I'm trying to decide what to do to retain Sky Club access going forward, so I thought I'd see if FTers can help me make up my mind.
Here's the background:
I've been a Sky Club member for many years now, I first got access back when it was a PM benefit, then I paid for it for a while, then got access for free as a DM. I'm back at PM and my membership expired a couple of weeks ago.
I've had a Delta Platinum American Express card for many years, and until last fall I also had a Business Delta Platinum American Express card. I no longer have my business, and although I kept the card going for a couple of years to keep track of business expenses while working for another company, I decided to close that account last year. For the last several years, I've consistently received three (maybe 4 once or twice) 10,000 MQM bonuses on my credit cards (usually two on the person card and one on the business card; I sometimes charged some business expenses to the personal card). So I'm used to getting 30,000 MQMs each year to help put me over the top to PM, and once to DM. This used to be less important when I lived in Tampa and flew Delta 90+ percent of the time. But now I live in San Francisco and I end up flying United and Southwest (and Alaska) nonstop to many destinations; I don't always have time to connect using Delta.
As my membership expired, I was thinking that I would get the Delta Reserve Card instead of renewing, as I would have no problem spending $60K (on personal plus business expenses) on a single card to get the 30,000 MQMs I'm used to.
But the Delta Reserve card doesn't get me into Alaska Board Rooms, and I do a fair amount of flying between SFO and PDX, both locations with Board Rooms (both also have Sky Clubs but this requires a long walk to the AS gates -- and a trip through security at SFO). I've really come to enjoy the Board Rooms and would miss them if I get the reserve card.
Cost-wise it's close to being equal, the Delta Reserve card will cost me $300 more than the Delta Platinum, and as a PM, I can renew my SkyClub membership for $270 (for the next 2 days) with the SJN10 promo code.
Given the fact that the membership rates are going up, I'm considering buying a 3-year membership for $648 ($720-10%), as this will ultimately save me the most $ overall.
Another factor is that I understand that I can spend $25,000 on my Delta Platinum to get a 10,000 MQM bonus, and then upgrade to the Delta Reserve, and if I spend $60,000, get the two 15,000 MQM bonuses. And I can get a bonus of 5000 MQMs for upgrading. I'm pretty sure that I can hit $85,000 in spend this year, but it will be close.
So to summarize, cost/benefits of upgrading to the Delta Reserve:
- $300 per year in additional costs
- Likely one-time haul of 45,000 MQMs for this year, compared to the 20,000 I'll get if I stay with the Delta Platinum.
- 30,000 MQMs in future years instead of 20,000 MQMs with DL Platinum card
- Better companion ticket
- Other Reserve card benefits which probably don't hold much value to me
And cost/benefits of staying with Delta Platinum and paying $648 for a 3-year membership:
- $216 per year in cost (savings of $84 per year compared to Delta Reserve card -- less the time value of money). At the end of the 3 years, I would re-evaluate.
- Access to Alaska Board Rooms
Anyone have any advice or thoughts? Is there anything I'm missing in this analysis? It's hard to pass up MQMs given the fact that Delta has rollover, and they count toward Million Miler status (I'm a year or two from hitting Million Miler status). Other factors are my diminishing travel on Delta, making Sky Club access less useful, and meaning that I will likely not hit PM in the future, especially if I don't get the 30,000 MQMs each year. In some ways I'm tempted to switch over to United (I'm Silver there and have the United Club Visa card (similar in some ways to the Reserve card; I'm on a fee-free first year), but I they keep disappointing me when I fly them. And flying them out of SF is a hassle compared to flying either DL or AS.