Compare the Features and Benefits of Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card and
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card

The Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card charges a $0 introductory annual fee (then $150) and presents many ways for Delta Air Lines flyers to save money — whether they’re booking their flight with SkyMiles or are already in the air.

You’ll earn credit card rewards accordingly: 2x Delta miles on restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets and on eligible Delta purchases, plus 1x miles on other eligible purchases. Finally, if you manage to spend $10,000 or more on the card in a calendar year, a $100 Delta flight credit will be awarded to your account every year.

When it comes time to redeem SkyMiles, Delta Gold cardholders can save 15% off the sticker price for award flights. This benefit is automatically applied when you’re logged into your SkyMiles account on the Delta website or Fly Delta app and the flight is wholly operated by Delta.

Delta offers an impressive route network whether you want to fly within the U.S. or abroad, so you should find plenty of ways to redeem SkyMiles. Some of our favorite deals include Delta’s flash sales, where you can find domestic one-way tickets for as low as 3,500 SkyMiles.

Once you’re at the airport, you can enjoy a free checked bag and Main Cabin 1 priority boarding when flying Delta. Then, in the air, you can save 20% on inflight purchases, applied as a statement credit to your account.

If you’re not a frequent Delta flyer and are looking for even more options with your credit card rewards, consider opening a card that earns transferable rewards instead like Amex Membership Rewards points that transfer instantly to Delta SkyMiles. Not to be confused with the Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex Card, the Amex Gold Card earns Membership Rewards points but does not include benefits like the free checked bag.

Rates and Fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

Wells Fargo is a giant of retail banks, but it’s had a relatively small presence in the market for travel rewards credit cards, until now. With the recent introduction of the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey, it joints American Express, Chase, Capital One and Citi in the exclusive club of cards that offer rewards that can be transferred to airline miles or hotel points.

Why is this important? Most credit cards offer you about one cent in value per point redeemed, so saving up $100,000 points typically results in $1,000 worth of cash back, gift cards or travel reservations. But when you’re able to transfer your rewards to airline miles or hotel points, you could earn rewards worth far more. For example, you could transfer your Wells Fargo rewards points to miles with the Spanish carrier Iberia. You can then redeem as few as 68,000 Iberia Miles (it calls their points “Avios”), for a round-trip, business class ticket to Spain from Boston, New York or Washington D.C. Such a ticket would easily be worth at least $4,000, and few would rather have $1,000 worth of gift cards instead a business class ticket to Europe.

To compete against credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Capital One Venture and the Citi Strata Premier, Wells Fargo created a card that’s especially rewarding for travel purchases.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey offers 5x points on hotel purchases, 4x points on airline tickets and 3x points for dining and for all other travel purchases. This allows frequent travelers to earn more bonus points from this card than they could from any of its competitors. And unlike other bonus offers for travel purchases, you don’t have to use any particular travel agency – you are free to purchase your airline and hotel reservations directly, which is how most experienced travelers prefer to do it.

With a $95 annual fee, it’s an accessible card, but even that number overstates its true cost. This card is made for travelers, so it’s really easy to get the $50 annual air travel statement credit after you purchase your first ticket of at least $50. This brings the net cost of this card down to $45, which is far below it’s competitors.

So who is the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card for?

This card makes sense for those who make a significant amount of travel purchases, and want to be rewarded as much as possible. Earning 5x at any hotel and 4x on any airline is great for so-called free agents who make decisions based on price and schedule, rather than loyalty to a particular brand. This is also a card for those who appreciate the value of having a credit card with strong travel insurance policies. For example, with trip cancellation and trip interruption protection, you’ll never incur a loss if you have to cancel a trip due to covered reasons, ranging from illness to jury duty.

And finally, this is an ideal travel rewards card for those who already have a banking relationship with Wells Fargo. When you have a credit card issued by the same bank where you have checking, savings or other accounts, you’re able to manage everything in one place, and payments are instantly credited.