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The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card offers extensive perks for elite Delta flyers
Card members get access to Delta Sky Clubs and Amex Centurion Lounges when flying Delta
Other perks include a free checked bag, priority boarding and more
Our quick take: If you want access to Delta’s global network of Sky Club airline lounges along with American Express Centurion lounges, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card is your ticket. Plus, you’ll earn a welcome bonus, gain priority boarding and enjoy a slew of Delta-centric perks.
Pros:
- Earn 3 miles for every dollar you spend on eligible Delta purchases.
- Complimentary access to Delta Sky Club lounges when flying Delta.
- Complimentary access to Amex Centurion Lounges when flying Delta.
- Access to complimentary upgrades on Delta flights.
- First checked bag is free on Delta flights for you and up to eight companions.
- Up to $100 fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®.
- Annual companion certificate after your first card member anniversary.
- No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees).
- Terms apply.
Cons:
- Lofty $550 annual fee (see rates and fees).
- No opportunity for bonus categories beyond Delta purchases.
- Delta SkyMiles aren’t the most valuable frequent flyer miles.
Current welcome bonus: Earn 90,000 bonus after you spend $6,000 in purchases in the first six months after opening the account.
Best for: Devoted Delta flyers who desire access to high-end Delta perks to make their travels calmer and more productive.
Digging into the Delta Reserve credit card
If you are back in the travel circuit and looking for a top-notch card for your travels, the Delta SkyMiles Reserve credit card is in a class of its own when it comes to benefits that frequent Delta flyers will enjoy.
There’s one primary reason you’d want to pay $550 annually to hold this card: Airline lounge access. The Delta Reserve card grants complimentary access to Delta’s global network of Sky Club lounges, as well as American Express’ ever-growing network of Centurion Lounges and Escape Lounges.
Given that an individual Sky Club membership costs $495 annually from Delta, you’re essentially paying $55 more to also receive Centurion Lounge access and all the other perks of the card, which include a free checked bag for you and up to eight companions booked on the same reservation, along with a host of other perks.
In other words, if you’re toying with the idea of ponying up for a Sky Club membership, holding the Delta Reserve card instead probably makes more sense.
The Delta SkyMiles Reserve card also earns 3 miles for every dollar you spend on eligible Delta purchases — these miles are Delta SkyMiles, deposited directly to your Delta frequent flyer account. It earns 1 mile per dollar on everything else.
New Delta Reserve card members can also earn a welcome bonus of 90,000 bonus miles after you spend $6,000 in purchases in the first six months after opening the account.
The miles earned from that welcome offer are worth at least $900 in travel just by using them on Delta flights with Delta’s Pay With Miles program. The frequent-flyer site, The Points Guy, values Delta miles at 1.41 cents apiece, so the 90,000 miles earned are worth around $1,270. But if you’re able to plan a bit, you can cash in on Delta’s frequent SkyMiles award sales to extract even more value (and even more free flights).
Advantages of the Delta Reserve credit card
Avid flyers understand how precious a lounge can be. Many have showers — a godsend between long flights or after a turbulent redeye — and the ability to grab a bite, freshen up or find a workspace during a layover becomes more important if you travel more frequently. Plus, lounge access makes life a little less hectic if you’re stuck in an airport during bad weather that triggers delays and cancellations.
Both Delta and Amex are expanding their lounge networks globally while improving food options, seating and Wi-Fi speeds. In recent years Amex has opened multiple new Centurion Lounges, and other existing lounges are being enlarged.
Delta elite flyers who’d rather not fuss with worrying over earning Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) for elite status will appreciate that the Delta SkyMiles Reserve card waives the MQDs requirement for Delta Platinum, Gold or Silver elite status if you make at least $25,000 in purchases on the card in that calendar year.
Those same big spenders will also appreciate that every time you spend $30,000 in purchases on the card, you’ll earn 15,000 bonus Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs), which can help you earn Delta elite status or even get a higher level of status than you already have. And you can grab that big spending bonus up to four times per calendar year.
One big benefit of the card — which helps offset the annual fee immensely — is the annual companion certificate. This can ultimately be thought of a buy-one-get-one opportunity which can be used on domestic First Class, Delta Comfort+ or domestic Main Cabin roundtrip flights. You’ll receive this certificate each year upon renewal of your card and the only fees include the government imposed taxes and fees of no more than $80 for roundtrip domestic flights (for itineraries with up to four segments).
Other advantages of the Delta Reserve card include 20% back on eligible Delta in-flight purchases (which includes food, beverages, audio headsets and more), Main Cabin 1 priority boarding, no foreign transaction fees, trip delay/cancellation coverage, and car rental loss and damage insurance.
