# 1st bag free on Delta with Delta AMEX



## Ken555 (May 5, 2010)

Starting June 1st, SkyMiles Credit Cardmembers may check their first bag free.



> We're excited to introduce an exclusive Cardmember benefit that will send those bag fees packing.
> 
> Beginning June 1st, travelers with a Gold, Platinum or Reserve Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express — and up to eight travel companions — may check their first bag for free on Delta and Delta Connection® flights.
> 
> That's a savings of up to $50 on a round-trip ticket or $200 for a family of four every time you travel.


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## hajjah (May 5, 2010)

Yep!  I just got the email from Delta.  This is great, but it should never have come to customers paying $23.00 for the first bag, or any bag.  I get to take two bags for free at 70 lbs each.  If someone is flying with me, I usually check one bag and let them check the second.  I guess Delta has been losing customers.


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## bryanphunter (May 5, 2010)

Just got the Email as well.  Finally a small token of appreciation for the "regular" customer.   I often pay a little more for Delta on my flights out of MSP just to get my FF miles.  Saving $50 round trip on luggage will make things a wash in the long run for me.


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## K2Quick (May 5, 2010)

I really hate Delta's frequent flyer program and normally wouldn't consider a credit card linked to Delta's pig-of-a-FF-program.  However, that's a really good benefit.  That's a $150 a year savings for my small family assuming one trip per year.


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## JeffW (May 5, 2010)

FYI I know at least Continental has had this for a while.  I got a OnePass Mastercard last Fall specific to avoid the baggage fees for a family of four to Hawaii.  The annual fee for the card (even I used it for nothing else) more than covered the cost of the baggage fees.

Jeff


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## hajjah (May 6, 2010)

I must say that Delta's ff program works so much better for me.  We relocated from the north east about 2 years ago where Continental was our major airline.  I have about 35,000 miles with CO and can't seem to get a flight using those miles.  I can always get ff seats on Delta at any time of the year to any location.  CO takes more planning and advance booking.  If I use the miles for a trip to Hawaii this summer, it will require 40,000 miles.  Well, there are never seats available.  I keep checking daily.  For CO, it is so time consuming.


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## Carolinian (May 6, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> Just got the Email as well.  Finally a small token of appreciation for the "regular" customer.   I often pay a little more for Delta on my flights out of MSP just to get my FF miles.  Saving $50 round trip on luggage will make things a wash in the long run for me.



Why would you pay extra to fly DL to get their ff miles, which are worth far less than those of any other airline?


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## Carolinian (May 6, 2010)

hajjah said:


> I must say that Delta's ff program works so much better for me.  We relocated from the north east about 2 years ago where Continental was our major airline.  I have about 35,000 miles with CO and can't seem to get a flight using those miles.  I can always get ff seats on Delta at any time of the year to any location.  CO takes more planning and advance booking.  If I use the miles for a trip to Hawaii this summer, it will require 40,000 miles.  Well, there are never seats available.  I keep checking daily.  For CO, it is so time consuming.



Your experience is TOTALLY differenct from all these folks on FlyerTalk:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...onsider-stingiest-allocating-award-seats.html

As to CO, they used to be known as NonePass.  However, now that they have joined *A, they are MUCH better for redemption than DL.


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## Lloydwa1 (May 6, 2010)

*FF--1st Bag Free*

Thanks all of the above. This thread was why I'm visiting this site today.
I'm in the process of trying to decide if I should activate my recently received CO One Pass credit cards. The 1st bag free thing and receiving double miles for some purchases got me to wondering if I should change from our Wells Fargo card. The WF card has been great and I have not had any trouble getting FF awards. I'm a Continental, Alaska fan. If Alaska Air was a Continental Partner, I would activate my card with out further study.
I found that US Air is a partner. I would stay home or walk before ever boarding one of their planes. Every time I have flown on US, I have had a problem. Their staff and rules are the most unfriendly of any airlines I have used. I have already spent massive time trying to research the advantages or if it would be more benificial to change credit cards. Any help would be greatly appriciated.  Thanks in advance, Lloyd


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## x3 skier (May 6, 2010)

Lloydwa1 said:


> I found that US Air is a partner. I would stay home or walk before ever boarding one of their planes. Every time I have flown on US, I have had a problem. Their staff and rules are the most unfriendly of any airlines I have used.



