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If I get a new Amex delta card and my wife becomes an additional card holder on that account, would she be able to still received bonus miles for getting her own similar card?
@MTH – Yep! Adding her as AU has no impact on her ability to get the new card bonus. But a great question.
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Rene, Thanks for all of the good Delta information. My wife and I have already maxed out our Amex Delta Reserve cards for 2016. What would you recommend as an additional card that would provide the best benefits without overlapping what we already get from the reserve cards? Thanks much.
@David – Depends on what you need. If you need more MQMs get a Platinum Delta AMEX card. If not, what do you need next? Hotel points? Flexable points? Points you can MS?
Now that Costco will not accept my American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles card, what is the best Visa issued card?
Thanks!
@John L – Well one thing to consider is buying $500 Visa Debt Gift Cards from GiftCards.com (starting first at Top Cash Back to get 1.5% back thus making them just about fee free. Then spend those at Costco and still be able to meet your Delta AMEX spending 🙂 #Winning
In general, with regards to the “91 day cooling period before applying for new cards”. when is the starting point for that time period? Application Approval date or Card Activation date?
@Kent – The date they ping your credit or application date (most time). Also look long term as every 24 months the inquiry’s fall off your report.
How soon should I get the Delta Reserve Business and Personal cards so that I can get the sign up MQMs for next year? So, could I get the cards end of October and make my first transaction in January to get the MQMs for 2017 calendar year?
@jediwho – If you are NOT planning for rollover MQMs I would WAIT until 1JAN17 to apply.
You mention that you can only get the bonus points 1 time with an Amex Business Platinum card. Is an Amex Delta Business platinum card the same thing, or could I have both and get sign up bonus points offered on both? By the way, thanks for all of the great information on your blog!
@Amy – They are both unique products and you can get the bonus for each card. The Delta co-branded Platinum cards has nothing at all to do with the non-Delta Platinum cards.
I will be rolling over miles this year. I have a Delta Amex gold, but have been considering getting the reserve. Is there any reason I should wait to apply for the reserve until next year / until a promotion, or is the regular reserve deal pretty constant?
@Oliver – Never seen higher
Hi Rene – I’m quickly becoming obsessed with your blog, thanks for all you do. I recently booked a Delta One trip for myself and some friends to Hong Kong. One of them has never flown Delta and she’s getting a targeted offer for 60,000 Miles on the Amex Gold Card (not Platinum), I couldn’t believe it until she forwarded the email. Do you think this is because she’s a new customer and flying Delta One? I just had to share this!
@Jon – AMEX can send 50-75k targeted offers any time to people – even to those have had the card and can not get the bonus again. I have given up understanding the AMEX logic! Enjoy and thanks for reading the blog.
I was glancing at some info from Chase about the Sapphire Reserve card and saw that it said something to the effect that if it was determined that the card was being used for the purpose of generating rewards Chase could terminate the account and the customer would forfeit all points. That is pretty scary. Do you know what I’m referring to? Should this be a concern for us, and if so, what is the best way to avoid having an account closed and points forfeited? Thanks.
@John – All the card companies are on the watch for MS nowadays. Mix up spend and be reasonable to avoid issues.
I know you say never cancel a credit card but I have a personal non Delta Platinum Amex Card and I want to get a Business non Delta Platinum Amex for the MR Points but I don’t need two non Delta Platinum AMEXs Note I also have a Delta Reserve and a Delta Amex Platinum
@Jack – Slight correction, never cancel a card till you need to or if you can not downgrade to a no fee card. Also, another issue to keep in mind, AMEX has a max 4/5 credit card rule (some say 4 other 5) but charge cards do not count in this total. So you my have to cancel an AMEX card to get another one yes.
Hi Rene,
I’ve been traveling for the last year with a program called Remote Year. We’ve spent 12 months in 12 cities (4 in S. America, 4 in Europe, and 4 in Asia). As you can imagine, it’s actually been quite difficult to stick to one alliance for flights — availability varies a ton across the major carriers to some of these international destinations. I’ve never signed up for an airline co-branded credit card (I’m a long time Chase Sapphire cardholder), but I’ve noticed that American Express is definitely accepted less in some of the places I’ve visited.