Better still, the free checked bag perk isn’t tied directly to the card. Instead, it’s associated with your Delta SkyMiles number, which means that even flights booked with a different credit card are eligible.
Finally, if you haven’t signed up for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck yet, the Delta SkyMiles Reserve credit card will cover up to $100 of the fee. It’ll also cover TSA PreCheck, but here’s a tip: Sign up for Global Entry if you can, as that membership includes TSA PreCheck.
Disadvantages of the Delta Reserve card
The biggest downside of the Delta SkyMiles Reserve is its limited earning rates. The card’s only bonus category is 3x on eligible Delta purchases, while everything else earns just 1x. It’s also worth noting that the 3x earning bonus only applies to purchases made directly with Delta. If you prefer to use an online travel agency like Expedia or Orbitz — or your company requires the use of a platform such as Concur — you won’t earn that bonus when paying with the Delta Reserve card.
(If this scenario describes your reality, consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which earn at least 2x or 3x points respectively regardless of who you book with, and as many as 5 total points with the Preferred card or 10 total points on hotel and car reservations and 5 total points on air travel with the Reserve when you book through Chase Ultimate Rewards).
Delta SkyMiles are also less flexible and valuable than points like American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards or Capital One miles. While there are ways to transfer Delta SkyMiles into other programs, the transfer ratios are unattractive.
Unfortunately, the annual domestic first class companion certificate that comes with the Delta Reserve card doesn’t appear until the start of your second year of card membership. In other words, it’s not until you pay your annual fee for the second time that you’ll receive this perk. Also, “domestic” has a major caveat: The certificate only applies to flights in the lower 48, which excludes jaunts to Alaska and Hawaii.
You’ll also need to be flying on a same-day Delta flight in order to access either Sky Clubs or Centurion Lounges with this card, and you can’t bring guests in with you without paying a guest fee of $39 per person for Sky Clubs or $50 for Centurion Lounges.
Stacking up the Delta Reserve card against our benchmark
CNN Underscored has chosen the Citi® Double Cash Card as our “benchmark” credit card. That doesn’t mean it’s the best credit card on the market — rather, it means we use it as a basic standard to compare other credit cards and see where they score better, and where they’re worse.
Here’s how the Delta Reserve card scores against our benchmark. The features of each card in the below chart are colored in green, red or white. Green indicates a card feature that is better than our benchmark. Red indicates the feature is worse than our benchmark, and white indicates the feature is either equivalent or cannot be directly compared to our benchmark.
When reviewing other credit cards, we use this format and these criteria to compare them with our benchmark. You can read our credit card methodology for more details on what we take into account when it comes to perks, protections and redemption value.
Other credit cards similar to the Delta Reserve card
For those seriously considering the Delta SkyMiles Reserve, there’s one other top-tier travel card to ponder: The Platinum Card® from American Express.
Not to be confused with the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Amex Platinum carries a higher $695 annual fee (see rates and fees) but grants complimentary individual access to Delta Sky Club, Centurion Lounges and hundreds of other lounges around the world.
For those who don’t need the MQD waiver or the MQM boosts available on the Delta Reserve, the Amex Platinum arguably offers a more robust set of perks. This includes a host of transfer partners that make earned points easier to exchange for free travel, annual fee credits at retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue and Uber and complimentary elite status at major hotel and car rental brands (enrollment required).
Plus, if you have the Amex Platinum, you don’t need to be flying on a Delta flight to access the Centurion Lounges as you do with the Delta Reserve card (though you do need to be on a same-day Delta flight to access Delta Sky Clubs with either card).
Should you get the Delta Reserve card?
If you fly on Delta on a regular basis — or through airports with Amex Centurion Lounges — the Delta SkyMiles Reserve credit card will improve your quality of life at the airport. Lounge access is a luxury, sure, but for busy professionals, it’s also a place where you can get work done while in transit, freeing up precious time at your destination.
And right now is a great time to apply due to the generous welcome offer. The current offer will easily get you started off on the right foot with a chunk of frequent flyer miles in your account and allow you to hop on a place in no time. So if you’re looking to increase your stash of Delta SkyMiles and MQMs, the Delta SkyMiles Reserve could be a card to consider.
Learn more about the Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card.
Looking for a travel credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored chose as our best travel credit cards available right now.
**Purchase protection, extended warranty, trip delay, trip cancellation/interruption, and car rental loss or damage coverage eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Trip delay and trip cancellation/interruption coverage underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. Purchase protection, extended warranty and car rental loss and damage coverage underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car rental loss and damage coverage offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
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