Big Delta/Amex Enrollment Promo
 

If you're among the first 10,000 people to apply for the new Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card, we'll match your frequent flyer miles on any one airline including Delta - up to 50,000 miles - and deposit them into your Delta SkyMiles account. Delivery of the Miles is contingent on application approval, and upon meeting a minimum spending requirement of $10,000 within six months of Cardmembership. Only new Delta SkyMiles Credit Cardmembers are eligible.

We site is www.americanexpress.com/deltadoublemiles

I think this is one of the better deals to come along in some time (provided, of course, someone uses a credit card sufficiently to meet the $10,000/6 month threshold). If I didn't already have a Skymiles card, I'd be out there enrolling. I'll try to console myself with the also-just-announced "permanent" award of double miles for use of the card for supermarket, gas station, drugstore, USPS, home improvement store, wireless phone and Delta ticket purchases.

Three issues here:

1. $55 Annual fee (most other Optimas such as Starpoints and Hilton card have no annual fee).

2. The "matching" promo does not get specific. In other words, will they match Y-T-D flight miles on any airline through 9/30/00. Or better yet, will they match any program miles, ie. hotel stays, etc.

3. Perhaps the most impoortant - You won't know if you are one of the first 10,000 approved new cardmembers getting the matched miles (up to 50,000) until 5/2001. This is well after you enrolled and have been a loyal customer. In other words, why should I switch my business if I do not know what I will get for it?

"Delivery of miles is contingent upon meeting a minimum spending requirement of $10,000 within six months of Cardmembership"

That's $1,6667 average per month for six months, so can we assume that lots of folks will not qualify ?!

People generally know how much they spend and expect to spend. On the other hand, nobody can know if he or she was among the first 10000 applicants. This is a really serious drawback that stopped me from applying for a card for my wife, who doesn't have one. In a big country like ours, 10000 people isn't very many, and lots of people learned about this offer before the general public did (in today's newspapers). The applicants drawn just from employees of Delta, its advertising agency and newspapers probably filled the quota before most of us even had a chance!

Bruce

From the web-site:

Employees of American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. and Delta Air Lines, Inc., their affiliates and subsidiaries are not eligible.

Hey, the way I look at it is this: I am going to charge the miles anyway. Even if I am not one of the first 10,000 people (and I DID already apply), I applied for the platinum card. For my $135, I will get 15,000 initial miles, and the $10,000 in charges will reap roughly 14,000 points, since I estimate that 40% will be at supermarkets ($500-600/mo.), drugstores, home improvements places, and the other places that give double miles on this card. Thus, I should get roughly 30,000 miles for my $135. Even if I am not one of the first 10,000, I think that a free coach ticket to Hawaii, Alaska or the Caribbean for $135 is a good deal.

Djlawman

On one hand, some of this stuff is not too much at issue, as I see it...because today was the first day that people COULD apply for this card, under this promo...according to the rules. So if you applied this morning, chances are you were one of the first 10,000.

Also, it appears that, according to the rules, you submit a mileage statement from any airline as of September, 2000...several days before the promo started. This seems to indicate that they will match whatever miles you have in the program...TOTAL..up to 50,000.

As others have said, it is a bit disconcerting if for no other reason than this: IF they said "everyone who applies by this date and time..." or "Everyone with these criteria..." then you could verify if you qualified. but with this, even if you DID qualify, and they didn't give you the miles (and we all KNOW that this happens) all they'd have to do is say "sorry, you weren't one of the first 10,000 people" to make you go away, and there's not much you could do about it.

That said, the chance at 50,000 extra miles DID cause me to apply this morning. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Maybe I'm just cynical, but excluding Delta and AMEX employees doesn't exclude their family members, who may not be immediately identifiable as such. Moreover, knowing that the first possible day to apply was 10/2 just alerts these people to call at 12:01 a.m., or whatever. I could have called at about 7:30, but I figured it was already too late.

Bruce

Personally, I bet you can still easily get in the first 10,000. And if you don't think so, then the other double miles promo being offered under a thread in the DL forum is a great deal too. Unfortunately I already have the card and so do all eligible family members, I think. I was considering applying for one for my 8 year old but doubt that it would fly!

The otehr thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum21/HTML/001425.html

It would be worth asking if you don't make the first 10,000 will you land in that other promo by default? That would make the risk zero. As long as you spend the bucks, you'd end up with a lot of miles!

Did anyone get INSTANT APPROVAL?

Or did you get a message that said you would hear in 7-10 days?

We got a second card for my wife and got the 7-10 days answer. Bad Delta, bad . . .

No instant approval here

no instant approval here. AMEX should be able to verify if you are the first 10,000 else this promotion is flawed to begin with.

no instant approval...told me that I'd hear in a few weeks.

I agree, the biggest problem is that they should TELL you whether you are in the first 10000