I’ve been able to remain Gold status with Delta for 2 years now, and my travels for the year are coming to an end. I thought I would try one of the co-branded credit cards with Amex, especially given that I’d be spending more time in the US (not traveling for the year like I was this year), and that I keep ending up at Gold status with Delta. I was thinking I might be able to hit a higher status if I put a lot of spend on one of those co-branded cards.
I signed up for a new Delta Reserve Amex card on 2 January, and added my spouse as an additional card. The extra card for my spouse arrived a few days later, but mine never did. Around 15 January, I had to travel to Vietnam for a few weeks. I’ve been back & forth with Amex’s card replacement team — I’ve had to call them 8 times! They continually tell me they will call me back in 48 hours, but I’ve yet to receive a single call back. It seems like I’ll never actually get the card sent to me in Vietnam… I even tried to cancel the card (or see if the cancellation team could fix some of this) and they transferred me back to card replacement after I asked them not to transfer me.
Is this typical for Amex customer service, or only for new cards / card replacements, in your experience? I’m starting to wonder if these Amex branded credit cards are worth it, after my own experiment has (thus far) gone horribly wrong. Also, are any of the airline co-branded Visa cards any better?
Thank you!
– Martin
@Martin – You really have a once off situation and not the norm. Have you asked for a Supervisor yet to escalate your case. This is just not OK clearly!
Rene, Delta used to provide SkyPriority (all the way from Check-in to Boarding) for Platinum card members, but this is no longer the case for 2017. So I’m searching for ways to reach gold status to get this perk back. Since now that seems to be the only way (with the exception of buying a Business/DeltaOne ticket).
I currently have a Delta Platinum Amex card and my wife has the same. I think we can both contribute to reach the highest threshold of a Reserve Card. So I am thinking of upgrading my Platinum to a Reserve card. But after that, I am a little bit confused.
Should I order a card for my wife through ‘Add Card Member’? So she’ll get her own Reserve Card and her purchases there will count toward my spending limit?
In the event that we reach the $60k limit, she can switch back to her current Platinum card to earn status for herself? And she could add me as a card member there, so I would get a Platinum Card, where my spending limits would help her?
I think the strategy would be to reach the highest threshold on the reserve first, and as soon as we do that, we switch to another card.
I’m a bit confused between ‘Authorized User’ and ‘Additional Card Member’. Is that the same thing?
I think another option would be to also get a Business card, and switch to that one to get even higher status.
Thanks for your help, this is a very helpful blog!
@LDelayen – Wow were to start. Let me start with the most obvious one – NEVER EVER EVER Upgrade or downgrade an AMEX card (unless you have had it before). You risk missing out on the 1x LIFETIME bonus. See this post:
.
http://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2016/02/04/please-dont-ever-click-or-call-for-a-delta-amex-card-upgrade-i-lost-out-on-10000-mqms-a-guest-post-by-reader-bob/
.
OK so we get new cards (and I hope support the blog as well) 😉 http://www.RenesPoints.com/bpc
.
Next issue. Yes with the Reserve card, after you meet the year spend of 30&60k, you can keep or send the MQMs. With the new +1 upgrade at higher level (on paid tickets) it may be wise to focus on only one of you reaching Platinum if you travel as a couple all the time.
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Next, AUs spend always counts towards the primary cold holder. Period. The AUs, depending on the card, may have more or less perks. It just depends on the card.
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Lastly, keep in mind the Reserve card itself gives some of the elite perks you are lacking. I hold the card and always will. Does this help? – René
Thank you for the reply Rene. I tried clicking on your link, but it still shows the Reserve card as an Upgrade, because I own the Platinum Card. I was under the impression that I would not get the 1x Lifetime Bonus anyway, because it’s the same family of card. I would have to apply for the business version to get these.
What are your links supposed to do that is different from me logging into the Amex website?
@LDelayen – Do this: 1) Log out of AMEX. 2) Clear your cache. 3) DO NOT log into AMEX. 4) Use my links and thank you for supporting the blog! http://www.RenesPoints.com/bpc
.
