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CNN
05-08-2025
- Business
- CNN
Delta Platinum vs Delta Reserve: My recommendation as a top Delta frequent flyer
CNN Underscored reviews financial products based on their overall value. We may receive a commission through our affiliate partners if you apply and are approved for a product, but our reporting is always independent and objective. This may impact how links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit to learn more. I'm a frequent Delta flyer holding Diamond Medallion status with the airline, its top published elite level. Delta's co-branded credit cards are an essential tool in my wallet, and I recommend that people who fly Delta regularly consider applying for one of them. For people who fly Delta more than a few times a year, it's worth looking at the airline's mid-level credit card, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card. And really frequent Delta flyers should take a good look at the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, the airline's top co-branded card. Neither of these cards is cheap, though, with annual fees in the hundreds. The good news is that if you are in the Delta ecosystem, and can use enough of the cards' credits and perks to help offset the annual fee, they can make financial sense for you. Either will help you get to Delta elite status faster too. But which one should you get? Can you make do with the Platinum, or do you need the high-end benefits of the pricey Reserve, with an annual fee that's almost double? Let's look at the two cards together, and at my experience using them, to help you decide. (And before we start, let's clear up one potential source of confusion: The Delta Platinum American Express is not The Platinum Card® from American Express. They are similarly named, but very different, cards.) Both the Delta Platinum and Delta Reserve earn Delta SkyMiles and can earn a sizable welcome bonus in miles. Note that American Express allows earning a welcome offer only once per lifetime on each of its cards. That means that if you've had either one of these Delta cards before and earned a welcome offer, you won't be eligible to earn another. Earn 60,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases in the first six months of card membership Earn 70,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 in eligible purchases in your first six months of card membership $350 (see rates and fees) $650 (see rates and fees) - 3 miles per dollar on eligible Delta purchases- 3 miles per dollar on purchases made directly with hotels worldwide- 2 miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.)- 2 miles per dollar at U.S. supermarkets- 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases - 3 miles per dollar on eligible Delta purchases- 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases First checked bag free on Delta flights (including up to eight companions) First checked bag free on Delta flights (including up to eight companions) - 15% off award redemptions for Delta flights (when paying taxes and fees with this card)- 20% off in-flight purchases (in the form of statement credits)- Up to $120 annual Resy credit each calendar year (up to $10 monthly) at U.S. Resy restaurants- Up to $120 annual ride-hailing credit every calendar year (up to $10 monthly) with select U.S. providers- Up to $150 Delta Stays statement credit per calendar year- Up to $120 statement credit for Global Entry every 4 years or up to $85 for TSA PreCheck every 4.5 years- Complimentary Hertz Five Star status- Trip delay insurance- Baggage insurance- Car rental loss and damage insurance- No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees) - 15% off award redemptions for Delta flights (when paying taxes and fees with this card)- 20% off in-flight purchases (in the form of statement credits)- Up to $240 annual Resy credit each calendar year (up to $20 monthly) at U.S. Resy restaurants- Up to $120 annual ride-hailing credit every calendar year (up to $10 monthly) with select U.S. providers- Up to $200 Delta Stays statement credit per calendar year- Up to $120 statement credit for Global Entry every 4 years or up to $85 for TSA PreCheck every 4.5 years- Complimentary Hertz President's Circle status- Trip delay insurance- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance- Baggage insurance- Car rental loss and damage insurance- No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees) No - Access to Delta Sky Club lounges (15 visits per year when flying Delta with a same-day boarding pass; unlimited visits after spending $75,000 in a calendar year)- Four one-time guest passes for the Delta Sky Club (when flying Delta with a same-day boarding pass), then $50 per person per visit- Access to Amex Centurion Lounges when flying Delta and booking your flight with the Delta Reserve One round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your card (valid in Main Cabin on domestic, Caribbean or Central America flights; taxes and fees of between $22 and $250, for itineraries with up to four flight segments) One round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your card (valid in Main Cabin, Delta Comfort+ or first class on domestic, Caribbean or Central America flights; taxes and fees of between $22 and $250, for itineraries with up to four flight segments) Earn 1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) for