and a Aloha Shirt (brought 3 ($40) in KONA , Hi ) . I have already booked AA ORD to CDG and United (NCE) back in Sept .. Very Cheap there right now Cheaper to Eat then US and the French know their in Big Trouble ..
CHEERs
This post is highly misleading at best, outright dishonest at worst.
Calling a single seat in economy on select routes “awesome” is pretty disingenuous. If you want to go somewhere else on your own, it may be OK – but “awesome”? Come on. Most people (not credit card bloggers) want to travel with their spouse, partner, friends. For them, looking for 2 seats or more, how’s that award space?
Setting aside your rather elastic definition of “awesome award space”, your post clearly implies that readers should hit your links (make you some money) and sign up for this card NOW so they can go to Europe in September. But you know that’s a lie. If you sign up for this credit card today, the bonus miles won’t post to your account until August at the earliest. How is the Delta award space in September going to be then? (Hint: while nobody knows for sure, you can bet it won’t be as “awesome” as you say it is now). Not to mention that most people need to plan a European trip more than a few weeks in advance (for many reasons – job, responsibilities, booking hotel space, etc.).
The way you present highly selective, cherry-picked, edge-case information and represent it as something that could work for most people is why bloggers like you have such a low reputation. It’s REALLY sleazy. Shame on you. I’m sure you don’t have the cajones to post this comment. Lets see.
You do NOT automatically get the $100 credit after spending $4K. You must make a specific DL purchase. See fine print.
Scott. The Salt Lake to Amsterdam is on the new 787 from KLM, that route also keeps showing tons of business availability, seems like a west coast dream ticket to get to Amsterdam