Delta credit cards comparison: Guide to the Delta SkyMiles® Amex cards

July 24, 2025: We’ve refreshed out Delta SkyMiles credit card guide to make it more usable.

In this complete guide to the Delta credit cards, you’ll find everything you need to compare the Delta credit cards and select the right card for you. Here’s what you’ll find in this guide:

• Which Delta credit card is right for you? Our quick recommendations about which Delta credit card you should get.
• Comparison of every Delta credit card benefit and perk. We did the research for you and compiled all of the perks and benefits into tables to make it easy to compare cards.
• Our experiences. Get insights from how our team actually uses our Delta credit cards.
• Welcome offers. Get the biggest welcome offer when applying for a new Delta credit card.

Our intent is to make this page a bookmarkable reference that you can use whenever you have a question about your Delta credit card’s rewards or benefits.

Which Delta credit card is right for you?

With seven cards to choose from, finding the right Delta credit card is no small task. This section won’t cover all possible cases—that’s what we’ll cover in the rest of this guide—but here’s a quick answer for most people considering getting a Delta credit card.

First, there is really no reason to get the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card. It doesn’t offer much in the way of benefits and you can get better rewards on your spending with any number of 2% cash back cards. And since Delta SkyMiles never expire, you don’t need to worry about keeping a card around to keep your stash of SkyMiles active.

If you have Delta elite status, there’s little reason to consider either of the Delta Gold cards, since your status will negate most of those cards’ substantive benefits. If you don’t have Delta elite status and you normally check bags, then getting either one of the Delta Gold cards will quickly pay off, thanks to the card’s benefit.

Consider upgrading to one of the Delta Platinum cards if you fly within the United States with a companion a few times a year and can consistently make use of those cards’ Main Cabin companion certificates. If you can use the certificates for travel you would do anyway, you’ll very likely get more than $200 of value from them, which means you’re covering the marginal cost of the upgrade from the Delta Gold to the Delta Platinum card.

If you want lounge access, then one of the Delta Reserve cards is your best bet. Remember, you won’t get unlimited lounge access—if you want that, you can get that by spending $75,000 on the Reserve card, but we’d recommend simply buying a Sky Club membership outright over using the Delta credit card for that much spending.

Finally, if you have a small business, get the small business variant of the Delta credit card. The benefits of the personal and business cards are very similar, but the business variants of the cards offer slightly larger Delta Stays credits at each level.

Why carry a Delta credit card?

In most cases, the value proposition of the Delta credit cards in the first year is pretty strong, thanks to the welcome offers. But there are plenty of reasons why you might want to hold onto a Delta credit card even after the first year.

Good reasons to get a Delta credit card

In our view, here are the most compelling reasons to hold onto a Delta credit card. In many cases, these single benefits may entirely justify paying a card’s ongoing annual fee to keep the card.

• Getting a free checked bag. All of the Delta Air Lines credit cards other than the Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card offer a free first checked bag for you and up to eight people on your reservation. If you would otherwise pay for a checked bag and travel a few times a year on Delta, this benefit alone can justify the annual fees of the lower-tier cards.
• You redeem lots of SkyMiles and want the 15% discount. If you redeem 100,000 or more SkyMiles per year for flights on Delta (not its partners), you’re probably getting enough value from this discount to justify the annual fee of one of the lower-tier cards.
• Companion certificates. If you have one of the Delta Platinum or Delta Reserve cards, you’ll get. In some cases, you might be able to redeem these for significant value, displacing cash that you would otherwise spend anyway. Just be aware of the restrictions—you won’t be able to use these for every flight you can book at Delta.com and the expiration dates.
• MQD Headstart. Both the business and personal variants of the Delta Platinum and Delta Reserve cards offer 2,500 Medallion Qualifying Dollars just for having the card. This can provide plenty of value if it pushes you to a higher tier of Medallion status.
• Sky Club® Access. In some cases, having one of the Delta Reserve cards is the best way to get access to the Delta Sky Club, but with the early-2025 cuts to this benefit, there could be a better way of accessing the Delta Sky Club.

Not-so-good reasons to hold onto a Delta credit card

While Delta credit cards can offer plenty of value, in some cases, the marketing hype doesn’t match the real value provided by the card. Many times, there are cards that offer better rewards and benefits with lower (or no) annual fees and the terms, restrictions, and hoops that you have to jump through for some perks greatly diminish their value.

