Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex Card Review: Full Details
Overview of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express card
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card is a good choice for Delta loyalists who need a little help achieving their elite status goals. This card offers valuable perks, including a domestic companion certificate each year after renewing your card, the ability to purchase Sky Club access when flying Delta on a per-visit basis, and baggage allowance Your first check is free on Delta flights. Card Rating*: ⭐⭐⭐½
*Card review based on the opinions of the TPG editorial board and not influenced by the card issuer.
The Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card is one of the best credit cards for Delta travelers. It has attractive perks for Delta loyalists in exchange for a $350 annual fee (see exchange rates and fees), including an annual companion certificate (Main Cabin round-trip domestic, Caribbean, or Central America flights each year after renewing your pass), solid earnings rate, and other perks.
In February, Delta Renew your credit card line, increasing annual fees, introducing new perks, enhancing existing benefits and limiting lounge access across the board. If you’ve seen this card before, there are a few changes you should be aware of.
Suggestion credit score for this card at least 670.
The Delta Platinum Amex is great if you’re after one Delta Medal elite status thanks to the earning structure for Medal Qualified Dollars.
Pros and cons of Delta Platinum Amex
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Delta Platinum Amex Welcome Offer
The Delta Platinum Amex Now earn 85,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 in purchases on your new card in the first six months.
Based TPG’s valuation of Delta miles at 1.15 cents per mile, this bonus is worth $978. This is just 5,000 miles less in comparison Best welcome offer we did, so now is a great time to apply for a card.
However, chances are you won’t qualify for this welcome offer if you have Delta Amex Platinum or have had it before. Amex may also consider quantity American Express you opened and closed and other factors when deciding whether you qualify for a welcome offer.
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Luckily, Amex will notify you if you are not eligible for the welcome offer, displays a notification immediately after you submit your application. So don’t ignore any notifications or warnings that appear after you hit send.
Related: The complete guide to Amex’s once-in-a-lifetime welcome offer restrictions
Benefits of Delta Platinum Amex
Delta Platinum Amex offers many perks to Delta customers, and we’ll take a closer look at all of the card’s perks and benefits.
Elite status perks
Delta has overhauled the way its credit cards help cardholders achieve elite status with one measure: Medal Qualifying Dollars (MQD). Delta Platinum Amex cardholders earn 1 MQD for every $20 spent with no limit on the number of MQDs that can be earned through credit card spending.
They also receive an increase in MQD to 2,500 MQD per year.
Annual Companion Certificate
The other main benefit is provided by Delta Platinum Amex Is one annual companion certificate. You will receive this perk every year after renewing your account.
The Delta Companion Certificate Applicable to round-trip and domestic trips to main cabin booked at ticket class L, U, T, X or V. All you need to pay for the included ticket is taxes and fees. Note that this does not include service providers basic economy ticket (placed in fare class E) and most economy classes cost more.
This certificate covers travel to all 50 US states (including Hawaii and Alaska), Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
If you use this certificate for expensive flights, you can easily cover most (or all) of the card’s annual fee.
Related: What happens if you used your companion certificate for a canceled flight?
Other travel perks
Delta Platinum Amex also offers a number of other benefits you may find useful, including Hertz Five Star Status*Resy statement credit up to $120 annually (up to $10 monthly), Ride-hailing statement credit up to $120 annually (up to $10 monthly), Delta Stays statement credit $150 annually, $150 annual Delta Stays statement credit, 15% discount when redeeming for Delta flights, First checked baggage free for up to eight companions on the same flight, priority boarding, 20% off in-flight purchases as statement credit (excluding Wi-Fi purchases), statement credit $100 for Global entry every 4 years or up to $85 for TSA Pre-Check every 4.5 years and no foreign transaction fees (see exchange rates and fees). Registration is required to receive select benefits.
Related: How to maximize your new statement credit on your Delta Amex card
Luckily, Delta has benefits like free checked bags and priority boarding for you. Delta SkyMiles account. So you don’t have to book a flight with Delta Platinum Amex to get these perks.
Additionally, cardholders who are not SkyMiles Medallion Members are eligible to receive complimentary upgrades to Delta One (in the US), First Class and Delta Comfort+ after Medallion Members.
*Enrollment in the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Program is required
Related: 4 reasons why the Amex Platinum could be the ideal credit card for Delta customers
Earn miles on Delta Platinum Amex
You will earn Delta SkyMiles when you make qualifying purchases with Delta Platinum Amex. Specifically, you will accumulate Delta miles with the card as follows:
- 3 miles per dollar on purchases made directly with Delta and at hotels
- 2 miles per dollar on purchases at restaurants (including pickup and delivery) and US supermarkets
- 1 mile per dollar on other qualifying purchases
Because of TPG’s valuation Pegging the value of Delta miles at 1.15 cents per mile, you’ll get a real return of about 3.4% on Delta and hotel purchases, 2.3% on restaurant purchases and US supermarkets and 1.15% on other purchases. While a loyal Delta traveler may enjoy earning bonus SkyMiles on these purchases, none of these returns come close to the best you can do in these categories.
Related: 9 Delta SkyMiles attractions worth saving for
Redeem miles on Delta Platinum Amex
Delta’s SkyMiles program doesn’t have the best reputation among points and miles lovers. After all, Delta has lost its miles value many times over many years. And Delta does not publish official award rankings, meaning prize costs can skyrocket overnight. But there are still some great ways to Get value from the Delta SkyMiles program.
For example, Delta regularly has flash sales. In the past, we have seen deals like Domestic awards from 2,000 SkyMiles one-wayprize for Alaska for just 5,000 SkyMiles round trip, Intercontinental awards from 10,000 round-trip SkyMiles And Flights to Europe from 16,000 SkyMiles round trip.
Consider getting some Great sweet spots when using SkyMiles to fly Partner airline Delta. This includes prizes for SkyTeam partners such as French airline And Korean Airlinesbut the program also has a number of non-alliance partners, including Air Tahiti Mountain.
Just note that some partner awards don’t show up on Delta’s website, including the one above Air EuropaAir Tahiti Nui, Czech Airlines and Kenya Airlines. As a result, you will want to use it ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG parent company, Red Ventures) or another SkyTeam site like Flying Blue to find availability before calling to reserve prizes for these partners.
Former TPG CEO Scott Mayerowitz often use Delta SkyMiles for domestic trips with family, taking advantage of promotional flights.
Related: How to earn and maximize 100,000 Delta SkyMiles
What cards compete with the Delta Platinum Amex?
If you are interested Delta Platinum Amex Since you frequently fly (or plan to fly) Delta, you may also be interested in these options.
For more options, see our complete list of best airline credit cards And Best American Express credit cards.
Read more: Best Amex Credit Cards
Bottom line
The Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card can be a great addition to your wallet if Delta is your carrier of choice. Its annual fee seems high compared to its lower annual fee Delta Gold Amexbut in return you will receive useful benefits, such as annual companion certificate can bring significant value.
However, keeping the card is possible difficult to justify if you don’t fly Delta often enough to maximize the benefits of this card.
Remember that to maximize your overall travel monetization strategy, you may want to combine Delta Platinum with other grades The card offers higher bonus spending categories.
Register here: Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card
For Delta Platinum Amex rates and fees, click This.
For Delta Gold Amex rates and fees, click This.
For Delta Reserve Amex rates and fees, click This.