Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card Review

This card makes a compelling case for business travelers to give loyalty to the nearly 100-year-old airline. This card checks off many of the boxes on most business travelers' must-have lists.
author Brooklyn Lowery

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express CardSponsored card
Our Rating:   
Good, Excellent
on American Express's secure website

CardRatings Editor's Analysis: Pros & Cons

  • Limited time offer: Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $6,000 in purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership (offer ends 3/27/24).
  • Frequent flyers can accumulate miles fast with two miles per $1 on eligible Delta purchases as well as a number of other popular business spending categories on top of one mile per $1 on other purchases.
  • Check and stow your bag with ease: first checked bag free on Delta flights plus Main Cabin 1 priority boarding.
  • While there are no foreign transaction fees with this card, you do have an annual fee to consider – AnnualFees – and the card also ties you to Delta.
Terms and Limitations Apply.

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CardName Essentials

Don't yet have an airline that you call home? The CardName makes a compelling case for business travelers to give their loyalty to the nearly 100-year-old airline. In exchange for an attractive welcome offer and perks like priority boarding, Delta checks off many of the boxes on most business travelers' must-have lists. American Express is a CardRatings advertiser.

Gold Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card from American Express' best features:

  • AnnualFees See Rates and Fees.
  • No foreign transaction fees. See Rates and Fees.
  • Limited time offer: Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $6,000 in purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership (offer ends 3/27/24).
  • Additionally, you'll receive $200 off a Delta flight after you spend $10,000 on your card in a calendar year.
  • Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases at U.S. Shipping providers and at U.S. providers for advertising (in select media) on up to $50,000 of purchases per category, per year; 2 miles on every dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta and on every eligible dollar spent at restaurants; and 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on other purchases.
  • Get Main Cabin 1 priority boarding on Delta flights.
  • Use miles toward Delta flights or with more than 15 of its airline partners. Terms apply.
  • Card benefits include purchase protection and car rental insurance. Terms apply
  • Access to American Express Open benefits, including ReceiptMatchSM, account alerts and Open Forum®, which offers tools, advice and other resources for business professionals.

Top Features

 Rewards
Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases at U.S. Shipping providers and at U.S. providers for Advertising in select media on up to $50,000 of purchases per category, per year. Earn 2 Miles on every dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta and on every eligible dollar spent at restaurants. Earn 1 Mile on every eligible dollar spent on other purchases.
 Bonus Rewards
Earn 80,000 Bonus Miles after spending $6,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 3/27/24.
 Annual Fee
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150

What Our Editors Like Most About the CardName

Delta flies to 900 destinations around the world – a business traveler's dream. For members of this group who haven't yet leveraged a loyalty credit card to enhance their travel experience, the CardName offers several perks and benefits to incentivize them.

The limited time offer allows cardholders to earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $6,000 in purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership (offer ends 3/27/24). Most business travelers can meet this threshold easily and in return earn enough miles for multiple domestic round-trip flights (one-way award tickets start at just 10,000 miles) or to partially offset the cost of a Delta Comfort™ or first-class ticket.

The card comes with no foreign transaction fees, saving business travelers who fly internationally up to 3% on every purchase. The most attractive perks also help travelers avoid the typical grievances most people now have with airlines – checked baggage fees, expensive in-flight purchases and all the nickel-and-diming that further inflates ticket costs.

Checked baggage is $25 a bag on Delta, but with the CardName, your first bag flies free. Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases at U.S. Shipping providers and at U.S. providers for advertising (in select media) on up to $50,000 of purchases per category, per year; 2 miles on every dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta and on every eligible dollar spent at restaurants; and 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on other purchases. Miles don't expire, so you can redeem them anytime and take advantage of priority boarding, another card benefit.

The best way to maximize your rewards is to achieve SkyMiles Medallion® Status. There are four Medallion status tiers, ranging from silver to diamond, with qualification miles ranging from 25,000 to 125,000. Unfortunately, tickets paid for in miles don't count toward earning miles for Medallion status, so business travelers can't use their welcome offer to achieve this perk faster. However, if you achieve Medallion status, you can expect to earn a mileage bonus of anywhere from two additional miles per dollar (silver status) up to six additional miles per dollar (diamond status). That means CardName card members who also are in the frequent flyer program earn a minimum of four miles per dollar on every Delta purchase. Terms apply.

Potential Downsides of the CardName

Some travel rewards cards, like the CardName and CardNamediscontinued, offer a redemption bonus when you redeem miles through their portals or online travels centers. Delta doesn't offer this bonus.

