Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
I get the same question asked of me over and over, that is, can I hold more than one Delta AMEX Reserve card. The answer is a simple YES you can hold one Personal Delta AMEX Reserve card and at the same time, if you wish, hold a Business Delta AMEX Reserve card.
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card <—LINK
I have in fact held both cards at once and yes you can earn SkyMiles from spending on each, MQMs from each, bonus MQMs from each and your total spend across both cards counts toward your $25,000 MQD exempt spend totals for the calendar year (i.e. posted charges between 1JAN-31DEC each calendar year).
But just because we CAN do this, is it the best choice? Are there smarter choices? I think there are, especially under the current rules that, despite this card’s sizable annual fee, you cannot bring a guest (for free) into the Sky Clubs anymore (as of 1MAY14).
One of the biggest perks of these cards is that you can send the bonus MQMs from spending $30,000 and again at $60,000 each year to anyone you want (The new card 10,000 bonus MQMs go to the card holders SkyMiles account and can NOT be sent to anyone else btw). So the spending MQMs are truly amazing that you could say have your wife / +1 meet the spend totals and then send the MQMs to you helping YOU with your status levels. Now sure you can do that same thing if you hold both cards yourself but you cannot, just because you have two cards, guest someone into the Sky Clubs. If your wife / +1 had the card and was traveling with you then you both can get in with your own cards.
Another perk of the Reserve card is the shot at more upgrades as either the personal or business card act as a fare class tiebreaker for upgrades. But having two of the cards does not improve your shot at an upgrade so your wife / +1 might as well enjoy the same perk as you.
When it comes to the BOGOF cert in 1st class it really is a push either way since you can assign those to anyone you want to. Yes, you do get two of them if you hold both cards yourself.
Now a downside of your wife / +1 holding the card is that it does “occupy”, if you will, one of the 5 total credit cards you can hold at one time with AMEX under the current rules. Then again, this could maybe be looked at as a plus as it does free up a slot for you to hold another type of AMEX credit card (you can have more than 5 if you include charge cards like the non-Delta Premier Rewards Gold card for example).
For me the choice really is simple. If your wife / +1 does not have Sky Club access this can be well worth giving up the initial 10,000 new card bonus MQMs. Plus, you can have them add you as an authorized user to the account and then they don’t even have to worry about doing the actual spending. What do you think? A good call or better to have both cards yourself? – René
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Perhaps the alternate Platinum card for perks or the gold you mentioned are better choices. What about a “new” version to replace the SPG Amex that many used and had, until the recent merger? Still wonder if any of the Virgin cards, with points that work for Delta, has any merit? Thanks Rene, love what you do!
@Kevin – Keep in mind only Reserve card allows you to gift points, not delta platinum.
Ive been trying to get my wife to upgrade to this card just for the lounge access and mqm reason. She doesnt think its worth it but always gives me the stink eye when I go into the lounges and she doesnt want to pay so I end up not going to them with her around. FWIW she only flies 5/6 times a year and doesnt see the point. I think the 1 for you and 1 for the wife is the way to go… at least in my situation.
I planning to get the business Reserve just for the MQMs. I’ll dump it after a year.
Wow.. Rene, just something you might want to know… Today I checked the seat maps for my flights and something weird is going on…. ‘Preferred’ seats and the first row of Comfort+ are becoming ‘Main Cabin’… These are the best seats in the house, directly behind first class, always blocked off for people with disability and standby folks, and now are available for free! Do you know why? (EX 10A,B on MD-90, 10DEF on new 32K, 4DEF on old 32R)