Dear Annabelle,
I just activated my new AMEX Gold Delta SkyMiles card and am looking through the benefits. It turns out that all the benefits I wrote about below are not from having the SkyMiles AMEX card but just from being a SkyMiles Frequent Flyer Member.
Hotel Point Transfers
It looks like there are actually quite a few hotel points that transfer to Delta Points but most at a pretty bad rate. The exception is the SPG points which transfer 1:1 with an additional bonus. If I get an SPG account you can also sign up for this cross-over reward program. AMEX Membership rewards also transfer to Delta as I knew.
Dining and Shopping
There are also shopping and dining partners that can earn you points. Lots of them are energy bills for different areas of the country but we are not on the list. There is a SkyMiles shopping portal here. There is also a SkyMiles Dining Partner. If you sign up to be a member AND you sign up for their emails then you get three times points at specific restaurants. Some of those are in Boulder though and look good so if we were ever looking to go out this might make sense.
Rental Cars
Rental car partnerships seem more complex. Currently there is an offer to get bonus Delta points through Hertz. Since I currently have booked a Hertz rental for pick-up on Friday I wanted to know how this worked. Generally it seems like you earn 500 Delta points per rental but this limited-offer includes an additional 200 per day up to a max of 3350 miles. Since I am renting for 30 days I would get this match. The catch is the following fine print: "For rentals in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada when the renter chooses to receive miles in the American Airlines AAdvantage or Delta Air Lines SkyMiles programs the Frequent Flyer Surcharge will be calculated based on the Federal Excise Tax expense incurred by Hertz when it purchases miles from American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Under the Tax Relief Act of 1997, all companies that purchase Frequent Flyer miles from airlines must pay a 7.5% Excise Tax on the cost of those miles."
So I need to pay to get these miles! Specifically a 7.5% Excise Tax on the "cost of the miles". Well what is the cost of the miles that I am multiplying by 0.075?!? Phoning the airport counter they told me that they could tell me when I checked out - not helpful! So I did an online chat with Hertz and they told me it would be 64 cents per day with no cap. They confirmed that this applies whether there are bonus miles or just the baseline 500.
The other factor is that you can sign up for the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program and then earn one point "for every qualifying U.S. dollar spent on Hertz rentals worldwide" (under "More Rewarding" here). So if I spend $1200 on this rental I would earn 1200 Hertz points. Then 600 points transfers to 500 Delta miles, without there being any fee (I think!).
So given this is it worth it to try and get the Delta points. If the rental had no bonus and was only giving 500 Delta points it would be an obvious no since I could get more just by paying the money and transferring the points. But the Delta partnership also seems to give me a better deal on the rental (possibly, the guys in Ottawa said they were a franchise and so they couldn't say if the discount would work or not). Getting a discount on the price of the rental that covers the extra points fee might make it worth while.
Thirty days at $0.64 would be $19.20 in frequent flyer fees. If I were to get the 3350 miles this would be about 2350 over the number of points I would get anyways (spending $1200 and transferring the points to get 1000 points). So that is 2350 points for $19.20 or 0.82 cents per point. If Delta points are valued at 1.2 cents then really aren't gaining much here (although you are at least gaining with the big bonus values) if you don't consider a discount in price for being a Delta member.
I guess you are still gaining some value by these numbers so it would make sense to try and use the Delta membership to book; hope to get a discount and the points as well. The offer details are specifically: "General members earn 200 bonus miles per rental day. Plus, enjoy a more rewarding mileage earning structure and save up to 40%. Use promo coupon 197536 and always use your Delta discount number, 165385, when you rent with Hertz. Offer valid for rentals picked up by December 31, 2015 at participating worldwide locations only." I am going to try and plug those numbers into my current reservation as a "modification" and see what happens. (Update: it said I will save $100 CDN, let's see what they say at the counter.)
Remember
Of note, for my own disentangling of the facts, is that all of these benefits in this post are for having a Delta SkyMiles account. Not for having and paying with the Delta SkyMiles card. I could pay with a different card, speaking of which what card offers bonus points for car rentals?
Hugs,
Jen
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