Delta Airlines Partners with American Express for Buy Now, Pay Later Airfare Purchases
American Express has long been known as a provider of charge cards — which require cardmembers to pay off their balance at the end of each month — allowing cardholders to avoid interest charges while reaping some of the best travel rewards in the industry.
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However, Amex offerings like Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday are traditional credit cards, with 0% intro APRs and the ability to carry a balance over time. Now, whether cardmembers carry a traditional Amex charge card — like Amex Green, Gold, or Platinum — or one of the Blue Cash cards, they can take advantage of a buy now, pay later (BNPL) plan to split up payments without high interest rates.
The Amex Plan It program allows eligible Amex cardholders to choose the Plan It option for select purchases over $100, dividing the cost into equal monthly payments with a fixed fee (a fee which depends on the card used and the cardmember’s creditworthiness). For instance, the Blue Cash Preferred card advertises no fee on Plan It purchases created within the first 12 months of opening the account, and up to 1.33% on Plan It purchases created after that, according to the Amex website. Regular interest charges, which range from 13.99% to 23.99% variable APR on Blue Cash Preferred, would not apply on Plan It purchases.
Delta is the first merchant partner to offer Amex’s BNPL as a payment option, and the first airline website in the U.S. to permit an on-card BNPL payment option, according to CNBC. Cardholders will earn the same rewards using the Plan It feature as they would paying for the flight in full at the time of purchase with their Amex card.
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The program launched on Feb. 17, 2022 and is available on the Delta.com website. Plan It will become available as a checkout option on the Fly Delta app in Spring 2022.
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