Here are common reasons people might hold Delta credit cards that we think are less-good, and why.

• Earning miles (or elite status) for spending. Most airline and hotel credit cards offer notoriously poor value for ongoing spending and the Delta cards are no different. You can get more value with no-annual-fee cash back cards. And even if your objective is to earn Delta miles, you can do better using cards that earn Membership Rewards® and transferring those points to Delta.
• Statement credits for Delta Stays, Resy, and Rideshare. Amex is quite fond of offering a long list of statement credits on its premium cards, but you’ll likely find yourself needing to jump through hoops to maximize the value of these credits.
• Unlimited Sky Club access. In 2024, Delta announced that Delta Reserve cardmembers would no longer get unlimited visits to the Delta Sky Club as a benefit of the card, but rather could earn unlimited visits after spending $75,000 on the card within a calendar year. Because the Delta cards earn relatively poor rewards for spending, the opportunity cost of putting that spending on a Delta card is high. In most cases, you’re better off using a 2% cash back card for everything and buying a Delta Sky Club membership outright.
• Travel and insurance benefits. Some Delta credit cards offer some travel and insurance benefits, but you’ll find more generous benefits at lower price points with other premium credit cards.

Benefits of every Delta credit card compared

Maybe our recommendations don’t match your use case exactly and you want to dig a bit deeper. In this section, you’ll find an overview of all of the substantive benefits of the Delta credit cards, with tables to help you compare benefits across cards.

Delta benefits: Perks for booking and flying on Delta

All of the Delta credit cards that carry an annual fee offer a first checked bag free, plus some other benefits when flying on Delta. They also offer the TakeOff 15 benefit—a 15% discount on the number of miles you’ll pay when using SkyMiles to book Delta flights.

Our take: The free checked bag and priority boarding are nice if you don’t have Delta elite status—especially if you’re traveling with a family, since up to 8 people on your reservation enjoy these benefits. We don’t put much stock in the complimentary upgrade benefit—getting an upgrade as a low-level Medallion on Delta is vanishingly rare, and Delta Platinum and Reserve credit card holders with no Medallion status get upgraded only after all Medallions have been upgraded.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
First checked bag free for cardmember and up to 8 people on same reservation.
–
Priority boarding. Boarding with Zone 5.
–
TakeOff 15. 15% discount on Delta award travel
–
Complimentary upgrades. Processed after all Medallions have been upgraded.
–	–
20% back on Delta in-flight purchases, awarded as a statement credit.

Credits and companion certificates: “Free” travel on Delta

With the Delta Gold cards, you can earn a Delta flight credit after spending $10,000 on the card in a calendar year and the Platinum and Reserve cards come with an annual companion certificate each year after your card renewal.

Our take: The Delta flight credits on the Delta Gold card mean that it makes sense to put $10,000 of spending on your Delta Gold card each year. And the companion certificate is probably the most compelling reason to upgrade to one of the Platinum level cards. With the companion certificates, be aware that the certificates expire—meaning you must both book and complete travel—one year after they are issued.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Earn a $200 Delta Flight Credit each year after spending $10,000 on your card in a calendar year.
–		–	–
Annual Companion Certificate. Each year after card renewal.
–	–	Main Cabin	First Class, Delta Comfort+, or Main Cabin

Elite status: Earning more MQDs

The Delta Platinum- and Reserve-level credit cards can help you toward earning Delta Medallion status in two ways: Through the annual 2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) you get from having the card or from earning additional MQDs with your spending.

Our take: The MQD Headstart perk can be valuable if it pushes you to the next level of Medallion status. However, since Delta credit cards offer relatively poor rewards on spending, unless you’re very close to getting the next level of Medallion status, it doesn’t make much sense to use your cards for spending in order to earn additional MQDs. Spending an extra $10,000 on a Delta Reserve-level card to earn an additional 1,000 MQDs means you’re giving up $200 in cash back rewards, assuming your alternative is using a 2% cash back card. That’s a very expensive way to get Medallion Qualification Dollars.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
MQD Headstart. Receive 2,500 Medallion Qualifying Dollars each year.
–	–
MQD Boost. Earn Medallion Qualifying Dollars for spending.
–	–	1 MQD per $20 of purchases	1 MQD per $10 of purchases

Lounge access: Get into the Sky Club

Only the Reserve-level Delta credit cards will get you any sort of lounge access. Previously, the Platinum-level cards allowed you to buy one-time guest passes, but that benefit has been discontinued.

