Compare the Features and Benefits of Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card and
Chase Freedom Flex Review

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

This is a primary card in the Chase Trifecta, which includes a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve, a Chase Freedom Unlimited, and this card, the Chase Freedom Flex. You’ll earn 3% on dining and drugstore purchases with the Freedom Flex. But whereas the Freedom Unlimited gives you 1.5% cash back on other spend categories, The Flex earns only 1%. That is because it has the rotating 5% bonus categories.

The rotating bonus categories each quarter can be fantastic. Amazon is a popular choice, meaning you’d earn 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points ($75) if you spent $1,500 during that quarter.

Since the Chase Freedom Flex is a pure cash back credit card unless you also have a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® with which to combine your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, it’s ideally used as part of a combo.

When you hold one of these premium Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards, you can transfer points earned on the Freedom Flex to the premium card. Once you’ve moved the Ultimate Rewards over to the premium credit card, you can take advantage of points transfers to 12 Chase airline and hotel partners or book travel through the travel portal.

Best of all, you can accrue cash back on this card and decide to add a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® later on – if you suddenly decide that you’d like to delve into the world of credit card rewards that transfer to frequent flyer and hotel programs to book free award flights and hotel nights.

If you book through the travel portal and have a Sapphire Reserve, your points redeem for 1.5 cents each, meaning that you earn 1.5X points or cash back per dollar and redeem them for 1.5X, giving you an effective 2.25% return on your spend.

If you book through the travel portal and have a Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred, your points redeem for 1.25 cents each, meaning that you earn 1.5X per dollar and redeem for 1.5X, giving you an effective 1.875% return on your spend.

But our absolute favorite way to redeem is always via airline and hotel transfer partners. The easiest high-value redemption is usually Hyatt. We often get better than 2 cents per World of Hyatt point. Keep in mind that Hyatt doesn’t charge any resort fees when you stay on a free night award. So let’s say you are looking at a hotel with a cash price of $259 and a $25 a night resort fee and 8% tax. That would come to $307 a night. But if that same room costs 8,000 or 12,000 Hyatt points, you could be using your points (which transfer at an even 1:1 ratio to all airline and hotel partners) with a rate of return of 3 – 4 cents.

To be clear, if you don’t also have a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred®, the rewards earned with the Chase Freedom Flex are purely cash back rewards.

That said, even without a card combo, it’s still a solid card to earn cash back, including 3% on dining , including takeout and eligible delivery services, and drugstores) since it has no annual fee.

The Chase Freedom Flex credit card comes with a solid range of benefits for a card with no annual fee. You’ll get Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty on the shopping side and you’ll be taken care of on canceled or shortened pre-paid trips if a covered reason arises. with the included Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance.