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I Know Where My American Express $200 Airline Incidental Credit is (Likely) Going Next Year

Chris Carley by Chris Carley
December 6, 2022
in Credit Cards
19
Help make that dream beach vacation happen! The Platinum Card® from American Express earns Membership Rewards points.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Eye of the Flyer and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


When Delta Air Lines announced a slew of unpopular entrance policy changes to its Sky Club airport lounges, it became pretty clear to me where I’ll use one of my American Express card benefits for about the next eight years.

Quick Primer: $200 Airline Incidental Credit

Both The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express feature this perk: earn up to $200 in statement credits each calendar year on eligible incidental fees spent with one participating airline selected through Amex. (Enrollment required. Terms apply.)

As luck would have it, “airport lounge day passes and annual memberships” are apparently considered eligible incidental fees.

“But Don’t You Have Two Delta Reserve Cards or Something?”

I hold the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card. That comes with complimentary Delta Sky Club entrance for me when flying a Delta-marketed or -operated flight. Mrs. Carley holds the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. She, too, gets free admission to Sky Clubs when flying Delta. Not to mention, both cards come with two (2) Sky Club guest passes each anniversary year. (Terms apply to all benefits.)

“So, what’s the big deal?” you may ask. “What are you griping about this time, Carley? Who else travels with you?”

I present to you Exhibit A.

A young girl poses with snacks at the Delta Sky Club (F/G location) at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP).
Potato chips, donut holes, mini-pitas, and peppers: the breakfast of champions.

That little girl is my five-year-old. She loves Delta Sky Clubs. They serve almost all of her favorite food groups, most of which are pictured above. (Although, she has one complaint: “They need plain pasta for kids! But not spaghetti. Because I don’t like that. But they need the squiggly kind of pasta. With a little butter and not too much salt. And ice cream.”)

She’s also considered a paying adult in Airline World.

Because Delta generously rolled over Sky Club guest passes during the past several years, we didn’t really need to worry about paying for our daughter’s admission into the lounges.

But Mrs. Carley and I will be on the hook for our little traveler’s Sky Club admission fees after January 31, 2023. That’s when our guest passes expire. After that, we’ll have four guest passes between the two of us: two on Mrs. C’s Reserve card and two on mine.

A child enjoys the Delta Sky Club airport lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California.

We’ll burn through those fairly quickly. Most of our trips start at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where there are two Sky Clubs.

Then we often connect through another Delta hub. That’s another guest pass if we visit the Sky Club. (The guest passes permit single-visit entries; they’re not day passes.)

A single roundtrip can burn all four of our guest passes.

And that’s where The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express will come in handy.

Between those two cards, I’ll have $400 in airline incidental fees to guest my kid into Sky Clubs. (Amex doesn’t allow authorized cardholders under 13.) That’s eight Sky Club visits total ($50 a pop starting February 2, 2023). That’ll pretty much cover us for the year. (We might not even hit that. Plus, there are other ways to use the airline incidental credit.)

So, that’s my family’s plan.

Final Approach

Given that my five-year-old daughter’s Sky Club entrance fees were taken care of with Delta Amex Reserve guest passes, we’re soon going to pay out of pocket for her to access the lounges. Delta is jacking up Sky Club guest admission price to $50 in February. But because of the Platinum Cards’ respective $400 airline incidental credits, we’ll have something to fall back on once we we use the Reserve passes.

 

 

To see rates and fees for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this link. Terms apply.

To see rates and fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this link. Terms apply.

To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.

To see rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link. Terms apply.
(Rates and fees.)

Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Eye of the Flyer and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


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.

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Tags: American ExpressDelta Air Lines
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Chris Carley

Chris Carley

Chris Carley is the owner, editor, and lead writer of Eye of the Flyer (formerly known as Rene's Points).

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Comments 19

  1. Barry Graham says:
    2 months ago

    Cute kid!

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      Thank you!

      Reply
  2. JD says:
    2 months ago

    Why not add your daughter as a platinum AU on the platinum card as that should get her access to the Skyclub. I believe it’s $175 for up to 3 AUs. The added benefit will be centurion lounge access too post 1/31/23.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      As I mentioned above, 13 is the minimum age for an Amex AU. We still have another eight years to go.

      Reply
  3. chris says:
    2 months ago

    Or stop taking abuse from Delta and move on to another program. lol

    Reply
  4. peggy Mueller says:
    2 months ago

    LOVE LOVE LOVE the pic of your daughter in the Delta lounge!!

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      Thanks! She’s a pretty fun traveler.

      Reply
  5. Frankie says:
    2 months ago

    I have 3 kids that we frequently travel with so I always use up (waste) one of my choice benefits for an annual guest pass that includes my spouse and 3 kids. It’s a great deal that unfortunately will cost me all 3(!) of my choice benefits next year. So no more GUCs. I will only get 4 RUCs as my PM choice benefit plus my annual SC family pass going forward.

    Reply
  6. Nina says:
    2 months ago

    What a doll baby !!!
    But of course …. It figures 🙂

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      Thanks — yes, she takes after her mother in the looks department!

      Reply
  7. Jason says:
    2 months ago

    I have used my platinum card inside the sky club in Atlanta. To but premium drinks. It did not work. It works on the airplane, but it did not inside the lounge???

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      Sadly, that’s been my experience, too.

      Reply
  8. Jeremy says:
    2 months ago

    I tried to use my Hilton AMEX to buy lounge access for my kids once I used the guest passes that came with my Delta AMEX because the Hilton AMEX has an incidental credit for Delta ($250 I think). The lady told me that I had to use the Delta card that provided my access to pay for them to enter the lounge. Only option to use the Hilton card was to buy an annual pass for them.

    Reply
  9. Jimmy says:
    2 months ago

    I think you’re missing the point. Delta is raising prices to prevent kids from being in the Skyclub. It’s not meant for kids. It’s built around business travelers.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      Weird. The Sky Clubs I visit have way more adults than children inside.

      Reply
    • Barry Graham says:
      2 months ago

      Who says it’s built around business travelers? It’s built around frequent travelers and not all of those trips are for business. I don’t object to kids being in the club if they are well behaved (and the same applies to adults).

      Reply
  10. FlyOften says:
    2 months ago

    This is exactly why Delta is clamping down on lounge entry.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      2 months ago

      What is “This”?

      Reply
  11. Mark G says:
    2 months ago

    I see your point. It not worth it for the average traveler for sure.
    That was a excellent explanation well presented.

    Reply

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