Delta AmEx credit card no longer worth it?

I was not aware that a checked bag is included with the main cabin ticket, or whatever the heck it is called this week. The ticket I buy that allows me to pick my seat or change my ticket. (Unless my flight is a Codeshare with AirFrance and in that case, I have to pay to pick a seat, or if a leg of my trip is operated by Hawaiian, and in that case, I get to pay to check my luggage. . .)

You've never steered me wrong, Nancy, I'm sure you're right. Well, we'll be dropping at least one of our Delta AMEX cards.

Delta Main Classic
+$230

Free seat selection

Standard seat

Standard boarding

Free change, possible fare difference

1 free carry-on

1st checked bag free

There is another benefit if you are a member of their rewards program and your credit card is attached to your Delta Skymiles account.

When paying for a flight with miles, and your AMEX Delta card is associated with this account, you will get a 15% reduction in the number of miles needed.

We don't use it at all for purchasing anything except Delta tickets.

Why not? I have all sorts of recurring monthly bills on it, including YouTube TV.

And are you confusing international with domestic? You get one free checked bag on most international flights when you book standard economy/main cabin. Not the case for domestic flights - that’s where the free Skymiles checked bag policy applies. And supposedly no more free checked bags on Southwest?

My guess is that for many the Delta AmEx card is not worth it. But I still have one because of the 15 percent reduction in SkyMiles needed to book flights. Again, if I actually sat down and calculated the dollar value of having the card, I suspect I would find that it is less than the annual fee I pay for the card.

But the 15 percent fare reduction in SkyMiles is an incentive to travel and start planning a trip. And I love using SkyMiles to book flights because of the great flexibility provided to cancel and change flights without any penalty. The SkyMiles cost for flights on Delta's website shoots up and down. If you monitor the cost for the flight you have scheduled, you will at least once cancel your original booking and rebook for a lower cost in SkyMiles or reduced fare.

I agree with everyone and I was not happy to pay the new higher rate. I'm not sure I travel enough anymore to make it worth it. However, I went ahead and paid for another year to give me more time to consider it. I have never liked AMEX from years of having to deal with them about my work travel expenses.

Thank you, every answer helps clarify our Delta card situation, why the card used to make sense for us and why it doesn't now.

We used to fly to the east coast regularly (often with checked bags full of presents) when our parents and our son and his family lived there, making the card worth it. Now we are orphans, and son and family have moved to live near us. In the last 5 years, my husband has flown only twice domestically and with carry-on only. Me, not once. We fly to Europe once or twice a year.

We do accrue Skymiles, but rarely use them, they just sit there waiting for us to need to book a last minute expensive flight, like to a funeral. Our regular recurring expenses are on another card.

What's a bit dumb of us is that neither of us reacted immediately when the Delta card fee went way up and our taking of domestic flights went way down, didn't think through what it meant until now. We are indeed paying for checking bags internationally TWICE flying Main Cabin. I'm so glad I asked the question here --- googling and Delta's website were both amazingly unhelpful.

I think the main benefit (and it’s a big one) is the sign up bonuses these cards offer. If you checked bags domestically enough every year then the math is easy to determine if it’s worth it.

I churn a lot of credit cards to the tune of $1500 in free flights per year. I do the math after the free first year is up and it’s never worth it to me to retain the card.

I’d cancel the card. Look back to when you got your last sign up bonus, add seven years, then reapply for a new sign up bonus if seven years have past.

We currently have two Delta AMEX. The initial rationale was that my husband would get the sign up bonus. Then we kept it because it because it was a "break even" with the flight credit. The only domestic flight we do together is Hawaii, rarely Seattle. I don't think my husband has ever flown without me domestically, except for work, when his miles were retained by his employer. All that to explain, that we don't need for him to get a free bag for domestic travel. If he travels domestically, he would get free checked bags by being with me.

Now that status is only based on dollars spent, we never even get close. It was nice to get the upgrades It does irk me that the $3000 plus, that I spend on airline tickets to get my daughter home from Hawaii twice a year (and her twin sister to Hawaii for spring break) don't count toward my status, and the girls don't fly enough to benefit by the MQD.

We now have a Chase Sapphire Visa and a AAA Visa. We needed to get $5000 in 3 months to get the bonus on the Chase card. So now, that we've done that, we are working on making sure both AMEX cards get the $10,000 for the flight credit. If we weren't redoing our deck, I don't think we'd get there. The cash back benefits of the Costco, Chase and AAA far exceed anything we get with Delta AMEX purchases. And those three cards have other benefits for us, and there is no fee on the AAA and Costco cards.

We did get extremely cheap flights with skymiles to New Zealand and the 15% off added to the savings. I think the answer is to keep one Delta AMEX, to retain the domestic free bags, for the flight credit, and the 15%. We'll use the card to purchase airline tickets and then whatever we need to purchase to earn the flight credit. We'll dump my husband's AMEX and get a joint card for him on my Delta AMEX.

And, there is a reason they are called "sky pesos"

For me, the Delta Amex card was not worth the $150 fee. Every time I went to use the travel credit, the cost on Delta (as opposed to other airlines) was way more than the credit so no value there for me and eventually it expired.

I downgraded to a no fee Delta Blue Amex card which does accrue miles though it does not have all the other perqs. I need an Amex card as I travel to Japan regularly and have a Suica card on my phone. For some odd reason, it cannot be topped up using regular Visa or Master Card but can be topped up with an Amex card (or a Japanese issued MC or Visa card). Suica cards are so useful for travel in Japan (and other purchases) that having Amex works for me.

So I think it is a matter of doing the math and looking at your travel patterns to see if keeping the higher fee card is worthwhile.