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With so many Delta co-branded credit cards, one of the most common questions we field on the blog, and in our Facebook community Award Travel 101, is can I hold multiple Delta Amex cards? The answer is a resounding YES!
Before we dig into the details, why would you want to apply for more than one Amex Delta credit card?
First, it allows you to earn additional welcome bonus offers. American Express specifies that new cardmembers can only receive the welcome offer on Amex cards once per product. However, that doesn’t stop you from applying for different products within the same family of cards and earning the new-cardmember welcome offer on each card.
Second, you can stack the bonus Medallion Qualifying Miles from multiple cards to help you reach or retain elite status. Plus, if you apply for the Platinum or Reserve cards, you’ll receive a companion certificate with each card to help mitigate the annual fees. And if you get the Reserve cards, you'll gain complimentary access to Delta SkyClub lounges when traveling on Delta.
Earning More Than One Delta Welcome Offer
Amex hasn't done a great job in communicating its welcome offer policy, and many folks new to award travel assume that you can only receive one Delta welcome offer across all Delta Amex cards. However, that’s not the case. The restriction is on each card product, as per Amex’s T&Cs:
“Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.”
While you cannot receive the welcome offer more than once per product, you can earn the welcome bonus on each card within the Delta family, which includes seven separate products including business cards. For example, if you currently hold the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, or have held it in the past, you cannot receive the welcome offer on the card again. But, that doesn’t stop you from applying for the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card and earning the welcome bonus after meeting the minimum spending requirement, as it's considered a separate product.
Delta co-branded American Express cards:
- Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card – Earn 10,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card – Earn 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card – Earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after spending $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card – Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card – Earn 60,000 Bonus Miles after spending $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card – Earn 50,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $5,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card – Earn 70,000 Bonus Miles after spending $5,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
You are eligible to earn a welcome bonus offer on any Delta Amex card you don’t currently hold or haven’t held in the past.
Stacking MQMs From Multiple Cards for Elite Status
Airline elite status is a surefire way of making your flying experience more comfortable, providing access to better services and free perks, in addition to earning more miles on airline spend. But without enough bum-in-seat miles, achieving elite status can be a pipe dream. Fortunately, Delta offers bonus Medallion Qualifying Miles on select cards when you reach spending thresholds, and as part of the welcome offer structure.
To earn Medallion status with Delta requires a mix of Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM) or Medallion Qualifying Segments (MQS) and Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD) or Medallion Qualifying Dollar Waiver (MQD Waiver).
| Earn Medallion Status using Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards | Credit Cards and MQM Required |
|---|---|
| Earn Silver Medallion Status (25K MQMs) | One-Card Strategy • 30,000 MQMs - $60K annual spend on Delta Reserve |
| Earn Gold Medallion Status (50K MQMs) | One-Card Strategy • 60,000 MQMs - $120K annual spend on Delta Reserve --- Multi-Card Strategy • 20,000 MQMs - $50K annual spend on Platinum Delta Amex • 30,000 MQMs - $60K annual spend on Delta Reserve Total: 50,000 MQMs/$110,000 spend |
| Earn Platinum Medallion Status (75K MQMs) | Multi-Card Strategy • 60,000 MQMs - $120K spend on Delta Reserve • 15,000 MQMs - $30K spend on Business Delta Reserve Total: 75,000 MQMs/$150,000 spend |
| Earn Diamond Medallion Status (125K MQMs) | Multi-Card Strategy • 10,000 MQMs - $25K annual spend on Platinum Delta Amex • 60,000 MQMs - $120K spend on Delta Reserve • 60,000 MQMs - $120K spend on Business Delta Reserve Total: 130,000 MQMs/$265,000 spend This would surpass the required $250,000 in spending to get a MQD waiver for Diamond Medallion elite status. |
You can stack bonus MQMs from multiple Delta cards to earn or retain Medallion status on Delta, although it’s important to calculate the opportunity cost of the required annual spend and the yearly fees for holding more than one premium Delta card. That $25K or $50K to reach elite status, earning just 1 mile per dollar on non-Delta spend, could earn multiple welcome bonuses, and potentially hundreds of thousands of points in more lucrative, flexible rewards programs.
Provided you can meet the spending thresholds without compromising other points and miles opportunities, pooling MQMs from multiple Delta cards can offer a welcome boost to earning or retaining Medallion status.