+1. They are generally known as Useless Air for a reason. I have had past success using FF miles to the UK in Biz class on them but I have not flown US in several years after retiring since I could pick other carriers. 

Cheers


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## rickandcindy23 (May 6, 2010)

I don't think US Airways is that bad myself.  It cost us 100K miles for Hawaii RT from Denver, economy to Hawaii, and first-class back. 

What does it mean when an airline partners with another, if US Airways is partners with Delta? 

Also, I am trying to decide whether or not to renew our Delta AMEX card.  It's $95!


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## Judy (May 6, 2010)

Lloydwa1 said:


> I'm in the process of trying to decide if I should activate my recently received CO One Pass credit cards. The 1st bag free thing and receiving double miles for some purchases got me to wondering if I should change from our Wells Fargo card. ..................................... I'm a Continental, Alaska fan. If Alaska Air was a Continental Partner, I would activate my card with out further study.


Don't forget that Continental is going to merge with United.  And United doesn't give any benefits to its lowly passengers, even those with the United Visa card.


			
				Ken555 said:
			
		

> Starting June 1st, SkyMiles Credit Cardmembers may check their first bag free.


 What is Amex charging for a Gold card these days?  I gave mine up when they ended their "always double miles" program and raised their annual fee. But sometimes Delta is the only choice out of my home airport.  Delta is the airline I love to hate.  Still, if I could get a free checked bag, that would help


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## LisaRex (May 6, 2010)

This is going to save us $200 (round-trip) on our upcoming trip to Hawaii.  Great news!


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## x3 skier (May 6, 2010)

rickandcindy23 said:


> What does it mean when an airline partners with another, if US Airways is partners with Delta?



Partners in this context means that you can redeem your miles on any of the partners (sometimes) no matter where you earned them. It also means that you may book a flight on United, for example, but via the magic of "code share", you actually wind up on a USAir airplane since the same flight has a United flight number and a USAir flight number.

Useless Air is a member of the Star Alliance as is United and Continental along with numerous other foreign airlines. 

Delta is the biggest member of Sky Team along with KLM and other including Alaska (sort of).

The remaining group is one World led by American and British Airways along with others.

Cheers


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## bryanphunter (May 6, 2010)

Carolinian said:


> Why would you pay extra to fly DL to get their ff miles, which are worth far less than those of any other airline?



I said I'd pay a little more, not hundreds of dollars..... Just booked to Phoenix for a week at Sheraton Desert Oasis.  I could have flown Air Tran or American for $301 r/t.... I chose to stick with Delta for $337.   Willing to pay a little more to keep the FF miles.   It allows me to fly first class to Hawaii every year.


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## dougp26364 (May 6, 2010)

It never pays to say never. While I have a deep seated hatered over the way AE's customer service treated me almost 20 years ago, this is a benefit we'd use. I hate Delta's FF program but, we fly only 3 to 6 times per year. So price does matter to me and Delta is often one of the cheapest flights. If I can save the baggage fee's by holding this card, then I might have to swallow hard and take the AE card after years of swearing I wouldn't do it. I guess I can be bought by benefits and money savings over poor customer service and hard feelings.

Thanks for posting this information. I'm going to look into it as it will probably benefit us more than it costs us to carry the AE card.


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## Carolinian (May 7, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> I said I'd pay a little more, not hundreds of dollars..... Just booked to Phoenix for a week at Sheraton Desert Oasis.  I could have flown Air Tran or American for $301 r/t.... I chose to stick with Delta for $337.   Willing to pay a little more to keep the FF miles.   It allows me to fly first class to Hawaii every year.



The kicker is that AA miles are far more valuable than DL miles.  I would be happy, if there was a way to do it, to exchange the DL miles that my old NW miles were involuntarily converted to (talk about being turned into a pumpkin!) for half as many AA miles.  Or for that matter one fourth as many BMI miles.

In your case, however, you cite the one route where DL might make a little sense.  Unlike most international routes and increasing numbers of domestic routes, availibility at the low milage level still seems ok at DL to Hawaii.  

