Chasing Delta Status

Is It Worth It?

I never thought I would be writing about this. When I first started getting interested in traveling and travel credit cards, I wasn’t interested in airline or hotel status. I liked being a free agent getting the best deals. However, as I have been traveling more over the last few years I have developed some preferences. I thought I could use a blog post to think out loud about possibly chasing airline status.

I’ve spent the last few days researching the status programs for Delta, United, and American Airlines. For this post, I want to focus on the Delta status program. While I was researching I found a video in my YouTube feed from one of my favorite finance channels.

Anthony’s video was very timely, because I was having a similar thought process. Can the Amex Platinum Delta and/or Reserve Delta cards replace the Amex Platinum and Gold cards? The Amex Gold card is a dining and grocery card; I have other cards for my food spend, although I don’t have what I consider to be an ideal setup for that particular category. I’m primarily interested in the Platinum Delta and Reserve Delta cards for my travel spending. I currently hold the Amex Platinum card.

If I have the Amex Platinum card, why would I want to replace it with Delta cards?

I’m sure that many people who are interested in the travel and credit card game would ask that question. Let me go point by point and explain my rationale.

• With few exceptions, I only use my Amex Platinum card to book airplane tickets. I’ve made this observation about my use of the card after having it for about 6 months. This card gets you 5X Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels and flights and 1X on everything else. I do use some of the credits, e.g. the digital entertainment credit, airline incidental credit, and the Uber credit to some extent.

• I don’t book hotel stays with the Platinum card, because it has to be a prepaid reservation. I don’t like booking prepaid reservations, because if you have to cancel, there are often few or no options for you to get your money back.

• For my situation, I have found many of the credits on the Amex Platinum to be difficult to use.

• One of the major reasons I got the Amex Platinum card is that I wanted to have lounge access when I fly. The Platinum card has the most comprehensive lounge access of any card. However, I mostly prefer to visit Centurion lounges and Delta Sky Clubs. The Amex Delta Reserve grants access to both these lounges.

• After flying fairly consistently for a few years, I have developed a preference for Delta.

It seems to me that given all these considerations, the Delta Platinum and/or the Delta Reserve cards might fit my needs and preferences.

Delta Medallion Elite Status

This article that I linked to earlier explains how Delta status works. I encourage you to read it if you’re not already familiar with the program so that the rest of this blog will make sense. My goal is to try to get Delta Silver Medallion Status. I believe that it is achievable for me.

The Delta Reserve card is attractive to me, because it gives you a $2,500 MQD headstart. It would halve the amount of MQDs I would have to earn to get to silver. I estimate that if I flew with Delta 4-6 times a year, it would be enough to earn $2,500 MQD. The card gives you 1 MQD per dollar spent with Delta or purchases from Delta Vacations. For other purchases, you earn 1 MQD per $10 spent, but I don’t believe that is a good option for stacking up MQDs. It might be a good way if you’re close to reaching another status level and you need a few more MQDs to get there.

Here is a link to the Delta Reserve card benefits. There are quite a few benefits, but the following are the ones I’m most interested in:

• $2,500 MQD headstart. It makes it easier to get to Silver Medallion status.

• Access to the Delta Sky Club. Starting in 2025, you will be limited to 15 complimentary visits per year. It would probably be enough for me.

• Access to the Centurion Lounge when flying Delta.

• Companion certificate. This is basically a buy on get one free deal. If you buy a round trip ticket for yourself, you can get a free one for a companion. Depending on which ticket you book, this could be quite valuable. Make sure to read the benefit terms for any restrictions.

• Upgrades. When you have Silver or higher medallion status, you get put on an upgrade list. It gives you a chance of getting a nicer seat. Since silver status is the lowest, you should temper your expectations. However, it does give you some chance.

• $200 Delta Stays credit. Delta has a site powered by Expedia where you can book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals. I like that you can find unique and quirky properties on that site that you often can’t find with big brands like Hilton, Marriott, or Hyatt.

• First checked bag is free. I often don’t travel light, so I usually need to check a bag. For a round trip, that would save me $60. You can also have up to 8 other people on the same reservation get free checked bags.

There are several other benefits, but these are the ones I find most useful and important. Some of these benefits are less tangible, and it’s difficult to put a value on them. After adding up the value of these benefits, it would more than negate the cost of the annual fee.

There is a Trick to Getting Silver Medallion Status Faster

There is a way to reach Silver Medallion faster that I’d like to briefly mention. You can get both the Delta Platinum and Delta Reserve cards. Both cards give you a $2,500 MQD headstart, and that gives you Silver Medallion status just from holding these two cards. It’s an interesting and efficient strategy, but the total annual fees would be $1,000. That’s a little excessive for me, but it could work for some people.

It’s also possible to hold both the personal and business versions of these cards and get Gold Medallion status. That would cost you $2,000 in annual fees.

On Possible Hiccup

American Express has 4 personal Delta cards: Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Reserve. Amex Delta cards have “family language” which affects how you earn signup bonuses. For example, if you apply for the Platinum card and earn the signup bonus, you cannot earn bonuses on the Blue or Gold versions. In other words, if you get a signup bonus on one of the cards, you are locked out of bonuses on cards below them in the hierarchy. If I wanted to optimize bonus earnings, I would start with the Blue and work my way up. I’m not sure if I’ll do that or not.

Conclusion

I hope you found my musings interesting. I still don’t know if I’ll get any of these Delta cards or if I’ll try to go after status. Writing down definitely helped me organize my thoughts. I’ll be sure to update you all on whatever I do.