Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card review

Offering complimentary airport lounge access, a companion certificate, an annual opportunity for bonus miles and bonus MQDs, and even more perks and rewards-earning chances, this luxury card could be a great fit for the Delta-loyal business.

Written by
Brooklyn Lowery
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Small Business Card

Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card

  • Rewards
  • Earn 3 miles per dollar on eligible Delta purchases.
  • Welcome Bonus
  • Earn 75,000 Bonus Miles after spending $10,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
  • Annual Fee
  • $650
card_name
Sponsored card
5.0
Credit Score: Good, Excellent
on American Express's secure website
Terms and Limitations Apply

Key Features

Editor Analysis:

Pros
  • Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 in purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership.
  • Wait for your flight in comfort with complimentary access to The Centurion Lounge and a few other lounge networks when you book your ticket with your card.
  • Earn three miles per $1 spent on eligible Delta purchases.
Cons
  • This card is designed for businesses with a deep loyalty to Delta. To fully offset that steep annual fee, you'll need to put the Delta-specific perks to good use and you'll definitely want to spend enough on the card to earn those annual bonus miles and bonus MQDs.
ALTERNATE CARD TO CONSIDER

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card_name benefits

Frequent travel for business can be a grind. The CardName offers several ways to make the experience both more enjoyable and even, believe it or not, rewarding. American Express is a CardRatings advertiser.

The CardName is well-suited for companies that do high-volume travel, prefer to do it with Delta Airlines and appreciate a fair amount of comfort when they do.

The ball gets rolling quickly with a welcome offer of 75,000 bonus miles earned by spending $10,000 in purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership.

On an ongoing basis, you earn three miles per $1 spent on eligible Delta purchases and one mile per $1 spent on other eligible purchases. Once you spend $150,000 on purchases in a calendar year, you’ll earn three miles per $1 spent on eligible Delta purchases. Miles can be redeemed for flights, seat upgrades, gift cards or shopping.

The CardName also offers an opportunity through which you receive $2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars each Medallion Qualification Year and earn $1 MQD for each $10 on purchases made with your card_name. Not a Medallion Member? Card members with an eligible ticket will be added to the Complimentary Upgrade list, after Delta SkyMiles Medallion Members.

CardRatings Tip

What are Medallion Qualification Dollars? These dollars equal your spending on Delta flights as well as flights on many partner airlines. Learn more in our guide to the Delta SkyMiles program.

Even though the annual fee is steep at AnnualFees, it could be largely offset with the various perks and features offered to cardholders, not to mention the rewards you can earn, including complimentary access to The Centurion Lounge (you must book your flight on your Reserve card) when flying on a same-day Delta-marketed or Delta-operated flight, priority boarding, your first bag checked free, as well as 24/7 concierge service and no fee for foreign transactions. See Rates and Fees.

Another great perk of this card is the Companion Certificate on First Class, Delta Comfort+, or Main Cabin domestic, Caribbean, or Central American roundtrip flights each year after renewal of your card. The Companion Ticket requires payment of government-imposed taxes and fees of no more than $80 for roundtrip domestic flights and no more than $250 for roundtrip international flights (both for itineraries with up to four flight segments). (Baggage charges and other restrictions apply. See terms and conditions for details.)

Using the CardName for all your Delta travel and related purchases can help you earn even more perks and upgrades as those annual MQD bonus opportunities will move you into higher tiers of the Delta Medallion Program.

As an added little bonus, you enjoy a 20% savings on eligible in-flight purchases (in the form of a statement credit on your card).

Potential downsides of the card_name

The CardName has an annual fee of AnnualFees. That’s a significant investment unless you know you will be doing enough travel to make it worthwhile. Keep in mind that the lounge access and miles you could earn should go a long way toward offsetting that.

And, as with any airline reward redemption, you will be responsible for paying the taxes and fees on the flight even if you have enough miles to cover the full cost.

How do cardholders rate the card_name?

CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results for the card_name:

 Current ScoresPast Scores
Overall Score78.777.6
Features Satisfaction7.87.7
Customer Service7.98
Website/App Usability7.67.9
Likelihood of Continuing to Use8.27.5
Recommend to a Friend/Colleague7.97.6
Scores above reflect the results of surveys with actual cardholders. Full methodology below.

How the card_name compares to other cards

CardName vs. CardName

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CardName is a more general rewards card that functions on American Express’ Membership Rewards program. That flexibility comes with an annual fee of AnnualFees. CardName is currently featuring a welcome offer opportunity of earning 120,000 membership rewards points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership. See Rates and Fees.

Cardholders also receive 35% of their points back (up to 1 million points a year) when using Pay with Points for a first- or business-class flight on any airline (or any class flight on your pre-selected airline) through amextravel.com.

In terms of earning rewards on an ongoing basis, the Delta card focuses on, well, Delta. The CardName offers three miles per $1 spent on eligible Delta purchases; whereas, CardName has more general earning options for travelers, including five points for every $1 spent on flights and prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com.

CardName also rewards you with three miles per $1 on eligible Delta purchases.

Additionally, CardName has you select one qualifying airline at the start of each year and then you can qualify for a reimbursement of up to $200 per year for incidental expenses such as checked bags and in-flight drinks with that pre-selected airline.

And, really, flexibility is the key difference between these cards. Both offer luxury treatment like access to airport lounges and more, but if you aren’t loyal to the Delta brand you could find more value with CardName. Enrollment required for select benefits

CardName vs. CardName

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The CardName is offering 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending at least $7,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening. Citi is a CardRatings advertiser.

Again, both cards carry higher-than-typical annual fees and, but both offer similar luxury perks for their respective airlines.

The cards have similar rewards programs, with the CardName connected to Delta SkyMiles® and the CardName connected to American Airlines AAdvantage® miles. The American Airlines card offers four miles per $1 spent on eligible purchases with the airline, while the Delta card offers three miles. Both cards offer access to exclusive “members only” airport lounges and both offer cardholders priority boarding and free checked bags.

Who should get the CardName?

If you and your company do a great deal of traveling for business and if Delta is your airline of choice, the CardName is a card you should certainly consider having in your wallet. Its scope of benefits is admittedly narrow, and it isn’t designed for just any cardholder. But its luxury perks and rewards with Delta could save the right business quite a lot of money.

Frequently asked questions

The CardName is designed for people with good to excellent credit. If your credit score falls within this range, you should qualify for eligibility. That said, other factors, such as payment history, your total number of accounts, and the average age of your accounts, could also be considered in the application process.
Yes, the CardName is worth it for businesses with large expenses with Delta. If you can make use of the numerous benefits offered by the card and the value you receive outweighs the annual fee, then it can certainly be worth it for you.
The CardName charges a AnnualFees annual fee.

Our Methodology

Survey methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September 2023 to conduct surveys among 1,869 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2023 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents’ scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to “How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?” was double weighted. “Current Scores” reflect scores from the most recent survey (2023); “Past Scores” reflect scores from the 2022 survey.

Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.


This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.


To see the rates and fees for the American Express cards featured in this post, please visit the following links: CardName (See Rates and Fees); CardName (See Rates and Fees)

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