40% and 25% Bonuses on American Express to Delta Transfers

If you are ineligible for the current showstopping 50% and 25,000 MQ Amex-> Delta transfer bonus, you may want to take advantage of the newly launched 40% bonus on transfers of 100,000+ miles or 25% on transfers less than 100,000 points. No MQMs are included, but it's still better than nothing, especially if you were going to transfer points to Delta anyway.

Also, the 50% bonus promo is only good for your first transfer, so ostensibly you'd be eligible for the 40% bonus, though I can see Delta's computers not understanding the promo eligibility correctly. I guess we will have to wait to see what happens when someone who has already taken advantage of 50% registers for the 40% bonus and does a transfer - please report your experience below in the comments if you end up doing this.

I wouldn't recommend transferring a bulk of miles to Delta since Amex points are very valuable because they can be transferred to all three alliances at a moment's notice. Once you transfer your points to Delta, they can't go back to being Amex points again and you may find Delta's award rates are much higher than most other airlines (and they don't allow international first class redemptions or one-way awards). However, if you were going to transfer Amex points to Delta anyway, you might as well take advantage of this promo. Note, the T&C state that it may take 4 weeks to get your bonus miles, but lately Amex-> Delta transfers have been posting almost instantly. I recommend signing up for this promotion and then giving it 24 hours to reflect in your Delta promotions (delta.com -> Skymiles -> Manage My Account -> View Your Skymiles Promotion).

If you are new to booking Delta awards, check out my 10 Tips on Using Delta Skymiles to give you a sense of what you're in for :-)