Important: An AwardWallet reader recently let us know that Amex will not allow you to stack the MQM bonus from two versions of the same business card. For example, if you have the Business Platinum Delta Amex for two different businesses, you won't get access to a total of four Miles Boosts if you split spending across the two business cards.
Earn Additional Companion Certificates
Both the personal and business versions of the Platinum and Reserve Delta cards earn a companion certificate each year upon account renewal, and you can redeem companion certificates from multiple Delta cards in the same calendar year.
- Platinum Delta Amex – Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year
- Business Platinum Delta Amex – Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year
- Delta Reserve – Receive a Domestic First Class, Delta Comfort+, or Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year
- Business Delta Reserve – Receive a Domestic First Class, Delta Comfort+, or Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year
You’ll pay just the government-imposed taxes and fees of no more than $75 for roundtrip domestic flights when using the certificate, just be aware there are some restrictions on these companion certificates, such as booking through Delta.com in specific fare classes and having to use an Amex to pay for the tickets. Companion certificates are now also eligible for Medallion Complimentary Upgrades, which we cover in detail in a previous post.
Final Thoughts
Can you apply for more than one Delta co-brand card and receive the welcome offer and bonus MQMs? Yes. And you can take advantage of perks like the free companion certificate from multiple cards each year. Just keep in mind the premium Delta cards attract significant annual fees that will set you back hundreds of dollars per year. And you’ll need to weigh the cost of maintaining these cards, and meeting the spending thresholds each year, against opportunities to hold what we consider better premium credit cards, providing superior benefits, and earning points in more lucrative programs.
If you're contemplating how to use your SkyMiles, check out the post we put together on Delta SkyMiles Sweet Spots or check out the Award Travel 101 Video (our Facebook community) on How to Maximize Delta SkyMiles.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I have a Skymiles Gold and tried applying today for an Delta Skymiles Platinum as it had a great deal. 70k miles and 10k MQM but was told on the app I don’t qualify for the offer. When I spoke to someone in the chat they said they can’t share any information regarding the decision. Anyone else encountered this? I’m wondering if this means no offers or just that specific offer.
Interesting. You may have run afoul of Amex’s secretive welcome bonus eligibility tool: https://awardwallet.com/blog/amex-introduces-welcome-bonus-eligibility-tool/
I have a Delta Skymiles Platinum card (for personal) and just received a separate Delta Skymiles Reserve business card, obviously to separate my business charges for the company I own.
If I fly Delta by buying a ticket with my Platinum card, will the benefits of my Reserve card be available? Such as Delta sky clubs and lounges and complementary upgrades at a Reserve level?
How can I leverage the best with both cards?
Lastly, do I receive the choice benefits from both cards?
I opened a Gold SkyMiles card in fall 2019, but downgraded it when I realized I’d get an annual fee for Year 2. So I now hold a Blue SkyMiles card. Can I apply for a new Gold card and receive the 70,000 miles bonus?
Generally not. American Express generally doesn’t allow previous cardholders of a card to get a new welcome bonus. However, you can get a welcome bonus on any Delta Amex card that you have not previously had (e.g. Delta Platinum, Delta Reserve, or Delta business cards).
I signed up for a Delta personal platinum account in Jan of this year. It was my first & only Delta card in my life. Then a few days ago, I took advantage of the current promotions and signed my business up for the Delta Reserve. I’ve only had one AE card in my life but it wasn’t an airline card and I cancelled it over a decade ago.
When I called to verify the bonus offer I was told there was no offer on my new account. I asked why and I received conflicting responses for 3 different people. The first said I was eligible but didn’t get it for some reason so she they’d file a dispute. She said like you say in your blog that business and personal accounts are different plus they are two different types of cards. One Delta Platinum & other Delta Biz Reserve.
I then called again and was told that the terms mean only one delta card offer regardless of whether it’s gold, platinum and so on…also regardless if it’s biz or personal.
Third person said that it can take time for offer to post to account.
First can someone give me any insite on this? When I signed up, I never got a prompt saying I was not eligible for an offer. To my understanding this would happen if I have had the card in the past. I never got any prompt after I submitted. Just an approval.
Anyways any help would be awesome!
Oooof. That’s not good that you couldn’t get a clear answer. Amex has been clear in past discussions with me that it would pop up the not-eligible box at application if you weren’t eligible for the bonus. So, it’s concerning that you didn’t get that warning yet Amex can’t confirm that you’re eligible. The T&C on the cards are pretty clear that the restriction only relates to that exact card (or legacy versions of that card).