Our take: We like the four one-time guest passes to the SkyClub, but we think that the 15 SkyClub visits is pretty stingy, especially since the other major airlines don’t limit the number of times their highest-tier cardmembers can enter their lounge. If you do want unlimited SkyClub access, buying a lounge membership outright is a better choice than spending $75k/year on the card to get unlimited visits. And if other lounge networks like Priority Pass work for your travel patterns, getting a card with access to those networks will almost certainly serve you better.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Delta Sky Club visits. Earn unlimited visits after spending $75k on your card in a calendar year.
–	–	–	15
Delta Sky Club® one-time guest passes. Passes awarded each Medallion Year.
–	–	–	4
The Centurion Lounge access. Must be traveling on a same-day Delta flight.
–	–	–

Delta counts all lounge entries within 24 hours of your first entry as one “visit”. So if you first enter a Delta SkyClub on Monday at 9:00am, you can continue to enter Delta SkyClubs (including at other airports) until 8:59am on Tuesday and have them count as only one of your 15 allotted visits. (And, unfortunately, changing time zones won’t help you out—the access is based on 24 hours from your initial visit, regardless of time zone.)

Delta one-time guest passes are valid only for a single entry into the SkyClub. A second entry will use a second pass, even if it is within 24 hours of the first entry.

Rewards: Earn SkyMiles by using Delta credit cards

Delta credit cards earn Delta SkyMiles for spending Here’s an overview of what each card earns per dollar of spending.

Our take: In almost every category, including on Delta purchases, you can get more valuable rewards with other credit cards, including no-annual-fee cards. For general purchases, a 2% cash back card will get you more, and there are several better options for dining, groceries, office supplies, and large purchases.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Delta Air Lines purchases.
2x	2x	3x	3x
Hotels worldwide.
–	–	3x	–
Restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
2x	2x	Personal: 2x	–
U.S. Supermarkets.
–	Personal: 2x	Personal: 2x	–
Other purchases.
1x	1x	1x	Personal: 1x Business: Up to 1.5x

• The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card earns 1.5x miles on other purchases after you spend $150,000 on your card in a calendar year.

Business specific categories: Additional bonus categories on business cards

In addition to the rewards above, the Delta SkyMiles® business cards offer some additional rewards in a few business-specific categories:

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
U.S. purchases for advertising in select media.
Up to 2x	–	–
U.S. shipping purchases
Up to 2x	Up to 1.5x	1.5x
U.S. office supply store purchases.
–	–	1.5x
Transit
–	Up to 1.5x	1.5x
Large purchases of $5,000 or more.
1x	Up to 1.5x	–

• The Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card offers 2x on U.S. Advertising in Select Media on up to a total of $50,000 in purchases per year, plus 2x on U.S. Shipping on up to a total of $50,000 in purchases per year.
• The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card offers 1.5x on eligible transit purchases, eligible U.S. shipping purchases, and each single eligible purchase of $5,000 or more, on up to a maximum of $100,000 in purchases across all of these bonus categories in a calendar year.

Statement credits: Delta Stays, Resy, and Rideshare

All of the Delta Amex cards that carry an annual fee offer statement credits for Delta Stays and the Platinum and Reserve cards have credits for dining with Resy restaurants and rideshare charges. Here’s how the Delta cards’ statement credits compare.

Our take: We like to think about these statement credits as a way to lower the effective cost of the Delta cards. Most people will be able to get some value out of the Delta Stays credit by booking at least one hotel stay through Delta’s portal, but the Resy and Rideshare credits likely won’t provide enough value (especially after you consider the hassle of using them) to factor into your value calculation.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Delta Stays credit.
–	Personal: $100 Business: $150	Personal: $150 Business: $200	Personal: $200 Business: $250
Resy Credit.
–	–	Up to $10/month (Up to $120/year)	Up to $20/month (Up to $240/year)
Rideshare Credit.
–	–	Up to $10/month (Up to $120/year)	Up to $10/month (Up to $120/year)

Other Travel Benefits: Travel insurance and other perks

The Delta credit cards offer a variety of travel insurance and other benefits. In most cases, you must book your travel with your card to be eligible to receive coverage under travel insurance benefits. Here’s how the other travel benefits compare:

