You’re upset that about the announcement that Delta is slashing access to its Sky Club airport lounges for eligible American Express Cards.
I get it. I, too, view Delta in a less favorable light than I did before.
While perusing various message boards and social media groups, I’m seeing a lot of people write posts about canceling their Delta Reserve or Amex Platinum cards.
Yes, speaking with your wallet is one of the most powerful ways to voice your displeasure and get the attention of a company — and its stockholders.
If you haven’t canceled your card(s) but are considering it, you might want to wait a while.
Here’s why.
Most of the Changes Don’t Take Effect for Over a Year
Here are the changes going into place on January 1, 2024:
- Delta SkyMiles® American Express Platinum Cardholders (personal or business) will no longer have access to Sky Clubs. Until then, they can continue to pay $50 per visit, as well as bring in up to two guests for $50 each. The cards lose this benefit on New Year’s Day 2024.
- Anyone traveling on a Basic Economy fare may not enter a Sky Club — even if you have a Reserve or “vanilla” Platinum card. Delta wants to keep the unwashed masses out of their lounges.
But the visit cap doesn’t take effect until February 1, 2025. That’s more than 16 months from the date of this post.
If you travel Delta now through January 2025, you can still visit the Sky Club to your heart’s content. (Any Medallion status you earn this year is also good through January 2025.)
To recap, here are the limitations:
- Delta SkyMiles® American Express Reserve Cardholders (personal or business)
- Starting February 1, 2025, Reserve Card Members will receive 10 complimentary visits per Medallion year to the Delta Sky Club; to earn an unlimited number of visits each year starting on February 1, 2025, the total eligible purchases on your card must equal $75,000 or more between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, and each calendar year thereafter.
- American Express Platinum (personal or business)
- Effective February 1, 2025
- Six (6) Sky Club visits per Medallion year
- Spend $75,000 during a calendar year and receive unlimited club visits for the rest of that Medallion year and all of the following Medallion year
I haven’t seen any marketing verbiage changes to either of those Platinium Cards as it pertains to Sky Club access. That said, the updates were posted on The Points Guy — which is pretty much straight from the horse’s mouth — and other outlets.
I understand if you want to stick it to Delta and Amex. Canceling your cards might show them. Hey, it’s your life and your money! Maybe you’ve already thrown in the towel and are fulfilling status matches with other airlines (I’m seeing a number of folks do that). I know this also depends on when your annual fees hit.
But don’t accidentally punish yourself instead. I plan to squeeze as much remaining Sky Club value out of the cards while I can.
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It is odd that Amex hasn’t notified any cardholders yet. However, if you check out the T&Cs on the bottom of Delta’s page regarding the changes, it has the new T&Cs for access via the vanilla Amex Plat cards.
I just can’t see the point in boycotting Delta to go to other airlines that have already implemented similar policies. The people doing so would have boycotted their new favorite airline if they had been with them when they made their changes.
@Barry – United has similar changes to Delta. AA, on the other hand, has NOT and it is WAAAYYYY cheaper (via spending) to reach elite levels than Delta.
So don’t switch to United! How much do you need to spend, combined card and flights, to reach Executive Platinum?
@Barry – 200k. And is is 1:1 spend not like Delta 1:10! See https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/aadvantage-status/aadvantage-status.jsp
@Rene you are right it is easier, although to get 4 systemwide upgrades you need to earn 250K loyalty points. I wonder if American will also increase their qualifying levels in the next year.
I hope that Delta will overhaul the upgrade certificate program. I’m finding it harder to use regional upgrades on coast to coast flights, where global upgrades can be confirmed immediately. I would prefer one type of upgrade with the ability to use more than one choice benefit to get more sets of these upgrades. Maybe 1 choice benefit gets you 8 upgrades that can be used individually for domestic and 2 combined for International.
@Barry – We are in agreement on AA and they have a chance to shine or destroy their program – it will be interesting to see how dumb or smart they are. As to your other point – post on the way soon! 😉
With the new medallion structure I will drop from Platinum/Diamond down to Silver. I was loyal to Delta even when their fares were higher than other airlines and my travel routing might not be as convenient because the medallion benefits I received and lounge access made ME more efficient and effective while traveling. 10 visits in the skyclub to take calls or catch up on work during a layover of flight delay, will be gone by mid January and I barely charge $60K on AMEX in a year, let alone $75k in a couple of months to bridge the gap. So my effectiveness while traveling is shot, I am getting no useful benefits with dropping down to a Silver medallion, so now my airline will be based on lowest fare and convenient flights.
