ProfRB

I originally signed up for the Delta Reserve because of the MQM bonuses, but when Delta created the MQD requirement a few years ago that became the most important reason to retain it. With the MQD "waiver" all but gone, I'm about to pull the trigger on cancelling my Reserve and replacing it with the Platinum Amex. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has made or recently considered the switch. One consideration for me is the lack of access that I, as a Delta Diamond but strictly economy-class international passenger, will have next year to international partner lounges. One of the key benefits I have often seen touted for the Platinum Amex is the access that Priority Pass provides to international lounges. I have tried in vain to find a website where I can find a list of all the available lounges -- I'd like to make sure there are lounges in the places I go before I pull the trigger based largely on this factor. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Is there any other general advice you would offer as I consider this change? Many thanks in advance. My travel experience is infinitely more pleasant thanks to the terrific advice I get from fellow-travelers on FlyerTalk.

CKDGM

TL;DR: Amex Platinum is probably the best lounge access card out there, especially for a Delta FF (because of the Sky Club access).

Amex's website has a page that will let you search for lounge access by airport so you can easily see what's out there. It's the Priority Pass Select network and the Sky Clubs (if you're on DL) and some additional lounges (Amex's own Centurion Lounge, the Escape Lounge @MSP, Plaza Premium, etc) that aren't in PP Select.

Examples for me: my current home base of SEA has 8 lounges I can use if I'm on DL, 6 otherwise: 2 Sky Clubs (DL only), 2 The Clubs, 3 Alaska Board Rooms, and the Centurion Lounge. (The latter isn't part of Priority Pass and is only available to Amex Plat/Centurion customers.) All but the SCs will let me bring in two guests, as well. BOS? A total of 5 lounges spread around the terminals: 2 SCs, the AF lounge, The Club, and The Lounge (which is a smaller The Club AFAICT).

Internationally, there are also plenty of options. MUC has 6 lounges so I'm set whichever terminal I'm in; LHR has 10 options, similarly spread out; YYZ has 7 lounges covering international, domestic, and transborder in both terminals.

I made the switch a few months ago (though I didn't cancel the Reserve but just downgraded it to the SkyMiles Platinum) and I am glad DL changed the waiver and prodded me to look at options beyond the Reserve. I'm getting much more value from the $550 AF than I was from the Reserve's $450.

BlueStreak17

Access to International partner lounges is going away when flying economy? I thought this was a benefit that came with Sky Priority?

xliioper

It has nothing to do with Sky Priority. It is a benefit Skyteam Elite Plus status (DL Gold status or higher), and no it is not going away. Skyteam Elite Plus members on international flights (other than flights to the Caribbean, Guam, Palau, and Saipan) will continue to get access to Sky Clubs and Skyteam member lounges (plus 1 guest).

BlueStreak17

xliioper

No, they are not synonymous and DL does not use them interchangeably. Sky Priority is a day of flight service level, not a status level. For example, people with a domestic First Class ticket or an International Premium Select ticket will receive Sky Priority for the day of their flight even if they have no status. Note that neither of those tickets will get you into a lounge.

bgriff

Back to the original question, a few things to consider:

--Keep in mind that while the waiver is essentially gone for DM, it is still the same as it's been for lower status levels. If you're sure you'd be targeting DM every year, then maybe the waiver is gone, but personally I have some lighter travel years and might in some years value using the waiver to get PM. Especially true if your travel patterns vary from year to year, making rollover a significant element.

--Priority Pass is handy enough to have, but the average quality of PP lounges is not high. I've been to a couple dozen at least and there were only a few that I would ever consider paying cash to enter. So just because you see that a PP lounge is available in your destination doesn't mean you should necessarily get too excited about it.

--You say you won't have access to international lounges next year -- not clear where that's coming from. Are you still going to be DM (or PM or GM)? If so you will have access to SkyTeam lounges when flying on SkyTeam, even in coach. If you are flying from an airport where there is no SkyTeam lounge, you may not have access, but if there is a SkyTeam lounge, they are usually at least as good as any Priority Pass options.

--As you probably already realize, the Amex Platinum has a high annual fee but gives a number of credits that are fairly easy to redeem, so the "net" annual fee is arguably lower than that of the Delta Reserve card, depending how much value you get out of the Reserve's companion certificate.


So overall I would agree that unless you get a lot of value out of the Reserve companion certificate, the Amex Platinum is likely a better choice, if you no longer place any value on the MQD waiver. (And if you do place some value on the MQD waiver for below-DM status levels, you could still achieve that with a cheaper Delta Amex card than the Reserve.)

If you are still DM, also keep in mind that you have the option to use a Choice Benefit for continued Sky Club membership. Whether that's a good idea depends how much you value the other Choice Benefit options. But, while it's getting a bit farther away from your question, if you place a really high value on Sky Club + PP access, you could also consider other combinations like Sky Club membership via Choice Benefits and PP access from another credit card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, if you had any interest in that card -- which could depend in part on how much you would value the points earned and bonus point categories on that card vs. the Amex Platinum.

pvn

The changes to international partner lounges only effect sky club members, not reserve card holders, and not skteam elite plus flyers on international itineraries.

xliioper

Well, it doesn't affect Reserve cardholders because they never had access to partner lounges with the card.