I would like to hit the $25k spend to achieve the MQD waiver this year but don’t necessarily want to apply for Platinum now as I already have Gold. Does spend on Gold count towards achievement of the $25k spend for MQD waiver AND additional 10k MQMs if I apply for Platinum later in the year or does all of the $25k spend need to be on the Platinum card?
Yes and no. For the MQD waiver (for up to Platinum status), Delta adds up all of the spending on your eligible Delta cards. (“To reach Platinum, Gold or Silver Medallion Status, the MQD Waiver can be achieved by making $25,000 or more in Eligible Purchases during the calendar year with eligible Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards from American Express.”) So, your spending on your Gold will count toward this waiver.
However, the spending on your Gold won’t count toward the spending required for the addition 10k MQMs (12.5k this year) on the Platinum. You’d have to spend $25k on just the Platinum to achieve that.
Just FYI – According to Amex now if you have two platinum business cards you can only get 2 boosts in total for those two cards, not 4 you think you would get for 50k spend on each card. You can get 2 boosts from a Biz card and then 2 from a personal card for a total of 4 but not two Biz plat cards. I have gotten them in the past they said was a mistake? They were around the same time so maybe they didn’t see it but I looked at the cardmember agreement and it says pg 3
“Some Miles Boost award restrictions:”
“You can only get two Miles Boost awards for each Card Account. In addition, if you have more than
one Platinum Card Account linked to the same SkyMiles account, you are eligible for only two Miles
Boost awards each year”.
Sucks because I had the spend and short 10k for Diamond what a waste a spend.
Hey Tony, thanks for letting us know. I’ve updated the post to clarify the 2-biz card restriction. I’m sorry you’re elite spending strategy didn’t work out as you hoped, but we really appreciate you saving other readers from running into the same mistake.
Wait you can get MQM by spending $30k in a year? you get 15k MQM? I might have read that wrong
As of next year, up to 60K MQM for 120K spend (15K every 30K) on Reserve card.
Can you get two boosts from a Delta Personal Platinum Amex card and two boosts from a Delta Business Platinum Amex card?
Boosts? If you mean MQMs, you can earn them separately on both cards.
I have called Amex before only because it is extremely annoying to get new offers for a card I already have. They have explained that marketing sends them out and they can’t really control them. The option is to stop the emails which I don’t want to do. Just an fyi.
Why is it annoying if it doesn’t have a lifetime language? My targeted offers were in usps mail, the 2-nd one is available at delta.com/earn60k.
I’ll try to open the 2-nd card in February, and see what happens.
Can I have 2 delta golx amex cards?
I received a targeted offer in October and opened the card. Then I received another targeted offer for the same card expiring on Feb 20 2019. Neither offer has lifetime language.
I don’t know of anyone having two of the same card opened at the same time and receiving bonuses on them with Amex anytime recently. I would be happy with what you got and move on.
update- called and was told the 60K bonus on my 3rd Delta Gold in 4 years is earned and pending. They had no record of the prior 2. Hope it works!
Awesome info, I will be applying for the business platinum card now!
I think if I lived in the southeast where DL is prevalent, I might be tempted to acquire a lot of these products, but even taking DL’s partners into consideration, l just don’t fly them enough to think about accumulating a lot more miles.
Hey interesting article, good to know from reading comments that if one upgrades rather than applying for a new card that one doesn’t get the bonuses! good thing to keep in mind for any future cards. I would think that would apply or be a possible danger.
When did the AMEX / DAL partnership begin?
First co-brand card was issued in 1996.
Great info, thanks!
very interesting. thx!
Great post- i was wondering that same question. Also- is there any way to check if you have had a certain card in the past? My memory fails me.
jason
You could use a service like Credit Karma, but records typically only go back 7-10 years. When you apply on the Amex website there is a pop-up informing you if you’re not eligible for the welcome bonus.
Delta and AMEX should make these cards compelling to use for daily spend. Until then, I will pass.
I have held the Delta Gold for over two years now and never use it anymore. I wonder if I should call to see if they will upgrade me for the bonus offered? Hmmmm…..I’ll have to think about this.
Great info, now I will get more Amex cards
I just received a 60K email offer for $1K spending on the Delta personal Gold card, no AF first year and more importantly, no restrictive language on having the card before. I applied and was approved.
