Delta Skymiles Windfall
Am I seriously talking about Skypesos right now? Who cares about those horrid things! Yes, I am in fact talking about my recent Delta Skymiles windfall. One that netted me 170,000 miles, worth at least $1700, over the last 6 months. And I did it all without earning a welcome offer too! Even if you don't care about Skymiles, this is something that you should be trying to replicate where you can. It takes a lot of luck for sure, but it is something that is possible to recreate in pieces at least. All of this involves my Delta Reserve card, which was actually my Delta Platinum card, but we'll get into all of that. I'll go over how I got to this larger number in under six months, and how you can try to do something similar.
Upgrade Offer: 40,000 Delta Skymiles
As I said above, I originally had a Delta Platinum personal card. I was using this card to help maintain my Delta status over the past few years. The MQD waiver, after $25,000 in spend each year, was a big perk of the card. The MQM bonus was another reason I kept the card over the years. The Platinum card also had a better spending structure compared to the Reserve card, so it was my Delta credit card option of choice.
All of that changed late last year when Delta decided to nerf that whole status line up. The changes made their entire lineup of cards unenticing to me going forward. Which meant I had planned to cancel my Delta Platinum card when the annual fee hit early in 2024. That was until they offered me a 40,000 Delta Skymiles upgrade offer for the Delta Reserve card. It was tempting, especially since I had already carried the Reserve card in the past and this would not negate a future welcome offer for me.
I went back and forth a bit on it, but decided to accept the offer. The deciding factor was that I hypothesized that I could double dip the MQM boost for both cards with the upgrade offer. If it worked as planned I would end up reaching the next tier of status. Spoiler alert, it failed miserably. It did end up being the best miscalculation in my miles and points life though. Taking the upgrade offer netted me 40,000 Skymiles, and I figured that was it. Boy, was I wrong.
Retention Offer: 90,000 Delta Skymiles
Last month the annual fee hit for the Delta Reserve card, which was my old Delta Platinum card anniversary. I couldn't close the account, because I was only 4 months or so into my upgrade offer 12 month requirement. If I had closed it then, I would have forfeited the 40,000 mile upgrade bonus. But, you can technically ask for a retention offer at any point, on any card, as long as it has been over 12 months from your initial sign up.
It had been two years since I first grabbed the Delta Platinum card, so I figured it was time to bluff a little bit and see what offers there were on the account. There was a good chance that there weren't any at all. I reached out anyway via chat and asked if there were any offers on my account. That is when I was hit with a 90K offer after $4,000 in spend that I couldn't accept fast enough.
Accepting the offer did bump out timeframe I needed to keep the card open though. I would need to keep it another 12 months from the date of accepting the retention offer. I can always downgrade it to the Delta Blue card when that time comes and recoup most of the Delta Reserve card's annual fee though.
Chalk up another 90,000 Skymiles to the good though!
Authorized User Offer: 40,000 Skymiles
While I was working on that juicy retention offer, I received another unbelievable offer for adding authorized users. The offer was for 10,000 Skymiles for every authorized user I added after they spent $500. The maximum amount of miles I could earn was 40,000, so 4 authorized users could be added. This spend would also count towards my retention offer! I maximized the offer and added another 40K in Skymiles to the total.
Delta Skymiles Windfall: ToP Thoughts
Read it and weep, my Delta Skymiles windfall was 170K Skymiles in just under 6 months. The total amount of spend required was under $10,000 in total, which netted an amazing 17x miles per dollar on that spend. The best part of it all? It required no welcome offer, hard pull or new account to rack it all up.
This is an example of how you can mine your current credit card lineup for increased rewards. While you may not hit the trifecta like I did, you can earn some authorized user bonuses on one card, a retention offer on another and maybe an upgrade offer on a third etc. You should be on the lookout for opportunities just like this on every account you have. If you hit on few of these it will help limit your credit card velocity as well.
Let me know if you have ever done something similar over in the ToP Facebook Group.
