Delta
SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One Review
By
Patrick Sojka - CEO Rewards Canada | Posted Sep 2, 10
The
latest travel rewards credit card to be released in Canada is the Delta SkyMiles
World MasterCard from Capital One. Delta has been looking to release a credit
card in Canada over the past couple years, initial reports had BMO being the card
partner but now we all know that Capital One is the banking partner for Delta.
This card is the first airline card for the SkyTeam alliance in Canada and Delta
is only the fourth US airline to have a dedicated card in Canada after Alaska,
American and United. It is primarily targeted to existing SkyMiles members in
Canada but Capital One and Delta are also looking to potentially move some people
away from other frequent flyer programs in Canada to their offering. Overview
Seeing that the Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One comes
with MasterCard's 'World' branding, it provides an excellent insurance and benefit
package that is similar to Capital One's Aspire World MasterCard. The card features
a good earning ratio that matches other airline cards like TD's American AAdvantage
Visa and RBC's British Airways and Cathay Pacific Visas in that you technically
get double miles when you book with the airline. It has a decent sign up bonus,
and even offers a bonus mile offer for adding a supplementary card.
Costs The
Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One comes with a standard
$120 primary card annual fee that you will find on most premium cards that offer
similar rewards and benefits. The card offers a 25,000 SkyMiles welcome bonus
which is equivalent to a free flight in North America. Depending on time, season
and availability, the sign up offer could be worth upwards of $500-$600 in equivalent
flight costs. Supplementary cards are $49 which is roughly the same as many of
the card's competitors. The interest rate on the card is 19.8% placing it right
in the middle of the pack of competitors.
Earning
The Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One
earns 2 SkyMiles for every dollar spent on the card for purchases made with
Delta Airlines . For all other purchases the card earns 1 SkyMile per dollar spent.
The card features a nice 2,500 mile bonus for each year you renew the card and
2,500 bonus SkyMiles for the first supplementary card.
Redeeming On the redemption side, the SkyMiles
earned with the Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One can be
redeemed for flights on Delta Airlines and 23 of Delta's partner airlines. The
SkyMiles can also be used for hotel stays, car rentals, shopping, and more via
the SkyMiles Marketplace. For flights, redemptions start at 25,000 SkyMiles for
a low season round trip economy class ticket within North America,and
go up to 370,000 SkyMiles for a high season round trip ticket in Business/First
Class to Asia, Africa, India or the Southwest Pacific. Like all frequent flyer
programs, taxes and fees are extra on reward tickets, however with Delta they
tend to be less then what is charged on Air Canada Aeroplan redemptions. When
SkyMiles are redeemed they can be used for any seat that is open on a flight.
In the same manner as Air Canada's Aeroplan, the more full or the more expensive
the flight is, the less likelihood of finding rewards at the lowest redemption
levels. Many SkyMiles members have complained that availability has actually gone
down or at the very least has been hard to find at the lowest mileage levels since
Delta introduced access to all seats. In comparison to Aeroplan, SkyMiles is transparent
in the maximum number of miles that can be required, where as Aeroplan can range
from 30% to 200% or more miles then the base level. As is the case with most frequent
flyer programs we heed YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)
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Features
and Benefits As stated above the Delta
SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One
comes with an insurance package that competes with all the other high end cards.
The card features your standard travel accident, baggage and car rental insurance
that are found on almost all fee based rewards cards but it also includes some
that are only found on a few select cards. These include, trip cancellation which
is only offered as a standard feature on five other travel rewards cards and travel
medical insurance which only comes standard on about 50% of the cards in the market.
The card also comes with a price protection guarantee that we also saw
on the Capital One Aspire World MasterCard. This feature is similar to the price
protection guarantees offered by large retailers, if you find a lower price on
something you bought with the Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard within 60 days,
Capital One will reimburse you the difference in price, up to $100 per item and
$500 per calendar year.
What
is good about this card For the loyal Delta/SkyMiles traveler or
frequent flyer, this card is a perfect fit to add many more miles to their SkyMiles
account. The sign up bonus of 25,000 miles is higher then most other airline cards
in Canada and the yearly renewal bonus of 2,500 miles is a nice incentive. The
ability to redeem for business or first class seats at a good rate of return (these
premium class redemptions can sometimes give as high as a 10% return on your spending)
is always a plus feature to card like this. The airlines partnered with Delta,
in particular the SkyTeam airlines, means you don't always have to transit the
U.S. on your reward flights as some partners fly directly from Canada to Asia
and Europe. Add the whole host of insurance and benefits including the trip cancellation
and price protection guarantee and you have a decent offering for an airline credit
card.
What is not so good about
this card As with virtually every frequent flyer program,
the biggest drawback continues to be award availability, particularly at the lowest
redemption levels that a program has. Delta SkyMiles
is not immune to this as we mentioned above although unlike some frequent flyer
programs you at least have access to all seats and not select few per flight,
even if it may cost you more miles. The additional taxes and fees on reward flights
can also be seen as a drawback compared to the many travel points cards in Canada
that allow you to use points towards the taxes and fees. Finally, flight redemptions
via SkyMiles cannot be used for flights within Canada as Delta does not have a
domestic partner, all flights would have to go via the U.S. and have to be booked
as separate one way or multi-segment trips.
Conclusion While the Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital
One won't stir up the Canadian market like Capital One's Aspire card did earlier
this year, it does present a viable option for a dedicated airline credit card
in Canada. Having a nice sign up bonus, a good insurance package and being part
of the second largest airline alliance serving Canada, the card will be attractive
to frequent travelers whose primary travels take them outside of Canada. It will
not make a big dent in Aeroplan's or AIR MILES' customer bases but it will definitely
keep many of the current SkyMiles members from defecting to another program
if they have been considering a move.
We would like to hear your thoughts
on the new Delta
SkyMiles World MasterCard from Capital One by commenting on
our blog!
The
latest travel rewards credit card to be released in Canada is the Delta SkyMiles
World MasterCard from Capital One. Delta has been looking to release a credit
card in Canada over the past couple years, initial reports had BMO being the card
partner but now we all know that Capital One is the banking partner for Delta.
This card is the first airline card for the SkyTeam alliance in Canada and Delta
is only the fourth US airline to have a dedicated card in Canada after Alaska,
American and United. It is primarily targeted to existing SkyMiles members in
Canada but Capital One and Delta are also looking to potentially move some people
away from other frequent flyer programs in Canada to their offering.