Years ago a friend of mine signed up for an Amex Platinum card and added all of her immediate family members as authorized users. She did this primarily to give them Delta Sky Club access, especially when they fly alone (her kids are adults). The Platinum card made sense at the time because it offered unlimited Sky Club access when flying Delta and Amex charged only $175 per year to add 3 authorized users (and then $175 per person after that). Things have since changed. Amex now charges $195 for each authorized user. Additionally, starting Feb 1, each Platinum cardholder will be limited to 10 Sky Club visit-days per year. That raises the question: Is there a better way she can provide Sky Club access to her whole family?
Platinum vs Delta Reserve
My first thought is that my friend may be better off replacing her family’s Platinum cards with Delta Reserve cards. Let’s take a look…
Delta Reserve is slightly cheaper
Amex Platinum cards aren’t the only credit card option for getting into Sky Clubs. Another option is the Delta Reserve card or the nearly equivalent Delta Reserve Business card. Delta Reserve cards are slightly cheaper at $650 for the primary cardholder and $175 for each authorized user vs. the consumer Platinum card which costs $695 plus $195 for each authorized user.
Delta Reserve offers more Sky Club visits
In addition to being slightly cheaper, Delta Reserve cards offer 50% more Sky Club visits each year. Beginning February 1 2025, Delta Reserve cards offer 15 days per year of Sky Club access vs Platinum cards which offer 10.
Delta Reserve offers better Sky Club Guest Access
Delta Reserve primary cardholders get 4 Sky Club one-time guest passes per year which can be used to bring guests for free. Authorized users do not get guest passes.
Both types of cards (Platinum & Delta Reserve) allow paying for guests. Each cardholder can bring up to 2 guests or their entire immediate family (spouse/domestic partner and children under 21 years old) for $50 per person.
Delta Reserve spending towards unlimited Sky Club visits may be more rewarding
Both Platinum cards and Delta Reserve cards offer a path to unlimited Sky Club visits: “simply” spend $75,000 on eligible purchases within the calendar year in order to get unlimited access for the rest of that year and all of the next. Once the primary account qualifies for unlimited visits, authorized users get unlimited visits that year as well.
I’m not recommending that anyone spend this much, but if you do, one or the other may be more rewarding for your situation:
- Platinum card $75K spend advantages:
- Earn Amex Membership Rewards points which are much more valuable than Delta Sky Miles. See: American Express Membership Rewards Complete Guide.
- With $75K spend, you unlock both unlimited Sky Club access AND the ability to bring up to 2 guests for free to Centurion Club Lounges.
- Delta Reserve card $75K spend advantage:
- Delta Reserve cards offer 1 MQD (Medallion Qualifying Dollar towards elite status) per $10 of spend. If you’re interested in Delta elite status then $75K of spend would get you 7,500 MQDs. When combined with the Delta Reserve card’s annual 2,500 MQD Headstart, you’d earn Delta Gold status before even stepping on a plane. From there, it should be relatively easy for frequent flyers to attain Platinum or even Diamond status.
My guess is that my friend would find the elite status benefit from spend more rewarding than the Platinum card benefits.
Delta Reserve and Platinum cards have very different supplemental perks
Platinum cards are absolutely loaded with valuable perks, but they’re only valuable if they’re used. Delta Reserve cards are also loaded with perks, but many of them are specific to Delta fliers (such as the annual companion tickets). Some people will value Platinum card perks higher, and others (especially regular Delta fliers) may value the Delta Reserve perks higher.
Delta Reserve vs. Platinum Head to Head
Here’s a summary comparison…
| Delta Reserve | Consumer Platinum | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $650 | $695 |
| Additional Card Fee | $175 | $195 (or $350 for Business Platinum cards) |
| Sky Club Visit Days | 15 | 10 |
| Sky Club Guest Passes | 4 | 0 |
| Centurion Lounge Access | Yes, when flying Delta | Yes, when flying any airline |
| Priority Pass Lounge Membership | No | Yes |
| Airline Incidental Fee Rebate (including Sky Club entry fees) | $0 | $200 |
| Companion Ticket | Yes | No |
| Flight Benefits | Delta: Free checked bags, 15% award discount; upgrade priority; priority boarding; etc. | Earn 5 points per dollar on airfare |
| Delta Elite Benefits | Yes | No |
| Hotel Elite Status | None | Hilton & Marriott Gold |
| Rental Car Elite Status | Hertz President’s Circle | Hertz President’s Circle; National Executive; Avis Preferred |
| Global Entry or TSA Pre fee credit | Yes | Yes |
| Hotel Rebate | $200 for Delta Stays ($250 for business cards) | $200 for Fine Hotels & Resorts or The Hotel Collection |
| Dining & Rideshare Benefits | $20 per month Resy restaurant rebate; plus $10 per month rideshare rebate | $200 per year Uber / Uber Eats credits ($15 per month & $35 each December) |
| Digital Entertainment Rebates | No | $20 towards Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, or The Wall Street Journal |
My final recommendation
Its a tough call as to which is better. The Platinum card has many more valuable perks, but the Reserve card has great perks for Delta fliers. From what I know about my friend, my guess is that she’s not taking advantage of many (any?) Platinum perks other than lounge access. If I’m right about that, then there’s no question that she’d be better off with the Delta Reserve card. Others should look closely at the perks each type of card offers to see which is best for them.