BTW your impression is wrong. Each card is unique and you can get the bonus 1x for each one. To be clear:
.
Personal Delta AMEX Gold – 1x
Personal Delta AMEX Platinum – 1x
Personal Delta AMEX Reserve – 1x
Business Delta AMEX Gold – 1x
Business Delta AMEX Platinum – 1x
Business Delta AMEX Reserve – 1x
.
IE each one unique product and you can get bonus 1x each. For example I right now hold ALL 3 of the Business cards and got the bonus for each one!
Good to know, thanks for the tip! That seems to work, it allows me to apply for it, instead of upgrading to it.
I will do that and cancel the platinum once I’m fully transferred over.
Thank you
@LDelayen – I would do this. Once the Platinum fee bills you have 30 days to cancel and get it back in full. A few days after the fee bills your Platinum BOGOF cert will dump into your My Delta. You can then cancel, get fee back, and the cert will NOT go away (even though AMEX tells you it will). You can then use ANY AMEX card to pay for and spend the cert if you want. 😉
Nice trick! I’ve ordered the Reserve Card, thanks so much Rene!
DELTA CARD for $25,000 waiver.
Which one makes most sense for seasoned card holders?
This may be worth a new topic for this blog.
Situation many, including me, are in.
1. Will spend less than $3,000 on Delta tickets this year.
2. Need to spend $25k on Delta amex for waiver.
3. Have already had Personal Gold & Plat Delta Amex, and Bus Gold & Plat Delta Amex. So no sign up bonus Avail.
4. Do not need Club access.
5. Need to stay at least Silver (gold or higher doesn’t help as upgrades are non existant out of NYC on my route..
6. Biggest concern is Zone 1 or better boarding and exit row seating.
7. Companion vouchers from past Plat’s have been redeemed at $200-250 for me.
8. Will need to do 15-20K in MS to get to 25K.
Options: Reserve – at $450 need spend 30K(big spend for me)
get 1 companion tkt. (i don’t fly 1st) and 10k mqm. + 15mqm after spend
Ptat – $195 0 mqm, 1 companion tkt + 10k mqm
Gold – $0 0mqm, no spend bonus.
So it boils down to the cost of 25k spend for me. Since i can get $200 value on a companion tkt, that washes the annual fee for the Plat. So is an extra $250 for the reserve worth around 10k mqms?
I know you love the reserve, but at silver or gold it won’t be any help for upgrades for me. Thanks for your thoughts.
@e – Sounds like Silver Medallion and Delta AMEX Platinum are the perfect combo for most of your needs!
Thanks Rene, it kills me to get a new card with no sign up bonus. Have not done that in…. forever.
Guess it’s time to bite the bullet.
@e – I have done that recently. But it was the USAA 2.5% Unlimited cash back card so… 😉
.
PS you can still use my links btw – http://www.RenesPoints.com/bpc
Hi. I am a semi-frequent flyer who achieved Platinum status this last year through a combo of (i) higher-than-usual work travel (about 20,000 miles versus what I’d normally expect to be about 5,000 miles); and (ii) Delta Reserve Card mileage bonuses (I just made the $60k spend to bank 40,000 MQMs this year). In most years I’ll have about 20,000 MQMs from personal travel, which is what I had last year. So combining my Reserve Points and credit card spend, I’ll probably end up a regular Gold Medallion with occasional platinum status if I put most of my spending on the Reserve card.
This year, i’ve run into an issue: I’m traveling to Greece for my honeymoon and a lot of places only accept Visa/Mastercard. I don’t have a Visa or Mastercard that does not charge foreign transaction fees, and got tagged for one such fee booking a hotel. I’d like to avoid in the future. From what I have researched, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® seems to have the best travel rewards program, but is not particularly compatible with Delta and I get a lot of value out of putting my regular daily spending on the Reserve card. That makes stomaching the extra $450 Chase Sapphire Reserve® fee hard. I’m pretty loyal to Delta in my flying.
Any recommendations on the type of cards I should consider?
Thanks.