every $20 spent, plus 2,500 MQDs toward status qualification at the start of the Medallion Qualification year Earn 1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) for every $10 spent, plus 2,500 MQDs toward status qualification at the start of the Medallion Qualification yearEnrollment is required for select card benefits; terms apply. The main difference in perks between the two is that the Reserve allows access to Delta's Sky Club lounges, as well as American Express Centurion lounges, when flying Delta (or its partners, if the flight was bought through Delta). The Reserve also acts as a fourth tiebreaker for complimentary upgrades between passengers after elite status, cabin purchased and Million Miler status. That said, both cards feature rich lists of benefits, including the below. Companion Certificate: Using the certificate, you can buy one round-trip ticket on Delta to all 50 states, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean and get another one for just the cost of taxes and fees. The certificate that comes with the Platinum every year is valid for economy class, while the one with the Reserve is valid for extra-legroom Comfort+ and first class as well. The Companion Certificate alone could offset the annual fee on either card. TakeOff 15: Both cards provide the TakeOff 15 benefit, a 15% discount on the SkyMiles required for award flights operated by Delta. For example, if you want to book a flight that requires 20,000 SkyMiles, it will only cost 17,000 SkyMiles with the discount. The lower cost in miles will be reflected in your flight search results in the Delta app or on the site. Delta Stays statement credit: Every calendar year, holders of either card receive a credit for a prepaid hotel or vacation rental booked on the Delta Stays platform. It's a third-party platform, so you may not get the hotel points or any loyalty perks you might get when booking directly, but the savings are huge. The Delta Platinum card gives you up to $150 back in statement credits on a Delta Stays booking, and the Reserve card up to $200. Resy restaurant credit: The Delta Platinum card gives you up to $120 in statement credits of $10 monthly at restaurants available through Resy, the reservation platform owned by American Express. With the Reserve card, those credits are up to $240, divided into $20 monthly. (Enrollment required. After that, find a restaurant on Resy and use your enrolled card to pay your bill.) Ride-hailing credit: Both the Platinum and the Reserve offer $10 in statement credits per month, for a total of up to $120 per calendar year, for purchases on Uber, Lyft, Curb, Revel and Alto. The credits will not be applied for purchases outside the U.S. (Enrollment required.) Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit: Both cards offer a statement credit of up to $120 every four years to cover the application fee for Global Entry, which allows expedited clearance for preapproved, low-risk travelers when reentering the U.S. Alternatively, both cards offer a credit up to $85 covering the application fee for TSA PreCheck every four and a half years. Since Global Entry includes PreCheck, we recommend applying for the former if you travel outside the country or plan to. Travel and car rental insurance: Both cards come with travel protections when you use the card to buy a ticket, including paying the taxes and fees on award tickets. This includes trip delay insurance; insurance for lost, stolen or damaged luggage; car rental loss and damage insurance; and trip cancellation and interruption insurance, which only the Delta Reserve provides. (Conditions and limits apply.) Complimentary Hertz status: The Platinum comes with Five Star status and the Reserve with President's Circle status in the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program. Those are the second-highest and highest status tiers in the car rental agency's loyalty program. (Enrollment required.) Lounge access is an exclusive benefit of the Delta Reserve, and the main reason the card is likely to stay in my wallet until that changes. With the Reserve, you get 15 day passes to Sky Clubs per year when flying Delta with a same-day boarding pass. (The year in this case isn't a calendar year but the Medallion year, which goes from Feb. 1 to Jan. 31.) Once you enter a Sky Club with a pass from the Reserve, you have unlimited access to all of them for 24 hours. This is good for people with connecting flights, since they won't burn a visit for each airport. If you spend more than $75,000 on the card in a calendar year, you'll have unlimited Sky Club access. Reserve card holders also get four one-time guest passes, provided guests are also flying Delta with a same-day boarding pass. After that, the cost is $50 per person per visit. But Sky Clubs aren't the only airport lounges you can get into. When flying Delta and booking your flight with the Delta Reserve, you also get access to the excellent Amex Centurion Lounges (do note that bringing guests, up to two of them per visit, will cost $50 per person, or $30 if they're age 2 through 17). Between the 15 yearly passes to Sky Clubs and the unlimited access to Centurion lounges, I have all the lounge time I want. Thanks to Centurion lounges, which can be found at 15 U.S. airports and 11 abroad, I typically don't even exhaust my yearly allotment of Sky Club visits. A nifty feature of the Platinum is that authorized users of