Delta and American Express refreshed the welcome offers on six of their seven co-branded SkyMiles cards on November 5, 2026, the day after the previous round of offers expired. The headline is the personal Delta SkyMiles Reserve card: as high as 125,000 bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases in the first six months — two and a half times the miles on half the spend of the offer it replaces.

But the refresh cuts both ways. The two round-trip Delta Comfort flight certificates that were the centerpiece of the old Reserve offer are gone, the $250 and $300 statement credits on the Gold and Platinum cards have vanished, and every business card is worse than the offer that ended November 4 — the Reserve Business drops from 200,000 miles to 125,000.

Every new offer is an "as high as" offer: the number Amex shows you depends on the applicant, and you find out your offer only when you apply. The 125,000-mile figure is the ceiling, not a promise.

Exact offer and eligibility

• Delta SkyMiles Reserve (personal): as high as 125,000 bonus miles after $5,000 in eligible purchases in the first 6 months of card membership. $650 annual fee.
• Delta SkyMiles Platinum: as high as 90,000 bonus miles after $3,000 in eligible purchases in the first 6 months. $350 annual fee.
• Delta SkyMiles Gold: as high as 80,000 bonus miles after $2,000 in eligible purchases in the first 6 months. $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.
• Delta SkyMiles Blue: 10,000 bonus miles after $1,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. No annual fee. This offer is unchanged from the previous round.
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business: as high as 125,000 bonus miles after $15,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. $650 annual fee.
• Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business: as high as 100,000 bonus miles after $10,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. $350 annual fee.
• Delta SkyMiles Gold Business: as high as 85,000 bonus miles after $6,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.
• End date: Amex has published no end date for the new offers. The previous offers all ended November 4, 2026.
• Eligibility: Amex's once-per-lifetime rule applies to each card — if you have ever earned a welcome bonus on that card, you cannot earn another. On the personal cards, a family rule also applies: holding or having held a higher-tier Delta personal card can make you ineligible for a bonus on a lower-tier personal card. The business cards are not subject to the family rule.
• Status: bonus miles do not count toward Medallion status. The Platinum and Reserve cards include a $2,500 MQD Headstart each Medallion Qualification Year, plus MQD Boost — $1 MQD per $20 spent on Platinum, $1 per $10 on Reserve. Silver Medallion requires $5,000 MQDs.
• Ongoing perks: all three premium personal cards include TakeOff 15 — 15% off Delta award flights booked with miles. Reserve includes 15 Delta Sky Club visits per year (unlimited after $75,000 in annual card spend), four one-time guest passes, Centurion Lounge access when you book a Delta flight with the card, a companion certificate after each renewal, a $240 Resy credit, a $120 rideshare credit, and a $200 Delta Stays credit. Gold includes a $200 Delta flight credit after $10,000 in annual card spend, a $120 rideshare credit after the first renewal, a $100 Delta Stays credit, and a free first and second checked bag on domestic Delta flights.

The math: the personal cards got cheaper, the business cards got worse

Measured in bonus miles per dollar of required spend, the personal Gold card is the best deal in the lineup at 40 miles per dollar (80,000 miles for $2,000), followed by Platinum at 30 (90,000 for $3,000) and the personal Reserve at 25 (125,000 for $5,000). The business cards trail badly: Gold Business earns 14.2 miles per dollar, Platinum Business 10, and Reserve Business just 8.3.

At 1.2 cents per SkyMile, the personal Reserve bonus is worth $1,500, plus at least 5,000 miles earned on the $5,000 spend itself — a total haul of about 130,000 miles, or roughly $1,560, against a $650 annual fee. The Gold card's 80,000 miles are worth about $960, plus at least 2,000 miles on the spend, with no fee in year one. Platinum's 90,000 miles are worth about $1,080, plus at least 3,000 miles on the spend, against a $350 fee. The Reserve Business bonus is worth the same $1,500 as the personal Reserve, plus at least 15,000 miles on the spend, against the same $650 fee — but it demands three times the spend to get there.

The comparison with the offers that ended November 4 is where the story splits. On the personal side, the miles went up and the spend went down — but the cash-equivalent extras disappeared. The old Gold offer paid the same 80,000 miles plus a $250 statement credit for $3,000 in spend; the old Platinum paid the same 90,000 miles plus a $300 statement credit for $4,000. If you could meet the old spend anyway, the old offers were worth $250 and $300 more, respectively. The old Reserve offer paid 50,000 miles plus two round-trip Delta Comfort flight certificates for $10,000 in spend. The new offer pays 75,000 more miles for half the spend, but the certificates — the reason many frequent Delta flyers took the old offer — are gone entirely.

On the business side there is no silver lining. Reserve Business falls from 200,000 miles after $20,000 in spend to 125,000 after $15,000 — 75,000 fewer miles, a 37.5% cut, worth about $900 at 1.2 cents per mile, in exchange for $5,000 less required spend. Platinum Business keeps its 100,000 miles but the spend requirement rises from $8,000 to $10,000. Gold Business keeps its $6,000 spend requirement but the bonus falls from 90,000 miles to 85,000.

One more limit on the headline: Delta prices awards dynamically, so 125,000 miles buys fewer seats on peak and premium routes than on off-peak domestic ones. TakeOff 15 helps — 15% off Delta award flights — but it does not change the fact that SkyMiles are worth what Delta's award calendar says they are worth on the day you book.

Who benefits—and who should skip it

The personal Reserve is for the frequent Delta flyer who will use the lounge. Fifteen Sky Club visits a year, four guest passes, Centurion Lounge access, and a companion certificate after renewal are the fee's real justification; the 125,000 miles are the sweetener. The 125,000-mile figure also matches the highest mileage bonus the card has offered, and the $5,000 spend requirement is $1,000 lower than the previous 125,000-mile offer's lowest spend.

The personal Gold is for the occasional Delta flyer. Forty miles per dollar of required spend is the best ratio in the lineup, there is no fee in year one, and the $200 flight credit after $10,000 in annual spend plus the free first and second checked bags cover the $150 fee from year two for anyone who flies Delta a few times a year.

Business owners should skip this round. Every business card is worse than the offer that ended November 4, and the Reserve Business is dramatically worse — 75,000 fewer miles. If you missed the 200,000-mile offer, the new 125,000 is a poor substitute, and waiting for a better round costs nothing.

Skip it if you already earned the bonus. Amex's once-per-lifetime rule means a second bonus on the same card is off the table, and the personal-card family rule can block a bonus on a lower-tier card if you hold or held a higher-tier one. And skip it if the two Comfort certificates or the statement credits were what made the old offers attractive to you — neither survives in the new round.

Awardtrail analysis

This is a genuine improvement on the personal side and a quiet cut on the business side, and the headline hides both. The personal Reserve at 125,000 miles for $5,000 in spend is the best Reserve miles offer Amex has put out at this spend level, and the personal Gold at 40 miles per dollar is the strongest value in the whole lineup. But the vanished statement credits mean the Gold and Platinum offers are worth less than their predecessors to anyone who could have met the old spend, and the business cards are simply worse across the board.

Before applying, check the offer Amex actually shows you — the headline is a ceiling, and applicants are routinely shown less. Confirm the bonus, the spend, and the six-month window on the application page before you accept, and do not spend extra just to chase the bonus. If Delta is your airline and you can meet the spend with purchases you were already going to make, the personal Reserve or Gold is worth taking now. If you run a business, wait.

Primary source: American Express — Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card

Verified: November 6, 2026