More about Platinum Cards
There are several varieties of Amex Platinum consumer cards and one Business Platinum card, all of which include Sky Club access. For details see: Amex Platinum Guide.
More about Delta Reserve Cards
Complete details about the consumer and business Delta Reserve cards can be found in these pages:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
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After reading the comments to many different articles on this topic, it’s funny to me how many readers are obsessed with covering a card’s annual fee with statement credits. As if they garner no other value from a card. All to get lounge access for free. Certainly, we all strive for value. But, their attitude seems a bit much.
Not sure if you want to edit to add this I found in the terms:
A “visit” is actually a 24 hour period. So if you start a trip in ATL at 5PM and visit the sky club, transit JFK at 9PM and visit the sky club at JFK, and continue onto London only 1 “visit” is used from your allotment. For those connecting this can change the math a bit. It is the 24 hour period that matters.
You could also theoretically enter a sky club at 5PM on day 1, fly somewhere, depart the next day on a different ticket (or same ticket) and enter a sky club at 12 noon the next day and that also would only be considered 1 “visit” in the eyes of Amex.
I found this info on the “The American Express Global Lounge Collection®” page of the Amex website
Sorry but if your kids are adults (like mine) and you can’t get the 3 for 1 AUs anymore, they can survive without club access or buy their own. My kids are fine with it. They have jobs and could get another credit card if they really wanted club access.
The Platinum also comes with a WM+ membership credit. Agree completely that which card(s) you have depends entirely on your goals and which benefits you value. Great article.
Hi Greg.
I thought that starting in 2024, the consumer platinum no longer gave access to sky clubs. Can you clarify? Thanks!
You are confusing the Amex Platinum Card and the Amex Delta Platinum Card. The Amex Platinum Card DOES afford 10 visits. The Amex Delta Platinum Card lost lounge access.
Excellent article. Just a thought . . . if your friend would not otherwise use the Amex Platinum’s $200 airline incidental fee reimbursement, she could designate Delta and use it to offset the fee for visits beyond the 10 visits afforded.
Also, the Delta Reserve does not afford complimentary guest access to Amex lounges. Irrespective of card spending, they will be $50 each per visit.
The Delta reserve card gives 4 guest passes per year.
As the article states.
So many people I meet do not have a clue as to what benefits they can get for free via the Plat Amex especially. It is a pain to have to check weekly to add on the offers on Amex…They should be automatic…
The weirdest thing about the Delta Reserve is that the despite the AF that AU’s pay, they do not get free checked bags when flying on their own.
I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I have both. I got the Reserve card this year to get the MQD for a two-year Delta Platinum status match and used the four guest certificates for my kids on a family trip. It really depends on whether you can use the coupon books. Last year, I was able to take full advantage of the airline incidental fees, Delta Stays, Uber Eats, Digital Entertainment, Clear, AMEX Offers, Resy credit (think you missed Clear and Resy in your chart) and the $400 credit card credit for making Delta Platinum. Valuing all of this at 100% (pick whatever number you want) and giving no value to the companion ticket or lounge access (though I used the Centurion and Delta lounges quite a bit and would have credited Priority Pass lounges to the Platinum card but I also have Ritz so the benefit is duplicative), my total cost for both cards was negative $907.
Are you also valuing the fact that these ‘credits’ are all technically prepaid expenses that you placed? Any ‘negative’ cost better be considered after your annual fees. But go ahead with those mental gymnastic flips
Yep. That is after annual fees and assigning no value to the lounge visits, which actually have quite a bit of value to me. As far as “mental gymnastics flips”, I’m not sure what that means, but if you mean hard core economic analysis of the Hobby, that’s what FM does, and Greg and crew are the best in the business.
I think s/he is saying that s/he’s skeptical that if you had held neither card, you would have spent ~$2250 on incidental fees, Uber, Clear, Resy, etc this past year, let alone prepaid for all that. But perhaps you would have, nobody knows for sure 🙂
It’s a valid question and Greg and Nick have written about it a number of times. Some people in their own analyses apply a discount to the various benefits because they are prepaid. I pretty much view the non-cash benefits (like lounge access, points and miles, free baggage, free hotel rooms, etc.) are at least as valuable to me (actually far more valuable) than what I am losing by the benefits being prepaid. As far as would I have otherwise used those benefits, you are right that nobody knows for sure, but I was able to use them without much or any effort and I got value from them. When I value this stuff, I don’t include the stuff that I could use but didn’t (like the Delta companion pass, which some people can get great value from but I’d rather travel on points). Everyone probably approaches the “Hobby” somewhat differently.
DSK, like you, I am able to capture “hard cash” credits on these cards that are in excess of these cards’ annual fees. I’ll guess that their skepticism stems from them not capturing credits with the same level of success.
My guess is that their valuation system is just different from yours or DSK’s. Yours probably doesn’t make sense to them, while theirs probably wouldn’t make sense to you. Like DSK said, different approaches for everyone 🙂
For sure, everyone has a different approach. If yours makes you happy, then that’s all that matters, right? I am a little confused by what you wrote about prepaids having more value to you, but I’m probably just misunderstanding what you meant by that.