American Express Delta Reserve Cards

Following up on the series of comparisons of the major US airlines’ credit cards, we’re jumping to one of the top-tier cards: The Delta Amex Reserve. The Delta Amex cards are interesting because they offer both business and personal versions of most of them. Since they’re so similar, I’m going to cover both flavors of the Delta Reserve Card here. I have the Reserve Business version, which is why this one is before the others.

With Delta’s change to only using Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD) as its status metric, Delta has been trying to incentivize spending on their cards, like American has (and United to a lesser extent).

I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  The information on this page has been collected independently, and all information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome Offer

At the time of posting, the Delta Reserve personal card has a 95 000 bonus mile offer after spending $6 000 in 6 months. The business version of the card has a 110 000 bonus mile offer after spending $12 000 in 6 months. In general, Delta has been trying to normalize the value of their miles and minimize any outsized redemptions, so I value Delta miles at 1.1 ¢/pt.  The current welcome offers are worth at least $1 045 and $1 210, respectively. These offers aren’t bad, but in the context of a $650 annual fee card, they are somewhat low.

Earnings

The personal version of the Delta Reserve card has a simple earning structure: it earns 3x miles/$ on Delta purchases and 1x mile/$ on everything else.  The business version adds a bonus category of 1.5x miles/$ on transit, US shipping, and office supplies. These earning rates are somewhat low for a $650 annual fee card but are standard for a club card.

These cards also earn 1 MQD per $10 spent on the card.

Benefits

For its $650 annual fee, the main benefit these cards offer is access to Delta SkyClubs when flying Delta. Both versions offer $20/month Resy credits, $10/month on rideshare, and a $250 Delta Stays credit. Both cards offer a companion certificate upon renewal, which can be used to book two seats on a domestic (or short haul international) ticket on Delta in any non-Delta one cabin.

Like all the Delta credit cards with an annual fee, these cards offer 15% reward flights on Delta, which is a great way to get more value out of SkyMiles. The cards offer 20% off Delta Inflight purchases and a free checked bag.

These cards also offer a $2 500 MQD “head start” on status qualification each year, which is great if you’re trying to maintain Delta status because it gets you halfway to Medallion Silver Status immediately.

How to use the points

The main use for Delta Airlines miles is to redeem them for Delta Airlines, SkyTeam, and other partners’ flights.  Delta Airlines has dynamic pricing for its own flights and any flight that starts/ends in the United States, but there does still exist an award chart for its partners on non-US itineraries that can provide good value. Delta Airlines is a transfer partner of American Express, but Amex will charge you a fee for points transfers at a rate of $6 per 10 000 miles.

The other type of point earned, MQD, is used for Delta status: this year, you need $5 000 for Silver, $10 000 for Gold, $15 000 for Platinum, and $28 000 for Diamond.

Examples of using the card

These examples assume you spend all your airfare budget on Delta Airlines (and none on rideshare for simplicity).

Spend per month

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (1x)	$300	300	$200	200	$600	600	$400	400
Gas (1x)	$0	0	$100	100	$200	200	$100	100
Airfare (3x)	$700	2 100	$200	600	$0	0	$400	1 200
Hotels (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$200	200	$0	0	$300	300
Gen Travel (1x)	$400	400	$0	0	$300	300	$100	100
Dining (1x)	$600	600	$300	300	$300	300	$0	0
General (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$500	500	$500	500	$400	400
Total	$4 000	5 400	$1 500	1 900	$1 700	1 700	$1 700	2 500
Average points/$		1.35		1.27		1.0		1.47

The weak earning structure means that the average points earned has a small, low range of 1 – 1.47 points/$, which is worth 1.1 – 1.62 ¢/$.  That’s not a great return, but that’s to be expected for a credit card that gives you airline club access. For non-airline cards with a similar annual fee, you’d expect much higher returns. There is a slight advantage to earning SkyMiles through these cards because you don’t have to pay the transfer tax that Amex makes you pay.

Specific examples

Card	Delta Airlines Economy class ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (Delta/Hotel)
No rewards card	3 500 AM (5.1%)	2 200 MP (7.3%)	$38.50 / $16.79
General 2% cashback card ($0)	3 500 + $15.00 (7.1%)	2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.3%)	$53.50 / $21.39
Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95)	3 500 + 1 500 UR (8.1%)	2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%)	$61.00 / $23.69
Amex Green Card ($150)	3 500 + 2 250 MR (9.3%)	2 200 MP + 690 MR (11.5%)	$70.00 / $27.14
Delta Reserve Card ($650)	5 750 AM (8.4%)	2 200 MP + 230 DM (8.4%)	$63.25 / $19.32

Is this the right type of credit card for you?

I think it really comes down to one aspect with this card: if you’re trying to earn Delta status, this card is the best way to do that. In my case, I got the business version of the Reserve card because I did a status match to Delta Platinum Medallion for the purposes of being able to review more Delta flights this year. At the exact same moment, they also offered a limited time version made from a retired Delta 747, so I couldn’t pass that up.

If your goal is to earn Delta miles only, I’d recommend an Amex card or maybe even a Delta card with a lower annual fee because the other cards have more than a single bonus category.