Another significant drawback is the annual fee – AnnualFees. With a value of a little more than 1 cent per mile for most flights, you'd need to earn at least 9,900 miles a year or spend a little over $400 a month on Delta purchases to offset this fee -- a target that should be easy for business travelers to hit.

How the CardName CARDHOLDER SCORES

CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results:

Current Scores Past Scores
Overall Score 79.1 N/A
Features Satisfaction 7.9 N/A
Customer Service 7.6 N/A
Website/App Usability 7.7 N/A
Likelihood of Continuing to Use 7.9 N/A
Recommend to a Friend/Colleague 8.3 N/A

*Scores above reflect the results of surveys with actual cardholders. Full methodology below.

How the CardName Compares to Other Cards Business Cards

CardName vs. CardName

You can think of the CardName as the fancier sibling of the Gold version we've been discussing. The Platinum limited time offer allows you to earn 100,000 bonus miles after spending $8,000 in purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership (offer ends 3/27/24). Furthermore, you will receive a companion certificate each year upon renewal of your card (tax and fees apply). This card, however, also comes at a higher cost: the annual fee is AnnualFees. Even with the higher annual fee, regular Delta business travelers could very likely realize the extra savings this card could mean.See Rates and Fees.

It's easy to see how a big business spender and traveler could certainly make the CardName card work for them. Cardholders earn 1.5X miles* on eligible transit and U.S. shipping purchases, plus single eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (terms and miles cap apply). *If your purchase qualifies for a category that has a higher mileage accelerator, only the higher accelerator will apply. 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on other purchases. Figure in the free checked bag, priority boarding and other perks offered by the CardName, and you might find this is a better choice for you and your business needs.

CardName vs. CardName

The CardName credit card discontinued offers a significant amount of flexibility for business travelers who aren't committed to a particular airline for their travels. The CardName credit card's annual fee is AnnualFees. The welcome offer is generous: Earn 50,000 miles – worth $500 in travel – after spending $4,500 in the first three months. You can also receive up to a $100 credit for one Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee.

With the CardName credit card, you'll earn a flat two miles for every $1 you spend and five miles per $1 spent on hotel and car rental bookings through the Capital One portal, so there's a good opportunity to rack up some miles toward upcoming trips. Furthermore, you aren't tied to a particular airline with the CardName; in fact, there are no blackout dates or restrictions on when and how you can redeem your miles.

Still, because this is a general travel rewards card, you do miss out on a few airline-specific perks that you get with the CardName, such as a free checked bag on flights.

Who Should Get This Card?

If you already fly with Delta, why not be rewarded for your loyalty? Any business professional who travels frequently with the airline can earn free flights and save a ton of money alone on checked baggage fees – at least $25 per trip. Delta flies to over 900 locations worldwide, so the CardName could help you stock up enough rewards for that dream vacation.

Survey Methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September 2023 to conduct surveys among 1,869 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2023 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents' scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. “Current Scores” reflect scores from the most recent survey (2023); "Past Scores" reflect scores from the 2022 survey.

To see the rates and fees for the American Express cards featured in this post, please visit the following links: CardName (See Rates and Fees); CardName (See Rates and Fees)

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card Compared to Other Travel rewards Cards

Apply online for Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Apply online for Mastercard® Titanium Card™
Mastercard® Titanium Card™
Apply online for Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Apply online for Citi Premier<sup>®</sup> Card
Citi Premier® Card
Rewards
Earn 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases at U.S. Shipping providers and at U.S. providers for Advertising in select media on up to $50,000 of purchases per category, per year. Earn 2 Miles on every dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta and on every eligible dollar spent at restaurants. Earn 1 Mile on every eligible dollar spent on other purchases. 
Rewards
Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel? immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. 
Rewards
Flat-rate redemption value of 1% for cash back or 2% value for airfare redemption with no airline or seat restrictions and no blackout dates. Earn one point for every dollar spent. Straightforward redemption without needing a high-maintenance reward strategy. No foreign transaction fees, no earning caps, no rotating categories, and no need to chase down transfer partners to escape very low point values. 
Rewards
2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 
Rewards
Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants and Supermarkets. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Gas Stations, Air Travel and Other Hotels. Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases. 
Bonus Rewards
Earn 80,000 Bonus Miles after spending $6,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 3/27/24. 
Bonus Rewards
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.  
Bonus Rewards
N/A  
Bonus Rewards
Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening  
Bonus Rewards
Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel portal through June 30, 2024.  
Annual Fee
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150 
Annual Fee
$550 
Annual Fee
$195 
Annual Fee
$95 
Annual Fee
$95 

Disclaimer: The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.

This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.