I too will have to disagree. This was my first miles card and I’m still sitting on the miles from the sign-up bonus. Because it takes 40-50k for most round-trip domestic flights to places like LAX, JFK, or even ATL, I haven’t had much use for the miles.

I was going cancel the card before the annual fee hit, but then I caught wind of the $99 companion pass, which sounded like a great deal. That was, of course, until they added an additional $40 in “U.S. Taxes,” ON TOP OF the another $43 for “Taxes and Fees.” So really, it was a nearly $200 companion pass, and not really worth it.

There is one benefit, and that’s the free checked bag…not only for you, but also for up to 8 people you’re traveling with. That helped out quite a bit when I was traveling with 5 others on the same flight. However, if I were to fly Southwest or have the AAdvantage Platinum Select card, I would get a free checked bag on those flights as well. Nothing really unique that Delta is doing with this card.

I would advise your readers who are new to reward points/miles to skip this one and instead get the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the AAdvantage Platinum Select, or the AMEX Starwood Preferred Guest card. They have points that are either more flexible or more valuable.

A few points as there seems to be a lot of hate going on here:

Background: I’m a 21 year old college student and this was my first “miles” card (the Chase Amazon.com card was my first credit card).

#1) Everyone seems to think that *this* card is a bad choice because the Chase Sapphire is a better “starter” card.

News Flash: the sapphire preferred as well as all Visa Signature cards require a minimum $5k CL (and most will tell you that you should only attempt with a 720+).

Which leads us to:

#2) Many of the other suggested “starter cards” (eg: Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Visa Signature card, Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier card) are also visa signature cards.

The problem? Many, if not most, people that are brand new to this game and *don’t have credit or a credit history* have a very poor chance of being approved for these cards.

“That’s the minority” you say? Fine. If you assume that *most* people that want to start playing this game have:

-Great Credit History
-Make enough money to easily meet the minimum CLs
-ALWAYS pay off their bills, in full, every month

Then, by all means, recommend the CSP. Give them a program not tied to an airline and let them experience the thrills of transferring points and scooping out transfer bonuses.

That doesn’t sound like a *starter* card to me, but hey, whatever.

#3) I’m very glad and thankful that my first miles credit card was the Gold Delta SkyMiles card. Why?

-Redemption is simple. There is a link in my amex panel to redeem on delta.com
-The rules are easy to follow and I don’t have to transfer any points to figure out what I’m able to get out of my points
-Pretty much ANYONE has a very good chance of getting approved for it. Which, IMO is far more important then many of you FF veterans give credit.

Are the miles the most lucrative (compared to other programs)? No.

Does this card do anything particularly special that other cards don’t? No.

Is it a simple program, with a decent sign up bonus, a very easy card to get approved for, and a decent airline to be partnered with. Yes. In my opinion, yes.

Btw, Rick, I think the priority zone is 1 (http://www.delta.com/skymiles/about_skymiles/benefits_at_glance/dl_amex_credit_card/index.jsp), not 2.