Our take: The Delta cards are relatively light on travel insurance benefits, though we had a positive experience with the Amex Trip Delay Insurance benefit when we booked a recent trip with the Delta Platinum Amex. We’d prefer to rent cars with a card that offers primary rental car insurance and book most trips with cards with better travel insurance benefits.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Trip Delay Insurance. Covers necessary expenses if travel is delayed for covered reasons, including weather.
–	–	Standard	Premium
Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance. Covers certain non-refundable prepaid travel expenses if your trip is cancelled or interrupted for a covered reason.
–	–	–
Baggage Insurance Plan. Coverage for lost, damaged, or stolen bags.
–
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance. Secondary coverage for damage or theft of rental vehicles.
Fee Credit for Global Entry of TSA PreCheck®. Receive a $120 statement credit every 4 years after applying for Global Entry or up to $85 every 4.5 years after applying for TSA PreChec® through an official enrollment provider.
–	–
Hertz President’s Circle Status. Enrollment required.
–	–	–
Global Assist® Hotline. Coordination and referrals to various assistance services. Cardmembers are responsible for the costs of services provided.
			Premium Global Assist

Consumer Insurance Benefits: Protection for the stuff you buy

Consumer insurance benefits can protect the things you buy with your card. Here’s how the consumer insurance benefits of the Delta credit cards compare:

Our take: We like covering purchases with the Amex Extended Warranty, since Amex has a reputation for making fewer onerous demands for documentation when making a claim than some other issuers. While we don’t generally recommend using the Delta credit cards for spending, it can make sense to use the cards for purchases where having an extended warranty matters.

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
Purchase Protection
Standard	Standard	Standard	Premium
Extended Warranty
Return Protection
–	–	–
Cell Phone Protection
–	–

Delta Air Lines credit card welcome offers: Earn SkyMiles® with a new card

Delta Air Lines credit cards all feature new cardmember welcome offers that allow you to earn SkyMiles when you’re approved for a card and meet minimum spending requirements. We have a separate article covering the welcome offers in-depth, but here are the current welcome offers on Delta credit cards:

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card

Earn 10,000 bonus miles after you make $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles®.
Annual fee: $0

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

Earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles.
This offer is the best offer we can link to directly, but you might find a better offer when making a booking at Delta.com.
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card

Earn 60,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles®.
Annual fee: $350

Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card

Earn 70,000 Bonus Mile safter you spend $5,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles®.
Annual fee: $650

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card

Earn 60,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $4,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles®.
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card

Earn 70,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $6,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles®.
Annual fee: $350

Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card

Earn 80,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $10,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

Apply through our referral link to support this site. (Click on Personal Cards or Business Cards to see all Delta credit cards.)

This bonus is earned as Delta SkyMiles®.
Annual fee: $650

Our experiences: How we get the most from Delta credit cards

I hold both the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card and the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card. With each card, I’m paying an hefty annual fee, but clearly I think that it’s worth it.

First, I don’t value earning points at all. I do very limited spending on these cards. Also, since I have lifetime Gold status with Delta, my frequent flyer status negates a lot of the perks. There’s no reason for me to place any value on the free checked bag, priority boarding, or upgrade benefits because I get those from my status anyway.

What is valuable is the companion certificates. I as part of a family of five and since the certificates are transferable, we use them for a domestic trip to see relatives each year. Historically, we’ve flown on Delta due to schedule and have been able to use the certificates to displace actual cash that my partner and I would otherwise spend on airline tickets. Most years, that amount is around ~$300 per card.

The Delta Stays credits are a bit of a pain to use, but I am able to remember to book one stay on each of the cards to capture the credits, so that pushes me solidly into positive value territory on the cards. And I’ll get some incidental value from the rideshare and Resy credits, though these credits don’t work into my value calculation because the mental load of remembering to use a credit easily negates the value of a $10 monthly credit.

The cards are, admittedly, not a huge winner for me, but they provide just enough value to keep them around.

Bottom line: Delta business cards are incrementally better

When comparing Delta credit cards within the same “tier,” you’ll find that the small business variants of the cards are incrementally better across the board. If you fly Delta infrequently, either the Gold or Platinum Delta cards will represent the best value, depending on how consistently you can use a companion certificate. For Delta frequent flyers wanting a boost to elite status the Platinum and Reserve cards are likely where you’ll get the most value.

Frequently asked questions