Hi Rene,
I have greatly enjoyed your blog. I have a quick question. I am Diamond Medallion but I do not think next year I will make it. My wife got an offer from Amex CC for 10000 Medallion miles after meeting the bonus requirements. If she signs up can she transfer the Medallion miles to me because she does not travel much. This could help me make Diamond.
Thanks
Sammy
@Sammy – Nope. Sorry.
Hi Rene, recently found your blog and love all the information flooding my brain. i am a Delta DM and hope to repeat next year. I have tried to keep up with the Delta Platinum and Reserve card info trying to see which is better on a cost/benefit issue. Is the Reserve worth the additional annual cost in your opinion?
Thanks for your thoughts.
@Brad – You better believe it and why I keep it year after year for more MQMs, more upgrades and soon as my Choice Benefit guest pass upgrades!
Rene, my wife currently holds the Amex Platinum card but has never held the Reserve card. If she applies for the Reserve card as a new applicant are the initial 10,000 MQMs for sign up transferable to me?
@AG – Sorry no. Those go to card holder. 🙁
I am currently a personal AMEX Reserve cardholder. Under the new rules if I apply for a new Business Reserve card (never held a business reserve card before) can I personally get the 10,000 MQM sign-up bonus?
@AG – Yep. Enjoy. Thanks for using our links. http://Www.RenesPoints.com/bpc
Hi Rene
I am moments away from a business Delta Reserve card, but I can’t seem to find a link for THAT card on your site.
Should I click any AMEX link, then switch to the card I want?
Thanks
@RossKoh – Start at any Delta AMEX link and I will get credit. Thanks so much! http://www.RenesPoints.com/bpc
Thanks Rene,
Success!
They never asked for my EIN # that your site helped me get.
Maybe because I followed the link via my phone and signed up that way.
I have a flight on Friday morning, hoping I get the card in time for a little lounge visit. Do you need to book on the reserve card, or just own it for individual access?
@RossKoh – You do not need to book with card. Once it shows up in your MY DELTA ie you will see it then you are good to go.
Greetings:
thanks for very information posts!
I have a few nitty-gritty questions.
1. Can I open an Amex Delta card (any flavor, e.g., Platinum or Reserve, Business or Personal) in my name, but specify the Delta SkyMiles account of my brother? Is this allowed with Delta / Amex rules and regulations? The objective is to help my brother get MQMs. We have the same last name, and different first names.
2. Can 4 people open their own Amex Delta Reserve, earn MQMs, and gift those MQMs to the same, 5th person? Say persons A, B, C, D each open a Amex Delta Reserve, earn MQMs, and each gift the MQMs to person Z?
I understand that only MQMs earn via hefty spend quality for gifting, but not the welcome / bonus / initial spend variety.
3. Do you know how often Amex has the promotion whereby the welcome bonus is doubled? E.g., Amex Delta Platinum (both Personal and Business) were running a promotion whereby welcome offer was: 10K MQMs and 70K redeemables (vs the normally available 5K MQMs and 35K redeemables).
Thank you very much in advance for your help.
@American FF – 1) No. 2) Yes you can gift to anyone you want and they can get unlimited gifts. 3) Normally AMEX runs bonus MQM card offers 1x a year and you just missed it.
@ Mike February 7, 2017 at 21:17
Chase Sapphire Reserve® effective annual fee is $450, because they rebate $300 in travel expenses, and these are very easy to “earn”.
Anything goes: taxi, uber, hotel, airline flight, etc.
Thanks, Rene. Regarding the Welcome Bonus MQMs for Reserve cards. Do you know how long they take to post? Thanks again!
@American FF – At most 1-3 days after statement close.
I applied for the Delta Amex Plat during the elevated sign up bonus this Summer. I met the min spend requirements and completed a Delta purchase to trigger the $100 statement credit. None of the sign up bonuses have posted. I have called AMEX twice so far inquiring, they confirmed I was eligible for the bonus and that I have met the min spend. They told me it takes 6-8 weeks to post. Next week is 8 weeks. Is there anything else I can do to ensure I get this bonus? Or, am I on a course to be fighting with AMEX for the next few weeks?