If you are keeping DL miles for elite status, you should look into comping your elite status to another airline.  When the DL Borg assimilated NW, I comped over to CO with no problem.  Many other NW flyers comped over to UA.  AA does not comp status, but will allow you to do a ''challenge'' which if you time it right amounts to much the same thing.


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## Carolinian (May 7, 2010)

Judy said:


> Don't forget that Continental is going to merge with United.  And United doesn't give any benefits to its lowly passengers, even those with the United Visa card.
> What is Amex charging for a Gold card these days?  I gave mine up when they ended their "always double miles" program and raised their annual fee. But sometimes Delta is the only choice out of my home airport.  Delta is the airline I love to hate.  Still, if I could get a free checked bag, that would help



The CO merger is still murky as to impact on ff programs.  The CEO will be from CO not UA, which is a positive step.  It is not yet certain which side will be running the ff program, but I am keeping my fingers crossed it will be CO.  If it is the UA side, then there is a big danger of *net blocking in the combined program, which is a far more significant issue than bag fee wavers.

The AMEX card used to be a great deal back in the days that DL still had a decent ff program and AMEX had the always double miles on lots of things.  Both of those days have passed.  It still has one benefit other than the bag fee waiver, which is a $25 day pass at DL airport lounges and I think also at some other airline lounges.


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## bryanphunter (May 7, 2010)

Carolinian said:


> In your case, however, you cite the one route where DL might make a little sense.  Unlike most international routes and increasing numbers of domestic routes, availibility at the low milage level still seems ok at DL to Hawaii.
> 
> If you are keeping DL miles for elite status, you should look into comping your elite status to another airline.  When the DL Borg assimilated NW, I comped over to CO with no problem.  Many other NW flyers comped over to UA.  AA does not comp status, but will allow you to do a ''challenge'' which if you time it right amounts to much the same thing.



Living close to Minneapolis reduces my options.  Yes... I was much happier with NW, and was saddened with the merger.  But it is what it is and I am trying to make the most of it.   Using my AMEX for every purchase possible and trying to fly Delta when it makes sense is getting me enough miles to fly first class to Hawaii...... The roughly $1600 to $2000 saved with those two tickets has made things more palatable.  

We'll see how the whole free companion ticket thing goes.  I'm hoping to use those to get to florida, california, and/or Arizona on the cheap.  We'll see.... my first anniversary with the AMEX is this month.

Thanks for the info on comping with other airlines.  I have joined the flyertalk forum and intend on learning how I can make the most of the flawed FF system.


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## x3 skier (May 7, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> Thanks for the info on comping with other airlines.  I have joined the flyertalk forum and intend on learning how I can make the most of the flawed FF system.



AA has one of the better ways to gain status quick with their Challenge system. If you are going to fly a number of flights in a short period, ask for a challenge where you can gain status with fewer than normal miles/segments. It is only good once (you can try again after a year elapses). This wiki has some good descriptions of the process http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Challenge_(AA)

Cheers


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## K2Quick (May 7, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> We'll see how the whole free companion ticket thing goes.



Tell me more about the free companion ticket.


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## Carolinian (May 7, 2010)

K2Quick said:


> Tell me more about the free companion ticket.



You might want to do a search about that in the DL forum on flyertalk.  From my recollection, that was not working very well for many people.


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## dougp26364 (May 7, 2010)

Ken555 said:


> Starting June 1st, SkyMiles Credit Cardmembers may check their first bag free.



Having gone to the Delta website I'm not seeing this deal. Only the $95 fee and up to 25,000 miles. I guess Delta hasn't updated it's web site. Of course, I attempted several times to add my FF # to one of our flights and couldn't manage to get the website to do that simple function and, they've changed the flight times on one of our flights to where we'll have to time travel to make a connection. Nothing like great service from an airline to give you that warm fuzzy feeling that they really care.


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## rickandcindy23 (May 7, 2010)

The best new card for FF miles is definitely the Capital One Venture card.  They give double miles for every purchase, no limitations at all, not just for a few months.  You book whatever the best deal is on airfare, and they rebate you back, so 20K miles is $200 toward your ticket, but you only need to spend $10K to get the 20K miles.  It's a winner deal for us, that's for sure!  

