capital one's delta-affiliated credit cards

i don't often see advertising for capital one's delta skymiles world mastercard. i suppose this is just a reflection of how little market share delta has in canada.

about the card

• you earn 3 delta skymiles for every dollar spent on delta purchases
• you earn 2 delta skymiles for every dollar spent everywhere else
• after spending $25,000 a year, you get a 10,000 annual bonus (this is where manufactured spending, or paying your taxes through plastiq may make sense)
• a welcome bonus of 25,000 points in your first year after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days.
• it has an insurance package comparable to the capital one world cash back cards. in other words, it has out of province travel insurance, trip cancellation/interruption, travel accident, baggage delay/loss, extended warranty, purchase protection, rental car insurance
• annual fee of $120 a year

the annual fee is the same as most of the other premium cards, including the aeroplan-affiliated CIBC cards. however, you get twice the miles per dollar spent. so in the first year, if you spend $25,000 (and $1,000 in your first 90 days), you will receive 85,000 skymiles.

alternatively, you can go for the capital one delta skymiles gold mastercard which has no annual fee and still gives you a 1 mile per dollar spent. it also provides almost all of the same insurances as the world mastercard.

if you do decide to apply for those cards, make sure you apply via great canadian rebates and not the links above in order to receive a $30 (world) or $20 (gold) rebate paid via paypal. (note: i receive a referral from great canadian rebates if you sign up for the program, but i receive nothing for the actual cards).

about delta
delta is an american legacy airline that's a member of the skyteam alliance. the redemption chart is shown below. note that these are one-way prices.

low, medium, and high don't refer to the travel season, but rather the number of capacity controlled seats available. there is lowest availability for the low seats (hence the lowest price), the highest capacity controlled seats available for the high seats (hence the highest price). i suspect that the difference between low vs. medium/high is equivalent to aeroplan's classic and classic plus redemptions. so in reality, the amount of miles required to redeem remain the same. however, i've also heard of reports that delta's award program is very, very broken. gary from view from the wing describes it here.

also, as of this post, delta miles do not expire unless you expire.

when does collecting delta make sense?
the credit card certainly has its positives, but it would then only make sense if you can actually use these miles. it is also helpful if you fly in delta/skyteam/partner cities so that flights could further accumulate points. so the biggest criteria is that you value the destinations that delta serves frequently, or that are a part of the skyteam. it would also help if you lived in an actual delta city or skyteam destination city. i've dug them up below:

• vancouver: alaska, delta, china airlines, china eastern, china southern, klm, korea
• toronto: aeroflot, air france, alaska, alitalia, delta, klm, korean
• montreal: aeromexico, air france, delta, klm
• calgary: alaska, delta, klm
• edmonton: alaska, delta, klm
• other alaska cities: kelowna, victoria
• other delta cities: saskatoon, winnipeg

for those who live close to border cities, it might make sense to drive across the border:

• seattle (vancouver):  alaska, delta, hawaiian, korean
• buffalo (toronto): delta
• burlington (montreal?): delta 
• detroit (windsor): delta

in other words, this card works best for canadians living in toronto or vancouver.

conclusion
the capital one credit card might be a good fit. it certainly is very interesting that you can earn without having to pay an annual fee, or earn double while paying an equivalent annual fee to the other major airline-affiliated credit cards. that being said, the utility of delta miles may be so limited in canada that the other major credit card issuers do not feel the need to either strengthen their card products or reduce their annual fees. i think they may be right.