Amex Delta Downgrade Bonus
This one was a bit surprising, even for me. I love myself some upgrade bonuses, at least when they line up with your credit card lineup, but I have never had a downgrade bonus before. The really strange thing is that the Amex rep never explicitly said anything about it. I discovered it reading the disclosure terms in the Amex Chat. I was half expecting this Amex Delta downgrade bonus not to post! (Spoiler alert – it already has)
Backstory For The Offer
The most amazing year I have ever had with a credit card just came to an end. Whoa, that sounds like I was having an affair with a credit card or something. Bad puns (or just wording) aside, my Delta Reserve mistake turned out to be the most rewarding year ever. So much so that I ended up racking up 250,000 Delta Skymiles! All without a welcome offer on the card, and a pretty reasonable spending requirement to boot.
The last 80,000 miles from round two of my authorized user bonus offers hit just in time too. As the massive $650 annual fee showed on my account a mere week or so later. Luckily my bonus miles had already posted, so I didn't have to worry about not getting them if I closed or product changed out of the Reserve card.
With the timing of everything, this being my second round of authorized user bonuses on the card and just being thankful for the last year's bountiful returns, I decided to downgrade instead of close the card. Since Delta offers a no fee Blue card it seemed like the perfect solution.
Amex Delta Downgrade Bonus Offer
After the standard back and forth with the Amex chat rep. You know the one where you say you understand all of the card perks and reiterate that you have your mind made up 3x. Well, after all of that was done they finally accepted defeat on my downgrade request. The likely perturbed chat rep just spat out the disclosure terms and left the chat after my acceptance of said terms. A few minutes later I double checked the disclosure and noticed the downgrade offer. I was so surprised that I even started up a new chat to double confirm it, which they did.
Offer Details
My Amex Delta downgrade bonus offer was nothing overly exciting, but it was cool to see anyway. Maybe my beloved Delta Reserve was sad to see me go after our great year together. It might have felt like I needed a parting gift after our year of immense fun together. There I go, getting all weird again about a credit card. Anyway … here are the details of the offer:
- Earn 10,000 bonus Delta Skymiles after you spend $2,500 or more on purchases on your Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card account
- The spend must be completed within 6 months of accepting the offer
There didn't appear to be any 12 month language for the downgrade offer either. Normally with an upgrade you need to keep the card open for 12 months from accepting the offer or you may forfeit the bonus.
Amex Delta Downgrade Bonus: ToP Thoughts
I know that 10,000 Delta Skymiles is nothing to get too excited about, but I love any chance to rack up bonus points. Luckily, I was able to complete the spend all in the 2x earning restaurant category. I should earn 2x miles on the purchase and then trigger 10K in bonus points. That is a return of 6x on that spend (2x on dining and 4x from the 10K bonus), which is at least 6% back. I'll take that every day and twice on Sunday!
I do wonder if downgrading to a Delta Blue card should be the plan of action for everyone going forward. You could hope for the Amex Delta downgrade bonus offer, and if you don't get it you could just close the Delta Blue card a few days later etc. Maybe a better Amex chat rep will just tell you about it up front. Something to consider at least if you have a Delta personal card you are considering closing. Now I just have to hope for a Delta Gold upgrade offer right before I need to book some flights for the 15% back in miles perk. I wouldn't put it past my beloved Delta card. (Sorry – last time!)
Let me know if you have ever received a bonus after downgrading a credit card over in the ToP Facebook Group.
