Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business American Express Card – Full Review [2021]

The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card is a premium card option for small business owners that are both frequent travelers and Delta loyalists.

While the annual fee might seem a bit steep, the card comes loaded with perks and benefits that all frequent Delta flyers are sure to love. Let’s take a look at what makes the card unique, and why it might be a great fit for your wallet.

• Complimentary Delta Sky Club access when flying Delta and 2 Delta Sky Club 1-time guest passes
• Complimentary Amex Centurion Lounge access when flying Delta
• Access to complimentary flight upgrades

• High annual fee
• Does not earn many miles for purchases outside of Delta spend
• Rewards are not transferable

The Delta Reserve Business card is perfectly suited for small business owners that travel often and have made Delta their airline of choice. The Delta Reserve Business card is also an excellent option for those trying to reach, or maintain, high levels of Delta elite status thanks to its Status Boost benefit.

Delta Reserve Business Card Travel Benefits

Frequent Delta flyers will love the number of travel perks and benefits that the card offers, including the following:

• Delta Sky Club Access — Complimentary access to all Delta Sky Clubs when flying Delta, plus an exclusive per-visit rate of $39 per person for up to 2 guests.
• Amex Centurion Lounge Access — Complimentary access to all Amex Centurion Lounges when flying Delta.
• Delta Sky Club Guest Passes —Each year, you’ll receive 2 1-time Delta Sky Club guest passes so that friends or family can join you in the lounge.
• Status Boost — Earn 15,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) when you spend $30,000 on your card in a calendar year, up to 4 times each year, allowing you to earn up to 60,000 MQMs each year.
• Annual Companion Certificate — Each year, you’ll receive a complimentary companion certificate good for a domestic first class, Delta Comfort+, or Main Cabin round-trip ticket. You’ll just pay the taxes and fees of no more than $75.
• Complimentary Upgrades — Cardholders are automatically added to the complimentary upgrade list, but keep in mind you’ll be behind all Medallion Members.
• Priority Boarding — Your card automatically puts you in the Main Cabin 1 boarding group, alongside Silver Medallion and SkyTeam Elite members.
• Free Checked Bags — Get your first checked bag free for you and up to 8 traveling companions on the same reservation.
• 20% Back on Inflight Purchases — Receive a statement credit when you use your Delta Reserve Business card to purchase food, beverages, or Wi-Fi on board.

Delta Reserve Business Card Travel & Purchase Protections

Sometimes, things don’t go quite the way we want them to. Fortunately, the Delta Reserve Business card comes with a handful of perks to help keep you covered in those instances.

• Trip Delay Coverage — If your flight is delayed by more than 6 hours, or overnight, you’ll be reimbursed up to $500 towards necessary expenses like lodging and meals, up to 2 claims per 12 month period.
• Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance — Trips that are canceled or interrupted due to covered situations like severe weather are covered up to $10,000 per trip and $20,000 per year towards non-refundable expenses.
• Baggage Insurance — If your baggage is lost or damaged during transit, you’re covered up to $1,250 for carry-on bags and up to $500 for checked bags, for a total of $10,000 per trip.
• Rental Car Insurance — Receive secondary rental car insurance that covers theft and collision damage to your rental vehicle.
• Cell Phone Protection — If your phone is damaged or stolen you’ll receive up to $800 per claim towards a repair or a replacement. You’re limited to 2 claims per 12 month period and will need to pay a $50 deductible per claim.
• Purchase Protection — Purchases made with your card are covered in the event of theft or accidental damage, for up to 90 days from the purchase date, up to $10,000 per claim, and $50,000 per year.
• Extended Warranty Protection — Products purchased with your card that have extended warranties of 5 years or less will be extended by 1 additional year.

• You’re a Delta loyalist or your home airport is a Delta hub
• You are a frequent business traveler
• You want Delta Sky Club and Amex Centurion Lounge access

• You hardly ever fly Delta
• You aren’t a small business owner
• You prefer a card that earns transferable rewards

Delta Purchases

With your Delta Reserve Business card, you’ll earn 3x miles per $1 on all of your Delta purchases, allowing you to rack up the miles each time you fly.

All Other Purchases

On all other purchases, you’re going to earn 1x mile per $1 spent, up until you’ve spent $150,000 on the card, at which point you’ll begin earning 1.5x miles per $1 spent.

Refer-a-Friend Bonus

If your friends and family are jealous about all the perks you have with your new card, the good news is that you can refer them to apply for the card as well, and you’ll receive bonus miles if they are approved!

Referral rates can vary, but generally, American Express will give you 15,000 bonus miles for each approved referral, up to 55,000 miles each year.

Delta Shopping Portal

If you’re familiar with shopping portals like Rakuten, you should know that many major airlines have their own shopping portals as well that allow you to earn extra miles for purchasing items you were planning to purchase anyway.

Through Delta SkyMiles Shopping, you can choose from over 1,000+ stores to shop with and earn anywhere from 1x to 30x miles per $1 when you do so.

Delta Dining Program

Delta also offers a SkyMiles Dining program that you can link your Delta Reserve Business card to and earn even more miles at restaurants that are part of the program.

Members start out earning 1x mile per $2 spent, Select members each 3x miles per $1 spent (requires opting into email communications), and VIP members earn 5x miles per $1 spent after 11 qualifying transactions in a calendar year.

