I'd love someone patient to help me work this out if you've got a few minutes!
I'm a longtime holder of the Delta Reserve card. I use it primarily to run a number of businesses, so I tend to earn all of my MQMs in January each year. I hold the card primarily for mileage accrual, but admittedly didn't do much research before I bit the bullet other than I travel to and from Europe once a year for a few weeks and prefer to fly in the front to do so...when I upgraded to the Reserve there was some incredible amount of miles and MQMs if memory serves, so I lept. The last airline ticket I paid for was in 1997, which I suppose is both good and bad since I'm not spending much with the airline directly! I do use the companion ticket each year, but that's really the extent to which I use the benefits. I'm sure it's a waste of the annual fee, but the MQMs have kept me at Gold for at least a decade and that has come with many-an-upgrade; however, with card spend it seems like there must be a better option for me. That being said, I've never truly investigated what options might be better for my travel needs until now...and my head is spinning. I do fly almost exclusively with Delta, though that's mostly due to having the Delta Reserve card building up miles.
Now my challenge. I'm adding another card solely for personal purchases...or keeping the Reserve and adding a business card, whichever makes the most sense. I've spent ages reading about each card, benefits of business v personal cards, bonuses, etc., but what I really can't determine are two things. 1) Ultimately I want to dump all of my miles into Delta...I'm taking my parents and a friend to Europe next summer to knock off a couple of things on Mom and Dad's bucket list and need over a million miles to put us all in 1st...with a handful of trips before I book our tickets. I would just love to not pay it out of pocket when I'm spending at least that on my Reserve card each year. I'm sure there's a fee to combine miles between cards (right?!), but I can't make sense of it all. 2) What card makes the most sense, even if it means bagging my Reserve card for something different and adding the second card. I don't mind the annual fees if the benefits make sense, but after reading through pages and pages on the message boards, I'm just sure I'm not doing it right.
I've read the boards for hours this past week, but can't find a thread that addresses what I'm after. If I'm just not finding it, please direct me and I'll keep hunting!
Thank you for the help!
Natalie