flyer4512

LOL, I'm not quite sure if you are being condesending but I live oceanfront in the Tampa area ( North Redington Beach ) October 1 - April 30. As I said before the flights are for my kids during Spring break. I like cruising in my 550 the way you like flying around the world first class so I drive down.

Dynastar

The confusion is people are throwing around the word "cost" when sometimes they mean "cost" and sometimes they mean "opportunity cost". But we're getting pretty far from the main topic now.

xxpert

Just got my card in the mail today, 20k CLI, and I confirmed the bonus when activating and the CSR was like wow this is a great bonus lol. She also said hat in-flight purchases don't qualify for the Delta purchase.

flyer4512

We are way of topic but since the link is dead (and was only active a very short time) I'm not sure if it matters.

Still not sure for a 5K spend what else would be a better deal right now if you are inferring you would be missing out on another deal

calguy32

that's great...

What recourse would I have if I called to activate and it wasn't the 70k bonus?

flyer4512

Not much but check before you spend the $5k bucks

Happy

The ORD-TPA example is a domestic flight, is it not? It costs you LESS when using BA Avios than using either UA or, gasp, DL miles.

You could use the $5K to meet AMEX card spend when it often has high sign up bonus popped up for one day only deal. You will get more "free" flights with the MR to BA at bonus transfer time, then the DL miles - because 1) you have a good chance to "earn" more for the same spend, due to the predictable bonus offers, 2) you cost to acquire the free flight is less in Avios than in DL miles - 7,500 versus 20,000 - even a math-challenged person can see thru that.

No. The only GCs that charge a fee are those Cash-Equivalent GC, such as the AMEX and Visa. DL GC certainly cannot be used anywhere else than DL, so it is not a cash-equivalent GC, so the conclusion is obvious - who would be dumb enough to buy a DL GC with a fee?

Now be careful in what you are thinking - based on your question I am afraid you do not understand even 1/2 of what it means / people do when they use Ink cards to buy GCs at OD...

1) The cash-equivalent GCs all carry a fee from 4.95 to 5.95 per $500.
2) People are not just buying the regular Visa or AMEX prepaid GCs. They are buying the Vanilla bean Visa which is reloadable to yet another form of cards....
3) This is a complicated process that has a lot of its perils.

Look for good sign up offers from Ink, CSP, AMEX MR, even BA cards. That is where the $5K would make much more sense than the DL. The BA 50K + 50K with $75 + $75 that was available up till end of August was a terrific offer. 50K at 7500 one-way ORD-TPA, you can count how many free flights you would get from that 1st year bonus which your sole cost is $75 annual fee + a first purchase... Of course if your eyes only set on DL, you would not see such a beauty, wouldn't you? That is why you would need to broaden your horizon instead of keep thinking your current option is already the "best" for you.

Nothing wrong with that. Each person has its own goal.
You still can do a whole lot better by understand more how other programs would work - especially for your own purpose because DL miles is literally the worst when it comes for domestic redemption. It actually works not too bad for "exotic" vacation by that, such as a trip from West Coast to Scandinavia in Summer with a stopover somewhere in between. It is not exotic to many but may be exotic to you - and actually isn't too hard to do with 100K DL miles for a ticket that easily cost $5 to 7K, as versus the same 100K DL miles may only get you 2 domestic r/t with 20K orphan miles left because again DL is on r/t system so you would need to pay a r/t price, and 40K seems to be the ongoing mid-level for DL domestic award - a very crumbly redemption, even if you dont care for maximization. You are being "robbed" when comparing it to other programs.

flyer4512

I guess I forgot to menton I spend $100K plus a year on credit cards so a $5K spend is not going to prevent me from getting another card a few weeks later and getting that bonus also.

There is no flight from MSP/TPA for 7K, it's 12.5K. You are using ORD, 6 hour drive

You also take DIRECT flight out of the equation, maybe you enjoy sitting around airports ( risking delays) but I do not, some of those 25K flights have 5 hour layovers in ORD. So you turn a 3:15 minute flight into almost 9 hours. Getting deeper I also get to pick departure times that I want. Some of those UA and AA flights leave at 6am and arrive at 4:30 using 25K R/T. Maybe you like gettig up at 3am for a flight but I do not

Another thing you need to look at is AA, 25K R/T flights are history, everything I see is 50K. I'm guessing that means the BA 25K flights on American are few and far between also

May be exotic to me ??? Just because I choose to not travel the world doesn't mean I can't.


I think I hijacked this thread enough, back to getting ripped off flying for FREE

grad10

Just got my card today and confirmed the sign up bonus.
The rep was surprised by the bonus offer and told me this is the highest he had seen for the delta card

P.S
I had just upgraded an old delta gold card to a delta platinum card a month ago .

BramboMSP

Completed Wife's app Friday @ 3PM CST. Received card today, activated.
Verified 70K & $100 with $5k spend. Now just have to complete my $5K SPG spend & then Wife's CITI new AA Spend.....

echip

Hm, I thought if you had an Amex Delta card within the past 12 months, you won't get the sign-up bonus. No?

grad10

Thats what I thought too..
But as I said, the rep confirmed the 70000 skymiles and $100 bonus..

bobby21

Lets hope the bonus miles actually post after the 5k spend, I have seen reports of people getting the spg amex card the second time and not getting the welcome bonus. Let some reports come in after people meet the 5k spend and their statement closes.

Tailgater

This is a second bombshell! You mean, even if I presently have a Delta Gold AmEx but upgrade to a platinum, I can qualify for a new epic 70K miles Delta Gold AmEx? WOW! Now, I have to consider doing this gamble. I'd do it yesterday if there weren't some lingering doubt that it would indeed work out like it did for grad10. What a bombshell post to an already bombshell thread. I just got back from a winning session at a local Indian casino (Red Hawk Casino)

kdoughboy

Link has been dead for at least two days now. Thread title should be updated to reflect that the offer is dead.