No, Amex is Not Losing Delta as a Transfer Partner

Are Transfer From Amex Membership Rewards to Delta Ending? (No!)

Last night, there was a post in one of the Amex Facebook groups claiming inside knowledge that American Express was losing Delta as a transfer partner of Membership Rewards as of August 31st. Some of the blogs picked up on this, and Loyalty Lobby even shared an image of a transfer screen purporting to show the end date.

I called out that image as doctored last night on one of the groups (not sure which by now as it was late!) and still think it is, as there was a major typo in it and that is not Amex’s style.

This Benefit Term is What I Believe Sparked the Confusion

Elsewhere in the benefit terms, we see that the Delta Private Jet benefit is ending on August 31st, so I believe that the above is *meant* to reference that.

Would It Be a Big Loss If True?

Sure, not because it’s the best Amex MR transfer partner (it’s not!) but because of the flexibility. You may not carry a Delta card or have a stash of miles, but Delta has some great Flash Sales from time to time and, despite the Excise Fee charged on Amex –> Delta transfers, there are definitely times that it makes sense and the flexibility is great. No other bank can transfer to Delta.

Part of the speculation was that Delta doesn’t want you to be able to earn up to 5X on spend and transfer vs getting an American Express branded Delta credit card.

While Delta probably does feel that way, American Express knows that not everyone wants a SkyMiles credit card and it is a selling point of their proprietary card products to offer it.

We just went through this with Chase and United and rumors that they would lose United as a transfer partner. It didn’t happen.

Official Statement from American Express

Look, I never believed this was true. But this rumor was gaining a lot of steam on the blogs and social media, so I reached out to Amex for official comment.

And no, the transfer partnership is not ending.

Per American Express:

The Delta SkyMiles program will continue to be an airline point transfer partner for the Membership Rewards program.

I also pressed a bit for an official explanation for what these terms referred to. Like I said, I assumed it was related to the removal of the Private Jets benefit – and I was right.

Amex confirmed:

Platinum Private Jet Program

The removal of the Delta Sky Miles benefit on the Platinum Card is related to the Platinum Private Jet Program benefit. 

Effective July 1, the Premium Private Jet Program fulfilled by Delta Private Jets, Inc. is no longer be available. Delta Private Jets was acquired by Wheels Up and as of July 1, 2021, and the new Private Jet program is now operated by Wheels Up Partners LLC (“Wheels Up”).

Because of this change, Platinum Card Members will no longer have the ability to earn Delta Medallion status and other SkyMiles benefits as part of the Platinum Private Jet Program.

So there you have it…

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