the card get their own batch of 15 Sky Club passes per year. The fee to add an authorized user is $175, though, so make sure they will use the lounge access perk if that is your main motivation for adding them. Medallion Qualification Dollars, or MQDs, are the only metric that matters to earn the various levels of Delta Medallion status. Silver Medallion requires 5,000 MQDs, Gold requires 10,000, Platinum requires 15,000 and the top Diamond Medallion level is attained at 28,000 MQDs. You can earn MQDs by flying Delta or its partners, or by spending on the Delta Platinum or Reserve cards. The Reserve earns 1 MQD for every $10 spent, and the Platinum earns half that, or 1 MQD for every $20. The cards' real heft in that regard comes from their MQD Headstart feature, which gives you 2,500 MQDs at the start of the Medallion Qualification year, every February. That's halfway to Silver level just for holding the card. When it comes to earning miles, the Platinum card has a vast advantage. The Reserve is, in fact, a bad card for earning miles on anything other than Delta flights. You'll get 3x miles per dollar on those but a measly 1x on all other expenses. There are no-fee, cash-back cards that earn at much higher rates. The Platinum does a lot better. It earns the same 3x on Delta purchases but also on purchases made directly with hotels worldwide. At U.S. supermarkets and at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S., it earns 2x miles. For everyday spending, it's far and away the better card. First off, I have both cards. It works for me, as someone who takes 40 flights on Delta or its partners in an average year, but I would not recommend having more than one of any airline's co-branded cards to anybody but truly frequent flyers. Clearly, the Delta Reserve is aimed squarely at the airline's loyalists, who value lounge access and do not have a Sky Club membership, which starts at $695 per year. For less dedicated Delta flyers, the Platinum is plenty. And if I weren't a frequent Delta flyer, neither card would work for me. The Reserve is the only card I use for booking Delta flights, since it earns the same miles as the Platinum on those purchases but double the MQDs. The Platinum is one of my go-tos for grocery shopping, since it gets 2x at U.S. supermarkets. I use the Companion Certificates from both, and I dine at Resy restaurants often enough to use all of the Resy credits from both cards. Similarly, I use the Delta Stays credits in full. If I had to get rid of one, I would ditch the Platinum, though, and keep the Reserve. I have other cards that match or surpass the Platinum for earnings, such as the Citi Double Cash, which earns 2x on all purchases, and other cards that earn 3x on dining, such as the Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. But I couldn't get Sky Club and Centurion lounge access, which I value greatly, with any Delta co-branded card except the Amex Delta Reserve. Many frequent flyers, with Delta and other airlines, swear by the non-Delta American Express Platinum. For a steep annual fee of $695 (see rates and fees), it has Centurion lounge access and 10 Sky Club passes per year, and it doesn't earn Delta SkyMiles but rather American Express Membership Rewards points. Those can be transferred to many airline and hotel partners, including Delta, making them far more flexible than airline miles. Plus, the card earns 5x on airfare purchased directly from the airline, not 3x. But for most occasional Delta flyers, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, which we consider one of the best American Express cards, is a better bet. It has an annual fee of $150, waived the first year, and earns 2x miles on Delta purchases at U.S. supermarkets and at restaurants worldwide. If you fly Delta even three or four times a year, you can recoup its annual cost, and then some, just by avoiding the checked luggage fees. The following FAQs have been answered by CNN Underscored senior money editor and credit card expert Alberto Riva. Is it worth it to upgrade from Delta Platinum to Reserve? Is it worth it to upgrade from Delta Platinum to Reserve? The Amex Delta Reserve has a much higher annual fee ($650) than the Amex Delta Platinum ($350). Upgrading to it from the Delta Platinum makes sense only for frequent Delta flyers, and we mean very frequent, who would value the lounge access the Reserve gives. The Reserve also helps score cabin upgrades and earns more MQDs, which count for attaining elite status, than the Platinum. But its steep annual cost makes it worthwhile only for big Delta loyalists. Does the Delta Reserve get lounge access? Does the Delta Reserve get lounge access? Yes. The Reserve comes with 15 day passes to Delta Sky Clubs per year when flying Delta with a same-day boarding pass. A pass is valid for 24 hours after entering the first Sky Club. The card also provides four guest passes per year. Spending more than $75,000 on the card in a calendar year gives unlimited Sky Club access. On top of Delta lounges, card holders have unlimited access to American Express Centurion lounges when flying Delta with a same-day boarding pass. Do you get free flight upgrades with the Delta Reserve? Do you get free flight upgrades with the Delta Reserve? The Delta Reserve card does not guarantee upgrades to a higher cabin, but it does help. That's because it acts as a tiebreaker between two or more passengers after considering their elite status, fare paid and Million Miler status. Senior money editor and credit card expert Alberto Riva applied his years of experience using the Delta Amex Platinum (since 2014) and Delta Reserve (since 2017) to this article. He's had high-level status with Delta Air Lines for years, and in the past year, he got upgraded from economy to first class more than 60% of the time on Delta flights within North America. Our recommendations are grounded in real-world value and backed by thorough analysis, expert insight and a commitment to clarity and transparency. Click here for rates and fees of the Amex Platinum card. Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Platinum Amex. Click here for rates and fees of the Delta Reserve Amex.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Top Chef' Season 22 finale: Kristen Kish brought to tears as chefs present their final dishes in Italy
We've come to the end of Top Chef Season 22 (on Hayu in Canada), which started by featuring Canada's robust culinary scene. But moving to Milan, Italy to close out the season, it was a tense finale to finish a unique season. Up for grabs was the $250,000 grand prize, provided by Saratoga Spring Water, the official water of Top Chef; Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion Status, and a $125,000 flight credit to spend on travel with Delta Air Lines. The chef were also competing for a feature in Food & Wine magazine and an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. As the finale began, the three remaining competitors chose sous chef for their last challenge. They had to make "the best four course progressive meal." Bailey worked with Lana, Shuai chose Paula, and Tristen had Zubair on his side. They had seven hours to prep and cook in total, split with five hours on the first day, and two hours before service the next day. After their first day of prep, the competitors got to enjoy a meal prepared by Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons. They also got to open up to each other about the experience of being in the competition, from both the competitors and judges perspective. Just hours away from presenting their final dishes, each chef really felt the pressure of the clock. Joining the judges table was Italian chef Carlo Cracco, Sarah Cicolini of SantoPalato in Rome, Top Chef alums Richard Blais and Gregory Gourdet, Food & Wine Editor in Chief Hunter Lewis, Santiago Lastra of Kol restaurant, Genie Kwon and Tim Flores from Kasama, and chef Clare Smyth from the restaurant Core by Clare Smyth. Bailey — Polpo e mozz, tomato dashi and giardiniera — Richard said it was "dumb and brilliant" to put mozzarella and octopus together Shuai — Panpuri with scarlet shrimp, aji verde, salsa macha and gazpacho verde — Clare said the dish was a "flavour explosion" Tristen — Monkfish with pickled turnips, tempura broccoli and baccalà mbongo — Tom said the fish looked undercooked, but didn't eat undercooked, it was just on the line The first course dishes were so impressive, Tom went into the kitchen to give the chefs some encouragement. Bailey — Porcini and robiola anolini alpini with cabbage, pecan and brodo — Clare said the dish was "wholesome" and Kristen said the pecans give it something unique Shuai — Soup dumpling raviolo with pork and king crab, charred leek vinaigrette and lardo — Hunter said it had great balance, but the dumpling needed more soup Tristen — Pollo "dorengo" with injera shrimp toast and shellfish jus — Santiago said it was "next level" and Genie said the star was the shrimp toast, while Tom added that it was perfectly seasoned Bailey — Blacked orata with calabrian chili crunch, whipped tahini, brussels sprouts and beets — Genie said her fish was a little overcooked, but appreciated the creaminess of the tahini, and Gail said it was missing a brightness Shuai — Tangcu ossobuco with sweet and sour sauce, radicchio, long beans and grits — Clare said it was "rustic" and Kristen said the amount of dairy in the grits took over Tristen — Oxtail milanese crépinette with carolina gold rice grits, curry butter and bone marrow gremolata — Gregory highlight the great oxtail and Carlo said it was "perfect" Bailey — Torta di pizzelle with zucca, mascarpone cream and espresso stracciatella gelato — Clare said Bailey "brought it home" and she got a real sense of Bailey's style Shuai — Ambrosia pear and orange jello, pistachio, Italian meringue and coconut — Gregory was impressed by how light this "cool" dessert was Tristen — Tropical root vegetable cake with chutney, charred plantain cream and cassareep sorbet — Carlo called Tristen "a chef," but Richard said this dish "got off the tracks" and was too spicy, while others at the table enjoyed the dish more Kristen got emotional after the final course, getting choked up, with tears in her eyes, as she told the chefs to "embrace it all, feel it all and celebrate all of your accomplishments." After the judges deliberated, Tristen was crown the winner of Top Chef Season 22, really telling a story with his food and his dishes, with the goal of progressing Afro-Caribbean cuisine. "I'm essentially trying to un-colonize colonized dishes," Tristen said as he went into crafting his final menu on the show. In a tearful ending, Tristen said he misses his dad so much, after his step-father died while he was on the show, but concluded the season by saying how happy he is that he stayed in the competition.