Delta miles have had a renaissance recently, being more valuable in all classes, especially in economy to Europe, but I have also seen 100K-125K RT redemptions in business to popular areas like MUC, LHR and AMS.
Amex has made it super easy to accumulate SkyMiles having so many cards available, but for those having had some of these cards before it is especially important to sign up for emails and read every one of them when you receive them. You might be pleasantly surprised with having a capability to receive a bonus more than once.
I have not held a card since Amex platinum did away with delta club – that was the best benefit. The miles are worth little in some markets IMO
Huh? Amex Platinum + Delta Boarding Pass = Delta SkyClub access.
Thought about pulling the trigger on the Biz Delta, but may reconsider next year if switching back to Delta and will need MQM then.
So one could in theory receive 180000 miles from successfully obtaining all the AMEX Delta cards.
More if you waited for increased offers.
I never had the Platinum Delta Skymiles card, so I might as well get it now with the increased bonus and make the best of it for the nexte hour. And, while Skymiles have disadvantages, so do other miles, but Skymiles don’t expire.
Great info. Nice to know. I agree it can make more sense to have SPG Amex vs other Delta cards just for the point transfer flexibility. Especially if you only fly on redemptions
Had the Delta Gold, but hard to justify holding on to it over an SPG card with Amex’s credit card limits. Will probably try for the Platinum in the future.
I was just looking into SkyMiles again. Good to know I can build up miles quickly if needed.
Great info. I had no idea you could do this. Thanks!
I promise I won’t mention it again! – 🙂 – but it looks like Thomas directly above is having the same problem replying directly to comments that I’ve mentioned. Good luck rooting the problem out.
*all of my AmEx card accounts were “credit cards”, not “charge cards”. Maybe that’s the difference?
Howie, I can’t seem to reply directly to the comment above, but I was told last month by several reps that I could only have 5 AmEx cards, total, peronal & biz. At the time, I had 7 open cards, due to 3 Hiton cards converting from Citi, however, in order to open the Aspire card I wanted, I had to close 3 of my existing card accounts to get down to 4; the Aspire card making 5, which it has always been my experience, is the max.
Thanks for the info! This is a great advice to Stacking MQMs.
Love the ideas!
So… what if you have a card that you didn’t get a bonus for, because you, um, were stupid and upgraded instead of applying for a new card. If you got rid of that card at some point, could you apply some day and get a bonus?
Also, I agree that Delta is awful for domestic travel. Every time I check the point value is close to 1%. Even earning at 1.4x with the $25k mileage bonuses, that’s pretty bad. But I have been doing quite a bit better. I live in a small town and still have been able to get 70k miles one-way business class to europe the past couple years. That’s around a 5% total return on Delta spend. Plus the companion tickets.
You’re out of luck 🙁
I personally have found Delta skymiles extremely difficult to use out of DFW and I am able to be very flexible as far as when I can travel. In fact the flights I used Delta miles on I had to pay a ridiculous amount of miles.
Howie help me with that definition, I pay everything off so usually don’t pay attention to that. The 9 are: Premiere Rewards Gold, Biz Gold Rewards, Biz Platinum, SPG Biz, Delta Plat personal, Delta Plat Biz, Delta Gold Biz, Everyday Preferred and Hilton Ascend. Thanks.
Card # 1,2,3 are charge cards, the rest are credit cards 🙂
That is a lot of Amex cards!
Thanks. That was going to be my next move after the full 2 months went by. At this point I just want others to be aware that Amex customer service isn’t what it used to be. And I’ve been a client of theirs for 20 years, including other business and personal cards.
@Ken I had a terrible experience getting my points as well. I talked to Amex many, many times (and Delta) because I was going to hit gold when the points hit and we were leaving for Asia the following month. I really wanted the gold. What they said is that they do not control when Delta applies the points. Amex communicates to Delta about the spend, and then it’s up to Delta to apply points. I found out Amex cannot expedite anything with points unless MRs. They suggested I harass Delta but that didn’t work either. If I recall correctly, your statement has to close and then they will be applied in 2 weeks which may be any day for you. I was on pins and needles for a month waiting. We got the points and received gold status the week before we left. If you haven’t called Delta, I think they may be able to help define when they will be applied –
I called 3 times and no one at AmEx was able to find the 2 prior gold delta cards and 2 Delta business gold cards I had in 2013. So I applied and now hoping for bonus after the spend completes. Here’s hoping!
