amlothi

DL Gold AMEX holder here. Received my first $99 companion certificate today, and frankly I don't see when I would ever use it after looking at the conditions and trying to book it.

1) I was shocked to find out that, even though I am paying full fare for myself, that I will be ineligible for upgrades because my companion is using the certificate. How does this make sense?

2) I was hoping I could at least pay for my ticket using PWM, but I guess even that isn't an option.

3) Only available for domestic coach tickets. I can't even buy a 1st class fare and use the certificate for my companion to be in coach.


Too many stupid restrictions! The vast majority of the time I am travelling by myself for work. When I'm travelling with a companion, it is usually for leisure, and I would rather use the miles I've racked up OR if it's a cheap fare and I don't mind paying it, taking away my upgrade chances really irks me for some reason.

Can anyone tell me how they have found this certificate to be useful?

robert4travels

And you forgot the most important rule for using Amex companion certificates (like for AMEX Gold & Platinum):

4) You can use it only on those flights / itineraries where there are LUT fares available.

So your actual savings for using this certificate are not even that big. And good luck finding such a fare on high travel demand days like Thanksgiving.

The only time I would (be able to) use such a certificate is when I would want to fly cross-country (east - west coast) during off-peak times.

kahuna613

IIRC, I used mine last October and had the reservation split and received an upgrade on one of the flights. Just call SMS and have them split it, if you end up booking it.

mexxem

Best solution

jtrue28

you have to use the AMEX card that is responsible for the comp cert. this means you can't use miles, can't use e-credits or any other form of payment.

YMMV on the upgrades, but unless the loophole was fixed my wife and I both received an upgrade while she was flying on my comp cert. she also received MQMs and the bonus miles.

amlothi

Any way to use this if you cancel the credit card? The annual fee just isn't worth it for the Gold card, and I don't need the MQMs that the Plat would give me.

jtrue28

no. you have to use the card to pay for the tickets.

mrx900

are you sure???? or can you get away with using ANY AMEX card?

trek87

It looks like you must indeed purchase the paid ticket using the Skymiles AMEX, from https://www.delta.com/planning_reser...ates/index.jsp

Primary Ticket and Companion Ticket must be purchased with your Delta SkyMiles Credit Card

tholzer

This is a great benefit for me. a $99 ticket is a bargain. Flying First Class is not that important for me (speaking as a Diamond Medallion); more important is getting airfare at good deal, and $99 is great.
Note: flying for business, FC is important. Flying with family FC is nice, but being in close proximity in coach is not such a big deal when you are sitting next to your wife or daughter/son.

Also, IIRC, I MAJOR point that has not been mentioned: Companion flights can be used by others. Namely you (the card holder) do not need fly as the purchased ticket (nor the companion). I have done this, and the representative made it sound like it was not a big deal. I have purchased 2 tickets (1 regular, and 1 companion) where I was not either... I bought a separate ticket.

trek87

Correct, the person redeeming his/her companion certificate doesn't necessarily need to be traveling, from https://www.delta.com/planning_reser...tes/index.jsp:

Certificate is transferable; however, tickets must be purchased with your Delta SkyMiles Credit Card. Primary Ticket and Companion ticket are not transferable once issued.

sspontak

I found a strange thing trying to use the $99 certificate for a 4th of July weekend NYC-MCO-NYC itinerary: Leave July 2 evening and return July 5 evening. K fares are available on the nonstops at a fair price $137, no LUT fares available on the nonstops. Only LU ATL connections available starting at $279. I guess Delta purposely prices LU fares higher than other fares such as K fares just so it is not advantageous for people to use the certificates. Another useless perk from Delta. I just have never seen wacky prices like this before, even from Delta. I use this certificate every yeare usually for this same 4th of July weekend, now I can't. Another reason not to renew my Amex Skymiles Gold card and fly Southwest. See ya.

trek87

It's unlikely that DL's pricing for the summer schedules this far out are geared toward limiting use of the AMEX companion certificates. I've been seeing a lot of the cheaper sLUT fares released closer to departure these days, so I suggest checking regularly and you may see more LUT tickets released. DL fares seem to hit the sweet spot about 30-60 days out for me, even for some holiday weekends.

sspontak

Make sense. I guess it is a little early. I will wait it out. Thanks for the advise.

HLS2002

My Gold SM Amex is up for renewal this month, and I'm going to cancel. Considering it's easy to get 2% cash-back on a no-fee credit card, I can't see the point of paying the fee to get 1 Skymile per $1, even with the 5k bump-ups every 15k. Maybe it's worth it for the serious high-rollers (e.g., charging hundreds of thousands such that you get free premium int'l tickets). The companion certificate sounds like a pain at best. At least I got a nice bonus for signing up for the card last year!