If you fly Delta, even a few times a year, getting a Delta credit card can quickly pay off through the benefits you get when flying on Delta. However, with seven cards to choose from, it can be difficult to decide which one to get.
Fortunately, we’ve done the research and come up with recommendations that you can use as a quick guide. Here they are:
- For occasional Delta flyers without Medallion status: Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card offers a useful free checked bag benefit and a credit for hotels booked through Delta’s portal.
- If you can use a companion certificate and/or want to get 2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars each year: The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card can add a boost to your Medallion Qualification Dollars and give you a companion certificate each year after you renew your card.
- If you want occasional (monthly-ish) Delta Sky Club access: The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card adds 15 Sky Club visits for you and 4 visits for guests each year to the package and gives you a more valuable companion certificate that you can also use for First Class and Comfort+.
- If you want unlimited Sky Club access: Getting no Delta credit card and buying a Sky Club membership outright might be your best bet.
More on our recommendations is below. However, if you prefer to see all features of the Delta cards compared in easy-to-read tables, we have a guide for that. And we also hunt down the best Delta credit card welcome offers as well.
We recommend the Delta business credit cards over the personal cards
Within the Delta Air Lines credit card offering, we recommend getting the small business variant of the credit card if possible. Generally, you can get a small business card if you do anything to earn money or with the future expectation of earning money outside of traditional (W-2) employment. Even occasionally selling things on Facebook Marketplace or eBay counts.
Why you should get the business credit card comes down to two factors:
- A larger Delta Stays credit. Within each level of card (Gold/Platinum/Diamond), you can earn $50 more in Delta Stays credits each year.
- Better welcome bonus eligibility rules. The personal cards’ terms and conditions block you from earning a bonus if you’ve ever had the same or a higher-tier card, while the business cards have no such rules.
The cards do offer slightly different bonus spending categories, but since we don’t typically recommend using the cards for most spending, since in most cases you’ll easily get more value from the many no-annual-fee cash back cards available.
For checking bags without status: Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card
For most occasional Delta flyers without elite status, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card is the place to start.
For an ongoing annual fee of $150 a year ($0 in the first year), you get a free first checked bag benefit that extends to up to 8 people on the same reservation and a free second checked bag for yourself as the primary cardmember on U.S. domestic Delta flights.
We’d recommend getting the business variant of the card if you can, since it offers up to $150 in Delta Stays credits. (All of the business variants boost the Delta Stays credits by $50 over their personal counterparts.)
While we wouldn’t recommend putting most spending on the card, it might make sense to put $10,000 of spending on the card during the year to earn a $200 Delta flight credit, and charging the occasional rideshare purchase to the card after your first year, to take advantage of the Delta rideshare credit.
The card offers an exceptional value in its first year, thanks to its welcome bonus, paired with its $0 first-year annual fee and it frequently hits our list of best credit card offers.
For elite achievers and a companion certificate: Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
If you fly Delta domestically with a companion at least a few times a year, consider spending the extra money for the Platinum-level card.
If you don’t have or care about elite status, a marginal $200 in annual fees above the Gold-level card gets you a Main Cabin companion certificate that can be used within the U.S., or to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.
Ultimately, if you can consistently use the companion certificate, you’ll get plenty of value out of the upgrade, even without considering the ability to earn $50 more in Delta Stays credits each year and up to $10 each month in rideshare credits.
If you do have elite status, you probably aren’t considering the Gold-level card, so your marginal cost (over not getting a card) is a bit higher at $350/year. You’ll get the benefits above, but you also likely care about the MQD Headstart, which grants you 2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars each year, just for holding the card.
While the card offers you the ability to spend your way to higher Delta elite status, AND the Platinum-level cards offer the overall most generous rewards for spending, you’ll be much better off in most cases putting spending on no-annual fee cards that earn 2% cash back everywhere or offer rewards in bonus categories. If you need a few extra MQDs to get to the next level of status, then using the card for purchases might make sense, but if you’re putting tens of thousands of dollars on the card, the math actually works out better to get a second Platinum-level card and pay the annual fee. (You can hold both a business and a personal Delta Platinum card.)
For limited lounge access: Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
If you’re looking for airport lounge access when flying Delta, your natural inclination might be to pay an additional $300/year over the Delta Platinum card for the highest-tier Delta Reserve card.
The card offers 15 Delta Sky Club® visits per Medallion year, plus four one-time guest passes that you can use for someone traveling with you. Each “visit” includes your first visit to a Sky Club, and then all subsequent visits to any Sky Club within 24 hours.
But before you get the Reserve-level card for lounge access, consider that you have a few options that might work out better, depending on your travel patterns.
If the airports you visit have convenient Priority Pass lounges, you might consider one of the many cards that get you into those lounges instead. The Venture X from Capital One can get you unlimited Priority Pass lounge visits for a much more affordable $395/year, and there are several other options that can get your family into Priority Pass for not much more than that. Plus, there are a handful of no-annual-fee cards (like the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect) that offer a handful of Priority Pass lounge visits for free.
Should you spend $75k on the card in a year to unlock unlimited SkyClub access? Almost certainly not. If you’re flying Delta every week and want unlimited SkyClub access, you probably have Delta elite status, which means that Delta will sell you a SkyClub membership directly. Considering what you’re giving up in credit card rewards, holding no Delta credit card at all and paying for a Delta SkyClub membership outright is likely a better deal.
The Reserve cards offer an additional $50 in Delta Stays credits over the Platinum-level card, twice as many Resy credits, and a companion certificate that can be used for Main Cabin, Delta Comfort+, or First Class. But really the sweet spot customer for the Delta Reserve card is the once-monthly Delta flyer who can use 10-15 lounge visits a year.
For unlimited lounge access: No card?!?
If you’re truly a Delta road-warrior traveler, taking weekly flights on Delta, and yearning for the days when you could earn top-tier status from the 120+ flight segments you fly ever year, the best deal on Sky Club access may be skipping the credit cards altogether and buying Sky Club access outright.
Delta sells an individual membership to the Sky Club for $695/year and an executive membership that allows access for two guests or spouse and children for $1,495/year.
And purchasing an individual membership outright is cheaper than earning it on the credit card. Spending $75,000 each year on a card that earns only 1 SkyMile per dollar on purchases is expensive if you consider the opportunity cost. Consider this: If you’re earning 1 SkyMile per dollar on that spending (for argument’s sake, let’s just consider 1 SkyMile to be worth 1 cent), and your alternative is a 2% cash back card, you’re effectively paying $750 to earn.
That’s more expensive than simply buying an individual membership outright, and that doesn’t even consider that you’re paying a $650/year credit card annual fee for the privilege of spending that much to earn your status.
Of course, you might still get some value from the Delta cards’ other benefits like the Delta Stays credit, TakeOff 15 benefit, or the companion certificates. But if you’re just looking for unlimited lounge access, skipping the Delta credit cards entirely is probably your best bet.
Bottom line and further reading
Ultimately, like most airline credit cards, you should think of the card you choose as a subscription to the cards’ benefits. And, generally, the more you fly with Delta, the more the higher-tier cards make sense. But true Delta loyalists who care mostly about getting Sky Club access on every trip might want to skip the cards altogether and simply purchase a Sky Club membership.
Here are a few other articles you might be interested in as you research which Delta credit card is best for you:
