Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card vs. Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

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Frequent travelers will want a credit card that offers a hearty welcome bonus and generous ongoing rewards. The question is, should you go for a co-branded airline card like the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, or should you go with the more flexible Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card? Both have advantages, so let’s compare them so you can figure out which is best for you.

Welcome Offer

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: Earn 40,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply. Delta SkyMiles are worth about 0.01 each, so this bonus is worth roughly $400.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card certainly offers a more flexible bonus. You can use points to book hotels, flights, or car rentals. If you don’t have a preference as to which airline you fly, you can transfer your points to a Chase partner, which includes Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, Marriott, and IHG hotels, plus others. Delta Skymiles are only good on Delta, so we give Chase the win.

Cash Back Rewards

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card gets you 5x points on travel purchased through Chase, 3x points on dining, 3x points on grocery store purchases, 3x points on select streaming, 2x points on all other travel, and 1x point on all other purchases. You also get a $50 credit each year for hotel stays purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards^® and on your account anniversary, you get bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases for the year. So, if you spent $10,000, you’ll get an additional 1,000 bonus points. Free access to DashPass is included, which gets you $0 delivery fees with your DoorDash subscription, as well as 5x points per dollar on Lyft rides through 3/31/25. Points on this card are also worth 25% more when you redeem them for travel through Chase.

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card gets you 2x points on Delta purchases, 2x at U.S. supermarkets, 2x points at restaurants worldwide and 1x point on all other purchases. You also get your first bag checked free on Delta flights, 15% off when you use miles to book Award travel through Delta, and a $100 flight credit when you spend $10,000 in a calendar year.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers better ongoing rewards and a greater variety of them, so Chase wins this category.

Here are the details for each card.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Rewards:

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

Rewards:  

Rates and Fees

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an annual fee of $95. Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card has an annual fee of $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150. Neither card has foreign transaction fees, and neither card is currently offering a 0% introductory APR rate.

Who the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is Best For

If you travel a few times a year and want a few perks, you can’t go wrong with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. You get a nice set of rewards, a generous sign-on bonus, and one of the most versatile, low-cost travel cards around. You can transfer your points to any of Chase’s travel partners. If you have other Chase cards, you can combine all of your Ultimate Rewards points and redeem them on Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. That gets you a 25% boost in value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase. It’s an excellent card and one we highly recommend.

Who the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card is Best For

If you travel a few times a year and prefer to fly Delta when you do, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card is perfect for you. You get some nice perks with Delta, like a free checked bag and 20% off eligible in-flight purchases. You won’t get a lot of rewards other than the Delta benefits, but if you like Delta, this card could be a good fit.

Does it Make Sense to Get Both Cards?

Possibly. If you get both cards, you could use the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card card when you fly Delta and use the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for all other travel. The Chase card also gets you better rewards on restaurants and groceries. When you book a trip, if your first step is to check Delta to see what flights they have, you’ll appreciate the perks of the Delta card.

Approval Odds

The credit score data listed below comes from publicly available information in a number of forums. The accuracy of the information cannot be verified. Keep in mind that credit card issuers consider more than an applicant’s credit score and that underwriting standards change over time.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

Chase is a conservative lender, and you’ll need excellent credit to be approved for a card. On the other hand, American Express seems more willing to extend credit to those with fair credit (although not necessarily a high credit limit). If you have fair to good credit, the American Express card might be a better bet. Also, be aware of Chase’s 5/24 rule. If you’ve opened more than five credit cards in the past 24 months, Chase will likely deny your application.