You say platinum/diamond like they’re the same thing. Though reaching platinum is easy and diamond is a much more distant goal! I am assuming you were platinum if you barely charge $60k a year.
Also you say you’ll be out of visits by mid Jan, but the limits don’t go into effect til February. So I’m sure you’ll make it a bit farther.
I think this not fear to all delta old customers, me as a over 15 years delta AMAX customer with 2 personal and business reserve card do disappointed with this new policy and I am going to cancel my both card .& I am recommending to all members to do the same. Everyone have be one .
I’m holding on to my Delta Reserve card through the next renewal so I can get the FC/C+ companion ticket (to me that alone is worth and justifies the annual fee). After that I will likely downgrade to a Gold card to keep my credit line, and so I can still have a first checked bag free as well as 15% off SkyPennies until I burn them up (for $100/year that’s not a big dent to my wallet). And on the off chance that Delta reverses course (not likely, but possible) or even relaxes some of the draconian measures (again unlikely, but hopeful), I won’t have to reapply – just upgrade again and go.
But more than likely Delta will be my second choice when flying after next year.
What I have not been able to determine is if you have the Reserve card, will you still be able to bring a guest for the $50 fee. My wife and I both travel a lot and have Reserve cards, so if the $50 guest is still available, we can just use one card visit and pay for one to increase our visits. Also have seen. I mentions of increases to cost of joining Sky Club directly and changes there. Have you seen anything Rene?
I believe the guest fee will stand. Haven’t heard anything about Sky Club memberships going up in price. (But it wouldn’t surprise me.)
They will no longer be selling Sky Club memberships according to various announcements I’ve read. They claim to want to limit access to Elite customers only.
I’ll be leaving the program next year and choosing more convenient flights with lower fares.
Southwest? Anyone?
Bob Roberts
Delta 1 million miler and loyal custome since 1983.
Sky Club memberships as available only to Medallion members now. That started on January 1, 2023.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they jack up membership fees.
I have the Delta plat card and always get a great value out of the companion pass to make up for the $250 annual fee. Easily saved $350-500 each year, so I am definitely keeping it.
@Chris, I’m with you. I’m going to cram in as many SkyClub visits as I can using my Reserve card while I still have Diamond status and uncapped visits. Though my habits are already changing post-announcement. I had the option of booking a Delta or AA flight yesterday and went with AA where I could book into first class for a hair more than coach on Delta. I have AA lounge access as an authorized user on the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card. I earned AA Gold status for this year purely through shopping portal activity last year and am thinking about pushing up a bit to hit Platinum for 2024 as I start venturing out. Also considering a UA status match next year from my then Delta Platinum status.
Thanks for this post. My Reserve card renewed on Aug 28., so I was closing in on my 30 days on whether to cancel or not. I will hold on to it fo rone more year at least since my work travel seems to be ticking up again. (But NOWHERE near the batshit crazy $35,000 level)
I am 100% keeping the Reserve card until next year’s Oct. renewable. Then – as I am local to EWR – I will drop the Reserve and pick up the UA Infinite card. Done with Delta.
I just flew on Delta and when I went to the sky lounge in Atlanta and was charged $50 to gain entrance to the lounge.
The snarky receptionist pointed to the new rules for gaining access to the sky lounge. I am a platinum card holder and it would have been nice if someone had warned me ahead of time. Very. Very poor customer service for card holders. I only take two trips a year, but signed up thinking I could receive the benefits for upgrading my card. Nothing but a greedy corporate ploy to milk the unknowing public .
@Karen Smith – The Delta Platinum does not get you in free (never has). Only the non-Delta Platinum card get you in free unlimited visits until 1FEB25 when it switches to 6x per year.
How much did delta/Amex pay you to write this article?
Zzzzzzzz. Ooh, good one.
This must be your first time here.
I’m in agreement with you here but on the other hand, I understand why some folks want to make their displeasure heard now so Delta execs don’t think it’s a bunch of bark without bite.