Gig103

It sounds like you understand all the lounge benefits, so I wanted to point out that earning Amex MRs is nicer than Skymiles. For starters, 5x MRs for all your flights (booked with Amex or with Delta) instead of 2x on the Reserve. And MRs can be transferred to Delta (for the same result as Skymiles), or Flying Blue and other partners for more award redemption options. In addition, the periodic Amex Offers come along with nice bonuses sometimes; I recently got a 1000 MR bonus for spending $20 at Shake Shack, which is 50pt/$. Then there was the "$30 off of a $60 order if you use MRs to pay for an order on Amazon". And don't forget you will get a signup bonus that you don't get for renewing a Reserve card!

To me it's a no brainer to change to Amex Platinum if you can organically earn PM, since that's as good as the Reserve waiver will help you anymore and you still retain Skyclub access. Do you travel with family or friends often? The Platinum card entry costs $29 for guests (unless you add friends/family as Platinum authorized users which costs money).

The Amex Platinum also comes with the "International Airline Program" which can get discounts on business and PE seats. The quotes I've received were 15% off published fares for DeltaONE. You say you're strictly economy, but it's still a nifty option that can save some cash.

bgriff

Just to note, I believe the Reserve card and Platinum card cost the same to bring guests to the Sky Club, so no difference there. With either card, a Diamond could choose the Sky Club guest pass as one of their choice benefits that would let you bring 2 guests with you into the club for free.

And the Reserve card, as well as all other Amex cards, has Amex Offers, so shouldn't be much difference there. Sometimes certain offers are targeted, and there are certain bonus Membership Rewards offers that would only appear on a card that earns MR points like the Platinum card, but many offers are available on (or at least eligible to be targeted onto) all cards.


The sign-up bonus is a good point. Make sure you seek out a good one. There have been targeted 100K MR points signup bonuses on the Amex Platinum at various points in time, it's probably worth waiting for one of those since you can only earn a signup bonus once in a lifetime on each Amex card.

manacit

As others have said, the American Express Platinum probably has the best lounge-granting access of any single card if you fly Delta often. You get access to SCs with the *same* restrictions as real SC members starting this year, and on top of that you can get access to the American Express domestic and international lounges, which are top-tier compared to most of their domestic competition, and and usually competitive in their respective airports. PP lounges are totally hit or miss, but if you travel internationally they are much better than their domestic lounges, which are usually very very mediocre.

On top of that, the American Express Platinum is a significantly better card to spend on if you buy your own plane tickets - 5 MR per $1 on tickets that will instantly transfer to numerous partners (including Sky Miles!) makes the Reserve card pretty much useless for spending money on.

The AF seems high ($550 on the personal Plat), but by the time you knock $200 off with DL gift cards, you're down to $350. From there, you've got ~$200 of Uber credit (which can be used on Uber Eats!) and a myriad of other benefits (which range from useful to extremely worthless, depending on who you are), but are much harder to assign a real dollar value to. Last year I was able to redeem a number of Amex Offers and easily chip off the rest of the AF.

My preferred combination has been the American Express Platinum, and then the Delta American Express Platinum, which I use for getting my MQD waiver, as well as the annual companion ticket that easily makes up for the AF.

OroroT

Agree here with some others - if you can consistently make PM with MQMs and MQDs by flying, the Amex Platinum seems like a no-brainer. If you anticipate some lean travel years, the Reserve is a better way to go if the elite status is important, as you can bank rollover MQMs (up to 30k MQM spend bonus) and then get the MQD waiver. The latter makes the most sense in my case, where I still want to earn GM or PM without too much sweat if I have the occasional off-year with less travel. I would actually welcome one of these "low butt-miles" years in the near future

charlesdemar

This was a great thread (I'm considering the same switch myself) and appreciate everyone chiming in. The one thing I didn't see mentioned (may have missed it) was the Reserve card will give you priority upgrade status over others in your medallion class flying on the same fare. I know this doesn't sound like much, but, I definitely saw my position on the UG list increase significantly after I started carrying the card. I can't scientifically say it was the card, albeit, my UG's did increase this year and I was hanging out higher in the list where I was usually 5-7 people down before.

Again, great information here and gives me something to think about.

bgriff

Statistically you would have to think the value of the Reserve increasing your upgrade priority is pretty low, but who knows. Obviously it would help once in a while. But it would require that you were otherwise going to be #1 for 0 seats remaining, and that tiebreaker moved you up to #1 for 1 seat remaining, for it to matter.

Really Delta should probably start sending every Reserve cardholder an email whenever they do get such an upgrade to reinforce the value of the card. And for that matter start sending everyone who misses an upgrade in such a setting an email telling them what could have been if only they signed up...