That will be our new card for all of our purchases.  We spend quite a bit per year on CC's, because we own a business with a lot of expenses.  I am quite excited about this particular card and am anxious to get the thing in the mail.   

Discover has the same kind of thing....


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## dougp26364 (May 7, 2010)

I've gone to both the AMEX and Delta websites and find no mention of this new benefit. Perhaps it will show up online after June 1st.


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## Judy (May 7, 2010)

Carolinian said:


> It is not yet certain which side will be running the ff program, but I am keeping my fingers crossed it will be CO.  If it is the UA side, then there is a big danger of *net blocking in the combined program, which is a far more significant issue than bag fee wavers.


Showing my ignorance here   What's *net blocking?


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## bryanphunter (May 7, 2010)

K2Quick said:


> Tell me more about the free companion ticket.



Delta AMEX Gold agreement states....."Companion certificate valid for one $99 round-trip Coach-Class companion ticket with the purchase of certain adult round-trip fares on published routings within the 48 contiguous United States."

Delta Amex Platinum agreement states....."Without being subject to blackout dates and minimum fare requirements, Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Cardmembers and Delta SkyMiles® Business Platinum Cardmembers will automatically receive a complimentarydomestic companion certificate upon renewal. Annual Fee is $150.

I think the Delta Reserve Card gives you a free first class companion ticket, but the annual fee I think for that card is $450.

Companion Tickets come upon renewal of the card and must be used within one year.


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## x3 skier (May 7, 2010)

Judy said:


> Showing my ignorance here   What's *net blocking?



*Net and *A are shorthand for Star Alliance. United and USAir are the two of the bigger members.

Since I only use AA and DL I think that United blocks any visibility into available FF Seats on their partners when you go to United's site. I know DL does not do that and I think neither does AA. What it means is if United has no seats to London for example and Useless Air does, United's site will show no seats, making you go to Useless Air's site to check even though you could book the Useless Air seats using United FF Miles.

Cheers


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## dougp26364 (May 7, 2010)

I finally found a reference to the first bag free somewhere other than TUG. I'm still going to wait to see the offer in writing and, so far I haven't found that either at the Amex or Delta websites. 
http://consumerist.com/2010/05/delt...t-checked-bag-if-you-use-their-amex-card.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-ap-us-delta-bag-fees,0,5239557.story


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## Ken555 (May 7, 2010)

rickandcindy23 said:


> The best new card for FF miles is definitely the Capital One Venture card.  They give double miles for every purchase, no limitations at all, not just for a few months.  You book whatever the best deal is on airfare, and they rebate you back, so 20K miles is $200 toward your ticket, but you only need to spend $10K to get the 20K miles.  It's a winner deal for us, that's for sure!
> 
> That will be our new card for all of our purchases.  We spend quite a bit per year on CC's, because we own a business with a lot of expenses.  I am quite excited about this particular card and am anxious to get the thing in the mail.
> 
> Discover has the same kind of thing....



This seems to make some sense to me if you get low cost flights. But it doesn't work for business or first class, especially overseas travel. I like to spend most of my miles for business class international flights which would cost anywhere from 5-10k. If I switched to this card, I'd need 500,000-1,000,000 points (their website says just add 2 zeros to find out. How many points are needed). So even at 2 points per $1 I'd need to spend 250,000-500,000 to get one flight which would be 90,000-150,000 miles on a ffp.


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## NWL (May 7, 2010)

dougp26364 said:


> I've gone to both the AMEX and Delta websites and find no mention of this new benefit. Perhaps it will show up online after June 1st.



The quote in the OP did mention it was good for Gold, Platinum, etc.  Might you have a card below Gold?  That would possibly explain why you don't see the offer.

Cheers!


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## dougp26364 (May 8, 2010)

NWL said:


> The quote in the OP did mention it was good for Gold, Platinum, etc.  Might you have a card below Gold?  That would possibly explain why you don't see the offer.
> 
> Cheers!



I don't have an AmEx card at all. Their customer service put me off of carrying the card close to 20 years ago. I was considering taking a card out again if I could find this benefit in writing. The card agreements I was looking at were Gold and Platinum. The benefit wasn't mentioned on either the Delta or AmEx web sites. 

