Sky Club Membership Ending - Best way to renew
 

My sky club membership is about to end. I am trying to understand the benefits of purchasing the membership directly or using membership through credit cards such as Delta Reserve Am Express or Am Express Platinum.. Is there anything I can get by buying membership directly that I do not get by use of one of the credit card memberships. If this has been addressed in other threads can you direct me to the threads.

Reserve gives you the same SC benefits plus 15% off award bookings plus you can get anyone annual SC access for $175/year.

The SC membership allows access when traveling on any airline. The CCs require a DL flight. Also, check out guest rules to see if they matter to you.

OTOH, the AMEX Play also gets you Centurian and Priority Pass lounges.

Might also be a good time to do an objective pros and cons assessment of Sky Club membership. Unless you are a heavy traveler with generous layovers, it’s getting less and less attractive.

Be aware that the DL Amex Reserve card only offers triple miles on DL purchases, and one mile on other purchases. SkyClub access is included.

The DL Amex Platinum card earns the same, but also double miles on restaurants, double on supermarkets, and triple on hotels. However, Skyclub access is not included, but can be purchased for $50 per visit. If you don’t visit a club enough to offset the cost of a Skyclub membership or Reserve annual fee, the DL Amex Platinum is a better value IMO due to the higher mileage earning potential.

Note these are the “DL Amex” cards, not the traditional Amex cards which each have different policies.

A DL SC membership only provides access when flying DL or one of it's partners (not simply any airline). There's an exception for HA flights as they must be DL marketed for entrance. The DL Amex Reserve card is more restrictive as it requires flights either be DL operated or DL marketed (there is no access provided when flying DL partner flights which are not DL marketed). The Plat Amex is most restrictive as it only provides access when flying DL operated flights (simply being on a DL marketed is not sufficient with the sole exception of DL marketed WS flights).

A LIfetime SC membership provides access when flying any airline and some other unique benefits as well, BUT they are not available to purchase. Only those who are grandfathered in have them.

agree with this.

I use SC about 10% of the time I used to.

If the spend waiver matters to you reserve card makes a big difference. I have a plat card but pay the $175 as a guest from a friend who holds the reserve card. Essentially I pay $295 plus $175 for PM & sky club access. I qualify for plat with Amex waiver.