American Express, Delta unveil cards with new perks, higher fees
American Express Co. and Delta Air Lines Inc. are revamping their co-branded credit cards to offer new rewards and benefits that target both frequent fliers and everyday spenders who frequently charge meals at restaurants and trips through ride-share services.
Travelers will now be able to use companion certificates to fly outside of the continental U.S. for the first time – to Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean or Central America – as part of the refresh. Cardholders can also earn more in annual statement credits paying for meals at restaurants that use the Resy reservation system and for certain ride-share trips. Consumer Platinum card members can earn as much as $390 in annual credits, for example, while the limit is $410 for their business counterparts.
The added perks come with higher annual fees, increasing to $650 from $550 for the Delta SkyMiles American Express Reserve and Reserve Business cards, and to $350 from $250 for Platinum cards. Yearly fees for Gold cards, meanwhile, will rise to $150 from $99. While the new benefits kicked in Thursday, the fee increase won’t come for existing customers until renewal dates starting May 1, a spokesperson for New York-based Amex said.
The updates are intended to expand the card’s value proposition outside spending with Delta and at airports, “starting with booking all the way through your travel destination,” said Anthony Cirri, Amex’s executive vice president for U.S. consumer product management and lending. That’s important because consumers don’t have to change their spending behavior to benefit, he said.
The process of refreshing the cards with Delta, Amex’s largest co-brand partner, began about 18 months ago, Cirri said – long before consumers complained online about an overhaul of the airline’s SkyMiles loyalty program in September.
Delta was forced to rescind some of the changes, which included limiting the number of times that Amex Platinum and Platinum Business cardholders could access the airline’s Sky Club airport lounges, shifting awards to cash spent instead of miles flown and increasing by about 50% requirements to reach status levels.
As previously announced as part of those changes, certain cardholders will also get a “head start” of $2,500 medallion qualification dollars per card type to bring them closer to silver status at the beginning of each year.
While Cirri declined to comment on those past changes and the frustrations they caused, the latest co-branded card updates are “very rich in terms of Delta assets and Delta value,” he said. “I think that will definitely catch the attention of our card members.”