“I understand why some folks want to make their displeasure heard now so Delta execs don’t think it’s a bunch of bark without bite.”
100%
On the 01Feb2025 $75K+ Reserve card spend for unlimited access, what about an authorized user of the primary card? Are they good under that same $75K+ spend or no more AU access and they have to have their own card with their own $75K+ spend?
Why are they punishing the folks with the Delta Platinum Amex Card and not allowing them into SkyClubs, but still allowing the vanilla Platinum Card holders in. Guess they really don’t care if all those Delta Platinum folks drop the card. Really no reason to hold onto it. Especially, when you have to spend $120,000 on it just to keep Silver Status!
You are right. If anything they should be allowing Delta Platinum in but not vanilla Platinum. They are probably hoping to upsell Delta Platinum to Delta Reserve. Actually I know they are because I keep on getting upgrade offers. It’s a steep jump though in terms of annual fee.
Because “vanilla” Platinum is actually on tier with the Delta Reserve card. The Delta Platinum is on tier with the “vanilla” Gold card, and Delta Gold is on tier with the “vanilla” Green card. The use of Platinum for the co-brand is marketing. The only card higher tier than “vanilla” Platinum is a Centurion Black card.
I’ve been thinking about how I want to play this since my Delta Reserve Business renews in November and I want the companion certificate.
My plan is to cancel the Reserve card after the companion certificate shows up, unless there is an exceptional retention offer. I have never had the non-Business Platinum Card, and right now there is a 150,000 point signup bonus if I spend $15K in 3 months, which is easy for me to do. I also need a new PC, so I can use the $400 Dell credit. The signup bonus is great, so perhaps I should pull the trigger now. The signup bonus for the personal Platinum is only 80,000.
I have a Green card that I got for the CLEAR credit, so I can dump that because the Platinum card also provides that benefit.
At some point I might get a Delta Gold card for TAKEOFF15, but I will have a lot of AMEX points to spend, so I might hold off.
If I click on the Business Platinum card today from your website, I still see the 150,000 point offer. So my question is do you think I should pull the trigger now, or wait until November? Is 150,000 points a great offer that is not likely to repeat soon?
If you pull the trigger now vs. November, you’ll have more time to use the statement credits — especially if you’re instantly approved and can get a digital card number.
*$40 total in cell phone payment credit.
*$200 in airline incidental credit
*You’ll only get $200 in the Dell credit now through December. Use it or lose it. Then it’s $200 from January to June. Again, use it or lose it. Then $200 from July to December…
(Thanks for using our links, BTW!)
Thanks Chris. I pulled the trigger using your link and got the 150,000 point offer.
Quick question. I was looking at a PC at the Dell site that I might be interesting in. Dell is offering “No interest if paid in full within 12 months on $799+.” If I buy now, can I use the Dell credit now, in Jan-to-June, and after July for a total credit of $600 as I pay of the PC interest free?
One more question. I have 43,000 points for my Green Card. Do you know if AMEX will let me transfer those points to the Platinum Business card and get the 35% discount when booking first/business?
Thanks!
Thanks, Dave! We appreciate the support. Did you use private browsing or “standard”?
“If I buy now, can I use the Dell credit now, in Jan-to-June, and after July for a total credit of $600 as I pay of the PC interest free?”
I think so.
“Do you know if AMEX will let me transfer those points to the Platinum Business card and get the 35% discount when booking first/business?”
Assuming your Biz Plat and Green are on the same Amex login, everything should automatically pool together.
Cool!
I did not use private browsing. Every time I visited AMEX I saw the 150,000 offer, even though AMEX warns you that if you leave and come back you might not see the offer.
I did read a TPG article stating that “some TPG readers have been targeted for even better offers: up to 125,000 points on the personal Amex Platinum or 150,000 points on the Amex Business Platinum,” and the article was published Aug. 6. I did get the 150,000 offer using the link on your site, even though your site only states that the offer is 120,000.
I think I will plan to keep this card for at least two years. In 2024, I will use up my remaining PM RUCs, and in 2025 I will use the 200K+ AMEX points with the 35% discount.
BTW, I did talk to an AMEX agent. I had a personal AMEX Platinum that I canceled in 2020, and he stated that I could also get the welcome offer for the personal AMEX Platinum too. I also asked about retention offers for the Reserve card, since the the companion certificate and TAKEOFF15 still have value. He stated that he had no info about retention offers, but when I call to cancel I would be transferred to a retention specialist that might have an offer.