One article mentions that this benefit might bleed over to other airlines credit cards. I certainly hope it does. I would prefer to not fly Delta at this point in time and I certainly don't want to carry an AmEx card unless I have to. IMHO, Delta and AmEx deserve each other. 

It's not necessarily an issue with flying Delta so much as it's almost impossible for me to find a FF ticket at the saver rates of 25,000 miles. I can find FF tickets on just about any other carrier for 25,000 mile but with Delta it's fast becoming a lost cause. Because of that, I'll fly American, United and Frontier if the fares are comparable before flying Delta. 

FWIW, this past year we flew Delta 3 or 4 times. I have two additional flights booked on Delta before I found out just how impossible it is to get FF tickets at the 25,000 mile rate. Since then I've booked with AA and Frontier. Both are to Florida airports that we'd normally have booked with Delta. The routes and/or flight times are necassarily as good as Delta's but, the FF programs are a little better for us and the fare's were comparible.


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## GregGH (May 8, 2010)

Being so close to Detroit  we used NWA a lot -- and liked them -- but I am really starting to dislike Delta after the merger/takeover.  If I can - I will fly something other than Delta.

Greg


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## Carolinian (May 9, 2010)

Judy said:


> Showing my ignorance here   What's *net blocking?



*A is a term used for Star Alliance, to which UA belongs. *Net is a term for StarNet, the system by which airlines within *A provide availible ff inventory to their partners.  CO and US then make anything that is on *Net availible to their ff members as partner flights.  UA does not, but on the contrary very often blocks its ff members from being able to use their miles for partner flights that show as availible on *Net.  This seems to be worse with TATL (trans-Atlantic) and intra-Europe flights, particularly on Lufthansa and Swiss.  This can create a real problem if you are flying to or from a destination in Europe that is not directly served by UA, as the necessary partner flight to get there is probably not going to be availible from UA even thought it would be availible if you were using miles on a different *A partner.

The only airline I am aware of that makes *Net info directly accessable to their ff members is ANA, so many *A ff'ers get an ff account there to have access to that tool even if they never fly ANA.  The rampant refusal of UA to ticket flights that were showing availible on the ANA tool, which could then easily be booked through other *A partners had long been noted by FlyerTalkers.  Finally a UA official admitted to a Washington Times travel writer that UA did in fact block *Net availibility to its ff'ers.

The only other airline that has engaged in such blocking was a period of a number of months when DL blocked virturally all access to award flights on Air France, although those flights were still readily availible on then SkyTeam alliance carriers NW and CO.  That was a couple of years ago and has not been repeated since, but DL being DL, who knows what they may do in the future that is adverse to customers.


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## cindi (May 9, 2010)

http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/baggage/checked/first_bag_free.jsp


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## K2Quick (May 22, 2010)

I pulled the trigger on this card today.  I get 25k after my first purchase and another 25k if I spend $10k in the first six months.  It's fee free for the first year and I'm non-committal about anything longer than that.  After those first six months are up, though, it's definitely back to the Starwood card for me.  If nothing else, this opens up pay-with-miles since it's darned near impossible to find low mileage flights with Delta that fly when I want to fly (never had that problem with United which probably explains why I'm still sitting on a bunch of Delta miles and my United miles are gone).


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## bryanphunter (May 25, 2010)

Got my "free" companion ticket voucher in the mail yesterday.  (They arrive on the renewal anniversary date).  I have the business AMEX platinum Skymiles card.  My annual fee is $150.00

I was able to enter the voucher code and book our flight for our timeshare stay at SDO in Scottsdale.  October 22-29, 2010.

I had about 6 flights to choose from both ways.  So I thought the whole process was easy.

I had to pay tax on the ticket ($21) and no upgrades are allowed for either passenger.  The companion flyer earns no miles for the trip.  The travel for the voucher is good for 12 months.

Total cost Minneapolis to Phoenix was $310.00.   Pretty good price for two.  The average fare to PHX had just dropped from the $400 range down to $300 over the past week.

So I saved about $150 dollars after factoring the yearly card fee.


