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As travel gets back to normal, some companies are making it easier to book your dream vacation. Recently, Delta teamed up with American Express to allow customers to buy now, pay later for their flights. There are various plans you can sign up for. So how does it work? Here's a look at this new feature to see if it's a good fit for your next Delta booking.
Delta and Amex Now Offer Buy Now, Pay Later
For Amex cardholders, Delta has launched a new option to book your flights via “Buy Now, Pay Later” using a fixed-fee payment plan. Unlike typical credit card bills, these monthly plans have fixed fees instead of interest rates. The fee amount is based on factors such as your creditworthiness, the purchase amount, and your account history. Fees range between 0.61% and 1.17% per month. Each person will be offered 1-3 payment plans of 3 to 24 months at checkout.
Buy now, pay later plans are limited to Delta flights of $100 or more and only available when you use a U.S.-issued Amex card at checkout. You will still earn any miles and other rewards on your flight as you normally would.
And while you do need a U.S.-issued American Express card to use buy now, pay later with Delta, it doesn't necessarily need to be a Delta credit card. Any Amex card type works, no matter what rewards it earns.
See the full terms and conditions on the Amex website or Delta website.
How to Buy Now, Pay Later with Delta
Getting your buy now, pay later payment plan is simple:
- At checkout, select your Amex card as your payment method, and then choose “monthly installments with Plan It”.
- You will be offered 1-3 plans. Once chosen, the duration of the offered plans can't be changed.
- Select the plan which is right for you.
- Complete your checkout. Your monthly Plan It payment will be added to your minimum payment due each month on your American Express card statement.
- You ticket will be issued immediately, and you can proceed as normal with things like seat selection or special meal requests.
This option is currently available on Delta's website. It will be added to the Fly Delta mobile app sometime in the Spring of 2022.
Our Take
The buy now, pay later plans aren't much different than using your credit card to pay off your flights over time, except that you're charged a flat fee instead of an interest rate. If you're someone like me who pays off your bill every month to avoid interest — but don't always have the funds for a particularly expensive flight — this is a great opportunity.
On the flip side, you are still paying more than the ‘cost' of the ticket because of the plan fees you agree to. You will save money in the long run by paying for the whole flight with Delta at the time of purchase — if you can. If you're planning to use this feature, you'll need to determine for yourself whether the Plan It fee is better or worse than your credit card's interest rate. Unless you have a very low interest rate, the fees here will be less than the average credit card interest rate.
Additionally, there's currently an introductory offer with the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express to pay $0 Plan It fees on plans created in the first 15 months of opening a new account (Rates & Fees). This could be a good option for those interested in using the buy now, pay later plan with Delta or other merchants in the near future.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees)
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