BTW, I thought more about the Dell financing thing. You might want to check who does the actual financing. I.e., “Dell Financing” (making that up) is probably different than “Dell Technologies.”
Thanks. I will look into this further.
Reading further at the AMEX site, if I understand the last sentence in the quote below correctly, the credits can be applied to Pay Over Time balances regardless of the transaction post date.
Purchases may fall outside of the 6-month benefit period in which the purchase was made in some cases due to a delay in merchants submitting transactions to us or if the purchase date differs from the date you made the transaction (for example, the purchase date for online orders may be the shipping date). In this case your purchase would apply toward the statement credit available in the next 6-month benefit period. Statement credit may be reversed if the eligible purchase is returned/cancelled. Statement credits for eligible purchases, or any reversals, may be applied to either the Pay in Full balance or the Pay Over Time balance regardless of where the eligible purchases originally posted.
Are you applying to be the guinea pig? 🙂
I may wait for a good deal to pull the trigger on a new PC, but no later than Black Friday.
Worst case, I expect that I will get a $200 credit, but not the other credits as I pay off the PC interest free. I will just need to buy something else if I do not get the second $200 credit. I would not mind a pair of Bose QuietComfort 45s. My QC 35s are starting to show their age.
I can certainly report want happens.
I am afraid that I will not be able to be a guinea pig!
The PC I was looking at went on sale. I called AMEX to discuss the Dell discount, and the agent stated that payments to Dell’s financing arm would count and that I could get a $600 credit if I paid off the PC by paying at least $200 in each of the $200 credit windows. I am still not 100% sure I believed her, but I was wiling to give it a try. Then I ran into a brick wall.
It seems that Dell is transitioning their credit operations to a new bank and stopped accepting new applications on 9/18:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/lp/dell-financing-details
It appears that we will be locked out from setting up new credit for at least 18 days:
https://d.comenity.net/ac/dellpay/welcome
Since the PC I want is on sale now and it would be nice to have it sooner, I decided to not wait and simply get the $200 credit. However, I would still like to test this, so I will apply for Dell financing before using the $200 Dell credit for Jan-Jun 2024 and purchase something on credit, with at least $200 paid in Jan-Jun and in Jul-Dec.
Thanks for doing the legwork for us, Dave!
Also, using private browsing through our links might give you a better offer.
As someone who is Hub captive (atlanta) I will still be flying delta. It’s the only direct route to my parents, my in laws, and where I go 6x a year for work. More importantly I will likely not reach silver medallion again. That Amex delta platinum will at least give me main cabin 1. I can’t go down to main cabin 3 lol. The fee is covered by the companion pass and the 15% off award tickets. I won’t spend on the card though.
The visits cap is absolutely brutal. I really hope they come to their senses over these next 16 months and tweak that. Maybe make it unlimited if you have Plat/Diamond status. That at least shows you have some semblance of loyalty to Delta. Imagine if you reached $35k MQD, you burned your 10 visits, and now you’re SOL for the rest of the year? Brutal.
I assume floods of complaints due to lounge overcrowding were at least a partial catalyst for these changes. In addition to good old corporate greed, of course.
They really made reaching higher levels of status way too easy during the pandemic with all the rollovers. My girlfriend flies about one sixth as often as I do and she joined me at platinum status earlier this year after just a few flights. We were both pretty shocked.
It’s similar to the government giving out way too much money in “loans” and unemployment and then going “oops, we’d bettter jack interest rates WAY up to overcorrect for out mistake”.
I am a 2.6 million miler, Platinum, Delta Platinum Amex holder—feel I am taking it and not being kissed!
Contemplating a skydive to AA!
maybe , just maybe , it may be worth looking at AF or Kim , Virgin , to see if you book with them , using their miles, credit cards , you may be better off, for international flights? of course you would need to enrol , get their cards , or you may be able to do match from delta to another airline, then go for further match or who ever is in group , then you are in higher band, so delta to AA, AA then to AF or who ever ? just a thought, also Delta dis say , our miles never get lost, always roll over, a lawyer may argue mum are miles , I took out card for MQM , so delta should roll over 2 years , not just one. ??