Originally Posted by
Bowgie
If someone is putting $25,000 on the Platinum version of the card, then the MQM bonus is worth the $150 annual fee over the $95 Gold Delta Amex. The problem is that both of these cards are unattractive to someone with status for all the reasons the OP gives. There is only one good reason to hold either of these cards: the $25,000 annual cc spend waiver in lieu of spending $12,500 MQD's.
Well, one more reason -- and in this OP's case the only reason -- for the DL AmEx Plat or Reserve card...
Even DM's can benefit from the cc spend that gives more MQM's. Up to 20K MQM's with the Plat card, 30K with Reserve. If not needed this year, it is all rolled over to the following year.