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## JeffW (May 25, 2010)

The Gold AMEX card is $85-$95 annual fee, and it's companion certificate has a $99 'co-pay'.  If you'd use the certificate every year, then the extra $55-$65 annual fee to move up the the DL Platinum AMEX card more than recoups the $99, since the companion ticket with it is $0 (plus taxes).

My parents and I were able to use ours (both expiring June 30) for a trip to Scottsdale next month.  My Platinum voucher got me tickets from PHL for $391; for my father with a Gold voucher, $518 (his ticket price went up after I bought mine).  Downside was in order to line up with our Fri-Fri timeshare exchange, we had to fly into Tucson instead, there were no available flights into Phoenix.

And even if you don't use the companion voucher, you'll recoop the annual fee after you would have paid to check in 4 bags.  

Jeff


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## bryanphunter (May 25, 2010)

I totally agree with your post JeffW.  My wife and I each got seperate cards so we can get 2 companion vouchers per year.  We tend to take two stateside vacations per year.

Getting the perk of no cost with baggage make having the platinum AMEX card even a better deal.  

Granted the whole FF system is not what it used to be.  But you might as well try to get what you can out of the system.

Be prepared for some HOT HOT weather in June!


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## Carolinian (May 25, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> I totally agree with your post JeffW.  My wife and I each got seperate cards so we can get 2 companion vouchers per year.  We tend to take two stateside vacations per year.
> 
> Getting the perk of no cost with baggage make having the platinum AMEX card even a better deal.
> 
> ...



The best way to get something out of the system is to find an airline where your miles are worth something.  I still get 2 cents or better out of my AA, UA, and CO miles, as I did from my old NW miles.  Now that the last have turned into a pumpkin, DL miles, they are worth at best 1 cent per mile.  My best return is on my BMI miles, where I have averaged over 8 cents per mile, all on coach seats.  With BMI I can virtually always find seats at the basic low milage rate and for popular times.  BMI is the opposite end of the ff spectrum from DL.  A TATL ticket with BMI is 45K miles and you can usually find one and at that rate.  DL starts at 60K and most of the year, be prepared to really pay 120-150K if you can find one.


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## JeffW (May 25, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> I totally agree with your post JeffW.  My wife and I each got seperate cards so we can get 2 companion vouchers per year.  We tend to take two stateside vacations per year...



For other people that might think about getting multiple cards, you might consider staggering the card application dates.  I have two cards myself: one with a voucher that expires 6/30, the other 8/31.  While I had two vouchers I could use thru the end of June (which I did use), I don't have anything currently I can use to book something 9/1 or later.  

I talked to AMEX about this (best you can when dealing with customer support over email), the voucher dates are tied to your card anniversay date, which you can't change.  I'd much prefer to have vouchers that are 6 months apart, that way I'd always have a voucher that's good at least 6 months into the future.

One thing I'll have to check this year is when the vouchers show up electronically in your profile in delta.com.  Unfortunately I think there's a gap between when a previous voucher expires, and when a new one is received.  

Jeff


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## Timeshare Von (May 28, 2010)

Carolinian said:


> You might want to do a search about that in the DL forum on flyertalk.  From my recollection, that was not working very well for many people.



This is my fear as I come close to my renewal with my AmExp Plat that I got last summer.  I will probably dump the card as that feature was one that sold me on the more expensive card.  (I hate paying annual fees for the right to spend money on a credit card.)


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## Timeshare Von (May 28, 2010)

bryanphunter said:


> Got my "free" companion ticket voucher in the mail yesterday.  (They arrive on the renewal anniversary date).  I have the business AMEX platinum Skymiles card.  My annual fee is $150.00
> 
> I was able to enter the voucher code and book our flight for our timeshare stay at SDO in Scottsdale.  October 22-29, 2010.
> 
> ...



This is good to know - somewhat reassuring!  Thanks.


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## Carolinian (Jun 1, 2010)

I was just reading the details on PGary's great FreeFrequentFlyerMiless site of a DEBIT card from Chase that offers first bag free on Continetal, with an annual fee of $25.  Apparently this is a special offer and you have to sign up by June 30.  It also earns miles from purchases.  Oh, and the sign up bonus on the debit card is 10K miles. This would appear to beat the pants off the the DL/AMEX deal.


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