These miles are earned in addition to the miles you earn for paying with your card. So if you’re a Select member in the Delta SkyMiles Dining program and use your Delta Reserve Business card to pay, you’ll earn a total of 4x miles per $1 (3 for your status and 1 from your card) spent at any qualifying restaurants.

Adding Other Delta Cards

Adding additional Delta cards is a great way to boost your mileage earnings even further. Take the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card for example, which earns 2x miles per $1 on U.S. purchases for advertising in select media, U.S. shipping purchases, and dining purchases.

With this 2-card setup, you could use your Delta Reserve Business card to earn 3x miles on all of your Delta purchases, and the Delta Gold Business card to earn 2x miles on its 3 bonus categories.

Adding Amex Membership Rewards Cards

Delta is a transfer partner of the American Express Membership Rewards program, so any points accrued through that program can be transferred to your Delta SkyMiles account any time you’d like. Amex Membership Rewards cards are some of our favorite travel rewards cards on the market thanks to their flexibility and transferability.

Take The Platinum Card® from American Express, for example, which earns a whopping 5x points per $1 on airfare, gives you elite status with 2 hotel chains, and is our top choice for airport lounge access. The American Express® Gold Card also earns 4x points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets and dining purchases, plus benefits like annual dining credits.

Hot Tip: See our tips for how to earn lots of Delta SkyMiles and even how to earn 100k SkyMiles in 90 days!

So now you’ve got all these Delta SkyMiles burning a hole in your pocket, what should you do with them? You have no shortage of options when it comes to redeeming your miles, but not all of them will present great value.

Delta/SkyTeam Award Tickets

When it comes to getting outsized value for your Delta SkyMiles, your best options will almost always be using your miles towards award flights with Delta or one of its SkyTeam partners.

This will allow you to fly in premium cabins with airlines like Delta, Air France, and Korean Air for a fraction of what the cash price would normally cost.

Hot Tip: Curious about what sort of redemptions would be possible? Check out our guide on the best ways to redeem Delta SkyMiles.

Delta Pay With Miles

If you prefer a more simplistic approach, Delta offers a feature called Pay With Miles that allows you to redeem your miles towards any flight at a rate of 1 cent per mile.

So if you want to book a flight with a cash price of $500, you’ll need to redeem 50,000 miles in order to do so. This method won’t offer as much value as traditional award tickets, but if you’re looking for simplicity and don’t want to bother with searching for award space, then it might make sense for you.

Delta Seat Upgrades

Don’t have enough miles to book a business class ticket but still want to fly business? Then you could purchase a cash ticket and use your miles to upgrade to business class. Keep in mind that the number of miles you’ll need for an upgrade will vary based on where you’re traveling, the fare class your upgrading to, and the fare class you booked originally.

Delta Sky Club Membership

Delta will allow you to redeem your miles towards a yearly Sky Club membership. This will cost you 54,500 miles for an individual membership and 84,500 miles for an executive membership (which allows you to bring in 2 guests per visit).

However, the cash costs of these memberships are $545 and $845, respectively, giving you a value of 1 cent per mile when you redeem them this way, and you can certainly do better than that through award flight redemptions.

Plus, if you are a Delta Reserve Business cardholder, yearly Delta Sky Club access is included as a benefit of holding the card.

Delta Gift Cards

You can use your Delta SkyMiles to purchase Delta gift cards, starting with increments of 5,600 miles for a $50 Delta gift card. This gives you a value of 0.9 cents per mile, so using your miles for award tickets, or even using Pay With Miles would give you much better value.

Delta Vacations

You can also use your miles to book all-in-one vacation packages through Delta Vacations, which will include items like flights, a hotel reservation, a rental car, etc. But as with Pay With Miles, you’ll receive 1 cent per mile when you redeem miles this way. But while you won’t get optimal value, it certainly provides much more convenience.

SkyMiles Experiences

Delta offers a SkyMiles Experiences program that allows you to redeem your miles for tickets to things like live sporting events, concerts, or even exclusive dining experiences.

This could be a good option if the particular experience you’re considering is something you’ve always dreamed of doing, but the monetary value you’ll receive can vary greatly depending on the type of experience.

Magazines

Lastly, you can redeem your miles towards select magazine subscriptions, but we highly advise against this as it usually offers pretty poor value.

Bottom Line: In our view, the absolute best way to redeem Delta SkyMiles is towards award tickets with Delta or one of its SkyTeam partners. This allows you to travel to new destinations and fly in premium cabins for less than what you would normally pay for an economy ticket.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

The annual fee of the Amex Business Platinum card is comparable to what you’d be paying on the Delta Reserve Business card, but it allows you to earn Amex Membership Rewards points — which are some of our favorite points to collect!

Plus the card earns 5x points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel, gives you Gold status with Hilton and Marriott, has a 35% bonus when using Pay With Points, and offers the best airport lounge access of all travel rewards cards. Terms apply and enrollment required for select benefits.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card

If you’re looking for a card that is a great option for Delta flyers but is more affordable than the Delta Reserve Business card, then the Delta Platinum Business card might be the perfect pick for you.

With it, you will earn 3x miles per $1 on Delta and hotel purchases, plus 1.5x miles per $1 on purchases larger than $5,000. The card also comes with perks like Status Boost, Delta priority, and an annual companion certificate. Terms apply and enrollment required for select benefits.