I don’t think this is accurate. I currently have nine cards. When I got the second Delta Platinum last November, Amex called me and told me I was at my limit and if I wanted to be approved, I needed to close one (I closed my SPG personal and kept the biz).
9 *credit* cards or 9 *credit* + *charge* cards?
How do you know if you’ve had the product before you apply if you haven’t kept track of it previously?
You can call American Express and ask. Anyone that has had credit cards in the past 20 years can easily lose track as goals and financial commitments change over time.
By all means, go for this. All the legacy airlines keep devaluing their miles, but you can still get deals using their partners and off-season requirements are still low. I just booked OW from FLL to OPO (Porto, Portugal) on United for 30K by traveling mid-week. Not bad at all since for years the standard OW to Europe has hovered around 25K miles. I’ve also used DL Skymiles for flying to Canada on their regional jet partners and have gotten flights as low as 12,500 miles from FLL to YUL (Montreal). I say this card is worth having, especially since AMEX waives the 1st year $95AF!
Looks like the personal Reserve link goes to the Sapphire card. I don’t think it’s available any longer. Had no idea about the MQMs for those – no one ever talks about them…
The link goes to an expired-offer page as we don’t have a direct link for the card.
I had a personal Amex Delta card previously and received a business one in November. I made the $3,000 spending requirement and made a purchase directly on Delta.com so should have received 60,000 bonus miles and a $50 statement credit. Neither posted automatically so I called. Unlike in the past, the phone reps can’t issue bonuses and told me it would be escalated and taken care of in a week. When I called back a week later I was told it’d take 2 weeks. After 3 weeks I called and talked with a supervisor. He said the escalation process takes up to 2 months. It’s now been 6 weeks and still no bonus miles or $50 credit.
Amex used to have the best customer service. Now it’s complete crap. Even though all the reps and supervisor agree I’m entitled to the bonuses, none can do anything about it. I had hoped to use the miles for a flight award. Because of how long it’s taken, award tickets are no longer available. Amex doesn’t respond to social media posts and there’s no one with any authority to solve my problem who I can contact directly. I have no faith the matter will be resolved after 2 months and expect to get another BS runaround.
Ken, this experience simply sucks. Perhaps try reaching out to the executive offices? https://consumerist.com/2007/10/17/reach-american-express-executive-customer-service/
Thanks for the Delta miles update!!
Keep in mind that with American Express, you can only have 5 Amex cards open at one time (business and personal total). In my case I had five (5) when I applied and was rejected for the Gold Sky Miles AMEX card. When I closed a credit card account I was immediately accepted.
This *may* not be current — I’ve seen some data points indicating 6 is the new number, but not enough to be 100% convinced. However, yes, that is something you need to keep in mind if you have a diverse portfolio — you’ve got to limit the diversity with Amex.
“You are eligible for the welcome bonuses on any Delta Amex card you don’t currently hold or haven’t held in the past.” – This is true if the card offer terms contain the ‘once per lifetime’ language.
I, and many others have been receiving targeted offers for DL cards held previously without the ‘once per lifetime’ language, and there is a good deal of anecdotal evidence that folks are getting approved and receiving the bonus again through such targeted offers for DL cards they’ve held before. Doctor of Credit just wrote a good piece on this phenomenon, in the last week or so.
This is great! I love the idea of stacking up companion fares
How do you get targeted offers from AMEX?
I have aFICO score 827, 16 years AMEX Hilton and never get targeted offers.
Make sure you are signed up for the Delta SkyMiles account first. They target everyone with a SkyMiles amount.
Been looking at these big offers but had one type of card a few years ago. Glad to see I can just choose a different type and get a bonus.
Thanks for clarifying this. I agree the wording on the AMEX site isn’t very clear.
Great to know. Thanks
Thank you. Do you know if the companion certificates are in paper form or a code, or if they are tied to using your card to redeem?
They’re electronic certificates visible in your Delta “wallet” at delta.com.
No desire to regularly fly Delta, but the sign up bonuses from 2 Delta cards helped me get to Asia and back in business class.
Was a few thousand short and transferred regular MR points to cover the difference.
I’m going to try for the platinum card! Thanks for the info!
Not keen on amassing SkyMiles, but these bonuses can definitely help for points diversification purposes.
Thanks for the help!
Great info thanks! Though Delta’s miles are devalued often, there is nothing wrong with getting 60-70K miles for reaching doable spending requirements.
Great to know. I’m in the process of applying for my first one.