Any AMEX/SkyMiles people here? A question...

[Centauri]

Did I just get approved for a card with a worthless rewards system?

I applied and was approved for a Gold SkyMiles card. According to the few credit card comparison sites I scoured, it's supposed to be one of the best travel rewards cards on the market.

It comes with a bonus 20,000 miles after your first purchase. Which sounded all fine and dandy until I actually comparison shopped for tickets; Delta aint cheap.

From what I gather, you can redeem 10k miles for $100 off your flight above a certain ticket cost. But Delta seems to be one of the priciest carriers, whether you're looking to book a flight directly or through a broker.

Example; A trip from Tulsa to pretty much any large European city, scheduled 6 months in advance (Feb '09 departure) and a return a few months later. Most carriers offer round trip for $1,000~ after all fees/taxes. I can't seem to get a Delta for under $2,000. And given that 10k miles only saves you $100...

So, yeah, did I just sign up for a worthless card or is there some cheaper way to do this that I've not yet found?

Thanks.

[CochiseGuy]

I think there's better CC reward programs out there. Most airlines have made their point systems useless for all but the most frequent of fliers. My primary CC was Amex with their standard rewards program, which I almost always used to get Amazon gift certificates, but I just switched to Citi Professional Mastercard - 10,000 bonus points after the first $250 spendt, 3 points for every $1 for gas & some other purchases, 1 point for each $1 for other purchases; a $50 Amazon GC is 6,000 points. And just scour the net for the best airline fares.

[Centauri]

I've been reading into this further.

Apparently Delta SkyMiles are the worst points to have since they now expire after a time frame (2yrs I think) and aren't transferable/convertable into any other form of rewards points.

Dammit. Absolutely worthless.

I had initially gone for Discover's flight card, but got denied because I apparently use my Chase Visa too often? WTF is that?