@Wfb – You will be fighting / waiting hate to say. Make sure you over spend by at least the annual fee to 100% make sure you met the spend total before 90 days is up!
Rene – I just received my first time Personal AMEX Reserve card following your link (I have had Business Reserve for a few years). Thank you. Nowhere in the welcome package do I see anything reference to the “New Welcome Offer” 10KMQM bonus on $3K spend. I did take screen shots during on-line application process that list the bonus. Is there a way to get confirmation that this card will give me the new welcome bonus?
@Glenn – Online Amex chat or call.
Hey Rene,
Long time follower, thanks so much for what you do!
Based on following you for years I have a now have DL AMEX Reserve card. Now I have to get to the “magic” $60K.
Since many places as you know, such as Costco and other Bill pays don’t take AMEX, but do take Visa Debit cards, is there a specific Debit card you can recommended based on experience that I can purchase with my DL AMEX card so I can get to the $60K milestone?
@Scott – Yes. The cheapest is the Simons Mall Visa Debit Gift cards as they only carry a $3.95 fee for each $500 card you can, as you point out, use at Cosco. Or, start at Top Cash Back to get 2% cash back and buy $500 cards from GiftCardMall.com.
Thank you so very much. Someone had pointed out to me the Vanilla Visa card was the “safest”. Thoughts?
@Scott – They are AOK for spenging. Harder to buy money orders.
Hi Rene,
I understand there can be a period of time for bonus miles & MQMs to post after having opened and put spending on a new card, but are all cards the same?
I opened a Delta Amex Platinum business card and it seems as though nothing has posted. It opened 11/19 with statement closing 12/7 and nothing yet. Need them to post before year end! When I called they stated that because it was New it would take 6-8 weeks in general? Any advice here? Thanks!
@Tony – Just make sure your spend goals are 100% done by 31DEC. Then no worries if it takes into JAN18.
My husband received a targeted 60,000, free first year, AMEX gold, spend 1000 in 3 months, 50 statement credit. Expires 6/20
He does not have an AMEX. I have the Reserve card(love it)
I can use his miles for my SFO and BOS daughter to visit us in CVG.
He rarely travels.
Thoughts? Go or no go (in your respected opinion).
Thanks.
Brenda in CVG
@Benda – Solid offer. Why not?
THANKS !
I thought so, too.
I’ve had a Delta Platinum AMEX card for years. On your blog today there is an advertisement for an AMEX Platinum Business card with a bonus opportunity for up to 70,000 bonus points on Delta. Very tempting. Annual fee is the same: $195. My question is, can I as an individual obtain a business card? I seem to think you answered this question some time ago and the answer was yes, but I’d like to confirm. Thanks, Michael Grossman
@michael – You sure can. Anyone can get the card, even say a sole proprietor who buys and sells one ebay (even if no income). Your total income will be considered for approval. Thanks for supporting the blog with our links if you do go for the card. http://www.RenesPoints.com/bpc
Hi Rene,
If I was to get the Delta Reserve card today and cancel my Platinum card before the end of the year, would I lose my MQD waiver? The reserve card bonus MQM’s will get me to Platinum but I do not see a reason to keep both cards moving forward. My fee on the Platinum card hits Feb 11th so maybe I just cancel in Jan?
Thank you in advance,
@Mike – Once you have earned (and it is posted on Delta.com) the MQD waver it is done and you do NOT need to keep the Amex card.
Wow that was a quick response. Also very good to hear.
Thanks for all your help these past few years.
I have an American Express delta reserve and delta platinum for business. I have already got full mqms from card spend ytd. I also have a personal delta card I am considering upgrading to the personal delta platinum card for the mqms and maybe personal reserve as well. Can I still get the mqms on my 1st personal version of that card?
Also I heard a rumor there is another threshold for reserve for more mqms.. I contacted Amex and they knew nothing about it
@Zach – You can get 1x spend bonus (for each level) for each card per year i.e. you could hold all 4 (personal and biz reserve and plat) and get the spend bonus for each. What you can NOT do is say hold 2x Reserve biz cards and get the bonus for both. Well at least officially that is.