Features and Benefits
As stated above the Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One® comes with an insurance package that competes with all the other high end cards. The card features trip cancellation which is only offered as a standard feature on five other travel rewards cards and travel emergency medical insurance which only comes standard on about 50% of the cards in the market.

What is good about this card
For the loyal Delta/SkyMiles traveler or frequent flyer, this card is a perfect fit to add many more miles to their SkyMiles account. The sign up bonus of 25,000 miles is higher then most other airline cards in Canada and the yearly anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles if you reach the spending hurdle is nice. The huge benefit is the ability to earn at least 2 SkyMiles per dollar spent which means you can redeem sooner and end up spending less than you would on airlines cards that compete with this one. The ability to redeem for business or first class seats at a good rate of return (these premium class redemptions can sometimes give as high as a 10% return on your spending) is always a plus feature to card like this. The airlines partnered with Delta, in particular the SkyTeam airlines, means you don't always have to transit the U.S. on your reward flights as some partners fly directly from Canada to Asia and Europe. Add the whole host of insurance and benefits including the trip cancellation and price protection guarantee and you have a decent offering for an airline credit card.

What is not so good about this card
As with virtually every frequent flyer program, the biggest drawback continues to be award availability, particularly at the lowest redemption levels that a program has. Delta SkyMiles is not immune to this as we mentioned above although unlike some frequent flyer programs you at least have access to all seats and not select few per flight, even if it may cost you more miles. The additional taxes and fees on reward flights can also be seen as a drawback compared to the many travel points cards in Canada that allow you to use points towards the taxes and fees. Finally, flight redemptions via SkyMiles cannot be used for flights within Canada as Delta does not have a domestic partner, all flights would have to go via the U.S. and have to be booked as separate one way or multi-segment trips.

Conclusion
While the Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One® won't stir up the Canadian market like Capital One®'s Aspire card did earlier this year, it does present a viable option for a dedicated airline credit card in Canada. Having a nice sign up bonus, a good insurance package and being part of the second largest airline alliance serving Canada, the card will be attractive to frequent travelers whose primary travels take them outside of Canada. It will not make a big dent in Aeroplan's or AIR MILES' customer bases but it will definitely keep many of the current SkyMiles members from defecting to another program if they have been considering a move.

We would like to hear your thoughts on the new Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One® by commenting on our blog!

Related Links:
Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One® on Capitalone.ca
Rewards Canada Blog Post on the Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One®

“The interest rates, fees, rewards details, benefits and other details of the Capital One product(s) described in the article may have changed since the time of publication. Please consult the product information pages on the Capital One website for accurate product details. In the event of any conflict between the product details in this article and the Capital One website, the details on the Capital One website shall prevail.”