Originally Posted by
jamesteroh
In the past I would have disagreed with that when my upgrade % was decent. If I was getting upgraded atleast % on the time on long hauls, the $150 fee would be worth it. Lately the upgrades haven't been good and not sure if it's due to all the promos DL has for platnium, FCM, reduced number of flights, or a combo of the three.
Even if my upgrades were zero I would keep the card if the mint was still having their program. The mint was basically free credit card spending and the choice gift of the $200 delta voucher is more than the $150 annual fee, and while skypesos aren't worth much, you can still get a few upgrades with 150 to 180K skymiles a year. There are still a few programs out there to get the spend up, but too time consuming for $50K in spends.
Even without this program, there are other ways to do the same thing. Some people use their AmEx to buy pre-paid VISA cards. Pay a small fee for the card (often less than $5) and then pay to load up the money on the card with your AmEx. Takes the mint out of the loop and you achieve the same thing (more or less).