The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express is Delta’s mid-tier business card.
It offers more perks than the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card, but lacks the airport lounge access of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card.
The Delta Platinum Business offers nice benefits including free checked bags, priority boarding, and an annual companion certificate.
Let’s look to see if this card is right for you.
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- 3X SkyMiles on Direct Purchases with Delta and Hotels
- Free First Checked Bag and Priority Boarding
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- $250 Annual Fee and No Foreign Transaction Fees (Rates & Fees)
Welcome Bonus
The Delta Platinum Business Amex currently offers the following welcome bonus:
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Earning SkyMiles
The Delta Platinum Business Amex earns:
- 3 SkyMiles per dollar on purchases made directly with Delta Air Lines.
- 3 SkyMiles per dollar on purchases made directly with hotels.
- 1.5 SkyMiles per dollar on purchases of $5,000 or more, up to 50,000 additional miles per calendar year.
- 1 SkyMile per dollar on all other eligible purchases.
Spending on Delta includes flight reservations, seat upgrades and selection, Delta Vacation packages, Delta Sky Club memberships or passes, inflight meals and beverages, and audio headsets. However, it does not include spending on in-flight WiFi.
Annual Fee
The Delta Platinum Business Amex has an annual fee of $250 (rates & fees).
This annual fee can be offset by the free check bag, priority boarding, annual companion certificate, and travel protections.
Card Benefits for Delta Air Lines
The Delta Platinum Business Amex offers some nice benefits on Delta Air Lines:
Free First Checked Bag
This Delta card gets you a first checked bag free for you and up to eight companions traveling with you on your reservation on a Delta or Delta Connection flight.
This helps save you $30 per person one-way or $60 round-trip for a single traveler, or $240 for a family of four round-trip.
You also don’t have to pay for your flight with your Delta Amex, unlike United co-branded credit cards. All you need is your SkyMiles number your reservation.
Priority Boarding
You can enjoy Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding on Delta flights, which is Group 5 in the boarding process.
This allows you to board before most of the main cabin customers and secure a overhead bin for your carry-on bag.
This benefit also applies to up to eight travel companions on the same reservation.
15% Discount on Award Flights
This card offers a 15% off award redemptions for Delta flights.
To get the discount:
- Search for Award Travel by selecting “Shop with Miles” in the search criteria on delta.com or in the Fly Delta app. Be sure to log into your SkyMiles account before searching for best results.
- Select an eligible flight. When you get to check out, you will see the miles savings applied for your itinerary.
- Use your Delta SkyMiles® American Express Card to earn miles with your Card on any taxes and fees for your itinerary.
20% Back on In-Flight Purchases
You can get 20% back as a statement credit for eligible prepurchased meals and inflight purchases of food, alcoholic beverages and audio headsets on Delta-operated flights. However, it does not apply to Wi-Fi purchases.
Annual Companion Certificate
As the primary cardholder, you’ll get a companion certificate every year for a round-trip flight in Main Cabin upon renewing your Delta Platinum card.
There are some things you need to be aware of for the Annual Companion Certificate:
- It is only valid for roundtrip travel within the 48 contiguous United States, unless you live in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- It’s only valid for travel in the L, U, T, X, and V fare classes for main cabin.
- You have to pay the government taxes and fees for your companion, which are capped at $75.
- You must complete the travel by the expiration date of the certificate.
This companion certificate is not as good as the certificates with the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (review) and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (review), which allows you to book Comfort+ and first-class tickets.
Access to Delta SkyClub for $50
Platinum cardmembers may buy access to the Delta SkyClub for $50 per person for you and up to two guests when traveling on Delta.
Alternatively, you could get in for free with:
Pay with Miles
Delta SkyMiles credit cards unlock the ability to ability to “Pay with Miles” allowing cardmembers to pay for flights with SkyMiles at a rate of 1.0 cents per mile (in increments of 5,000 miles per $50).
It’s not the best deal for your SkyMiles, but it does allow you to earn elite miles for those flights.
Ability to Earn Elite Miles
You can earn 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after spending $25,000 in purchases in a calendar year.
If you spend $50,000 in a calendar year, you can earn another 10,000 MQMs.
Travel and Purchase Protections
The Delta Platinum Business Amex also offers some nice travel and purchase protections:
Secondary Rental Car Insurance*
Secondary rental car insurance covers any damage to a rental car not covered by your primary insurance when you pay for the rental using this card.
Other credit cards offer primary rental car insurance, which pays before your insurance and saves you the hassle of filing multiple insurance claims.
You still need to maintain liability car insurance to cover damage to another person or property.
Trip Delay Insurance*
This card offers trip delay insurance when you purchase your flight with this card.
This reimburses you for reasonable expenses things like hotels, food, transportation, and other necessary items.
Flights are increasingly delayed or canceled, and it is too risky to not use a card that offers free trip delay insurance.
Baggage Insurance Plan*
Lost luggage reimbursement covers the cost to repair or replace your luggage and the contents inside if your bag is lost or damaged during a covered trip.
You must purchase the trip with this card, and it will also cover immediate family members traveling with you.
Purchase Protection*
Purchase protection could save you a lot of money if you bought an eligible item that is damaged or stolen within 90-days.
For example, if you accidentally dropped your new phone or laptop and broke the screen, you could file a claim to get it replaced if the item was purchased within the last 90 days.
Extended Warranty*
Credit card extended warranty protection adds up to an additional year of coverage for eligible purchases on manufacturer’s warranties up to 5 years.
