Compare the Features and Benefits of Citi Prestige and
Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card

Although it has a hefty $495 annual fee, power users can find good rewards.

Citi Prestige Benefits

• Get the 4th night free on hotel bookings of 4 or more consecutive nights made through the Citi travel center – capped at 2x per calendar. Note that all bookings must be made online and will not qualify for most hotel loyalty program’s elite benefits or points earning. The Citi portal is now powered by Booking.com
• You will also get a $250 travel credit every calendar year (super easy to use and automatically applied against all travel charges) and Priority Pass airport lounge access, with full access to Priority Pass Experiences like airport dining.
• Cell phone protection: The Citi Prestige offers up to $1,000 per claim with up to 2 claims per year. Max is $1,500 in a 12-month period with a $50 deductible per claim.

Because of the high annual fee, if you won’t take advantage of the 4th night free benefit, the Citi Premier card is likely a better card for you if your goal is to earn Citi ThankYou points.

This card is no longer available to new applicants. There is not currently a replacement but one is rumored. 

While at first it may be tempting to want a Delta American Express card with no annual fee, there’s little reason to get this card over all of the other six Delta SkyMiles credit cards from American Express considering that it is the most basic Delta credit card.

While there is no annual fee, of the 7 cards linked above, this is the only one that does not have:

• Priority Boarding
• Free Checked Bag
• A waiver on the MQD requirement to earn Delta Medallion Elite status when you spend $25,000 in a calendar year.
• The TakeOff15 benefit, which offers a 15% discount on SkyMiles award travel on Delta marketed and operated flights

Those are some HUGE benefits to give up. You’ll get TakeOff15, priority boarding and a free checked bag with the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card. The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card allows you to earn MQDs for spend (and comes with an annual companion certificate that allows you to fly a friend or family member for the cost of government-imposed taxes (roughly under $80) for round trip domestic flights.

And while 2X miles on restaurants worldwide sounds good on the Delta Blue SkyMiles card, consider that there are two Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards that earn more on dining: The American Express® Gold Card (4X) and the American Express® Green Card (3X). And American Express Membership Rewards points can transfer to Delta – but they can also transfer to a huge range of other airlines and hotels. Isn’t flexibility better? Why be tied to one mileage program, Delta, when you mind find a better mileage deal elsewhere? Remember, you can fly Delta exclusively and collect lots of SkyMiles that way, but it doesn’t mean that should be all you earn on your credit cards….

In my opinion, the best reason for having a Delta Blue is when you have one of the annual fee Delta cards is your oldest credit card and want to downgrade to a no annual fee card to keep your credit score intact.

But other than that, 99% of people would come out ahead paying the annual fee on one of the other six Delta SkyMiles credit cards from American Express and taking advantage of the benefits that come with them.

Rates and Fees for the Blue Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express