For example, if you bought a TV with a manufacturer’s warranty of three years, this card would extend the warranty for free to the fourth year.
*(Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions, and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/
Other Card Benefits
Below are the rest of the benefits of the Delta Platinum Business Amex:
Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check Credit
This card offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit like many other travel cards.
TSA PreCheck is a membership program offering dedicated airport security lines and faster security screening (typically 5 minutes or less) at more than 200 airports across the United States and includes over 81 airlines.
Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck and expedited immigration upon arrival from an international trip back to the United States.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
This card has no foreign transaction fees on purchases outside the U.S., which is helpful if you travel internationally to help you avoid paying a 3% fee on those international purchases.
Amex Offers
This card has access to Amex Offers, which are deals that are linked to your card, allowing you to save money or earn extra points on shopping, dining, and travel.
For example, there could be an offer such as spending $200+ at Marriott Hotels and Resorts and receiving $50 cash back as a statement credit.
You can find all of your Amex Offers by signing into your American Express account. You will need to “Add to Card” each offer to be eligible for the special offer.
Redeeming SkyMiles
Delta no longer publishes an award chart for its SkyMiles program. Award flights are instead priced dynamically based on many factors, including routes, travel dates, airline partners, and how far in advance you book the flight.
It is generally very difficult for people to get outsized value when using SkyMiles for business class, like many other points programs, but here’s a few of my recommended ways to redeem SkyMiles:
- Domestic economy flights starting as low as 4,500 SkyMiles.
- Booking one of Delta’s occasional flash sales.
- Flights to Canada on WestJet starting as low as 4,500 SkyMiles.
- Virgin Atlantic to London in Upper Class for 120,000 SkyMiles each way.
- Air France Business Class to Paris for 120,000 SkyMiles each way.
- LATAM Economy Class from the U.S. to South America starting at 25,000 SkyMiles each way.
Pros and Cons
Here’s a quick overview of this card’s advantages and disadvantages:
Pros
- Lots of benefits on Delta Air Lines.
- Annual Companion Certificate.
- 3x SkyMiles for spending on Delta and directly with hotels.
Cons
- You need to fly Delta several times a year to justify the annual fee.
- No free one-time airport lounge passes like the United℠ Business Card.
Alternative Card Options
Now that you know about this credit card’s various benefits and pros and cons, it’s time to see its alternatives.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) is an outstanding choice for business owners who want airport lounge access including the American Express Global Lounge Collection, Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs, Escape Lounges, Priority Pass lounges, and more.
The Business Platinum card also offers several statement credits to offset the $695 annual fee:
- $200 Airline Fee: Annual airline fee credit of up to $200 on charges by the airline you select per calendar year.
- $400 Dell: Annual statement credit on all U.S. Dell purchases, up to $200 semiannually.
- $120 Wireless Phone Services: Annual statement credits for purchases made directly with any U.S. wireless telephone provider, up to $10 per month.
- $189 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Breeze through security with CLEAR® Plus at 45+ airports nationwide and get up to $189 back per year on your membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Business Platinum Card.
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck: Statement credits for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) every four years (4.5 years for PreCheck).
You can also earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com, and 1.5x points on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year
The American Express Business Platinum comes with automatic Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold so that you can enjoy perks like room upgrades, late check-out, and a points bonus.
Additionally, the points you earn can be transferred to several Amex transfer partners such as Air Canada Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, and Marriott Bonvoy. This potentially increases the value of your points depending on how you redeem them.
Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card
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- 2X SkyMiles on Delta, U.S. Advertising, U.S. Shipping Purchases, and Restaurants worldwide (including takeout & delivery in the U.S.)
- Free First Checked Bag on Delta Flights
- Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding
- 20% Statement Credit for Delta In-Flight Purchases
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- $0 Intro Annual Fee for the First Year, Then $99 Per Year (Rates & Fees)
The Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card (review) is a practical and affordable card for business owners who want solid travel perks for a minimal fee.
With a $0 intro annual fee for the first year ($99 thereafter), this card is a low-cost option that earns 2x SkyMiles on Delta purchases, advertising and shipping purchases in the U.S., and dining expenses.
The Delta SkyMiles Gold Business card generously offers free first checked bags for you and eight companions, Main Cabin 1 boarding, and a 20% in-flight savings.
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
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- 3x SkyMiles on Delta Air Lines
- Access to Delta SkyClub, Centurion Lounges, and Escape Lounge When Flying Delta
- Priority Boarding and Free First Checked Bag
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- $550 Annual Fee and No Foreign Transaction Fees (Rates & Fees)
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (review) earns 3x SkyMiles on Delta Air Lines and offers airport lounge access to the Delta SkyClub, American Express Centurion Lounges, and Escape Lounges.
The Delta Reserve Business has a $550 annual fee, which is offset by the airport lounge access and other perks such as an annual companion certificate, Non-Medallion Upgrades, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, free first checked bag, priority boarding, and 20% statement credit for food and drinks.
Is the Delta Platinum Business Amex Worth It?
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express is a good option if you plan to fly Delta several times per year and can take advantage of the free checked bags and annual companion certificate.
But if you don’t fly Delta enough to justify the $250 annual fee, you may want to consider the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card (review) or a general travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review).
- bonus_miles_full
- 3X SkyMiles on Direct Purchases with Delta and Hotels
- Free First Checked Bag and Priority Boarding
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- $250 Annual Fee and No Foreign Transaction Fees (Rates & Fees)
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card, please click here.
