How I Used My Delta Reserve Card’s Companion Certificate for the Ultimate Stargazing Trip

Without a doubt, the Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card is the most expensive to hold of the 20 cards my wife and I have. The $650 annual fee (rates & fees) hit my account a few weeks ago, but I believe this premium Delta card delivers value that, for us, offsets the cost.

As I paid that hefty annual fee, I considered how I had just used one of the Delta Reserve card’s biggest benefits, its companion ticket, to go on a 3-day stargazing trip to New Mexico with my wife. Every year, at the time of renewal, the card provides a Delta Companion Certificate, which allows you to purchase a second ticket on select Delta flights for only the price of the taxes and fees on the second ticket.

That benefit, which applies to first-class and economy tickets, can be worth the annual fee alone. Here’s how I used the Delta Reserve card’s companion certificate to organize an impromptu trip from New York City to the desert to see the night sky.

How I Redeemed the Delta Companion Certificate

At the end of September, I noticed that when I checked the Certificates & eCredits section of the Delta Air Lines site, I had a companion certificate expiring at the end of November and wondered if there might be a fun way to use it before it expired. (With these awards, travel must be completed by the end of the validity period — in this case, November 30).

The certificate I redeemed was issued in 2023, before American Express and Delta expanded their credit card companion certificates to cover all of the U.S., Central America, and the Caribbean. Therefore, my expiring certificate was only valid for the 48 contiguous U.S.

There was one place in the U.S. where I wanted to take my wife: the high desert of the West, where I had often been but never with her. What better place than that to show her, an astronomy lover, a starry sky unpolluted by city lights?

I looked for tickets from our New York City base to Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ). From there, we could easily get to Santa Fe, a city close to several reputed dark-sky locations and a destination in its own right.

Knowing that Delta companion tickets only allow round trips, I looked for NYC-ABQ-NYC tickets in the first week of October, when a new moon would minimize light that could affect the night sky. I found an attractive $386.16 fare, of which $346.46 was for my ticket, and $39.70 was for the taxes and fees on the companion ticket. The ticket requires payment of the government-imposed taxes and fees of no more than $80 for roundtrip domestic flights and no more than $250 for international flights.

For under $400, we crossed almost the entire U.S. and back. We flew from New York- LaGuardia (LGA) to Albuquerque via Atlanta (ATL) on the outbound and nonstop from ABQ to New York – Kennedy (JFK) on the way back.

I paid with the Delta Reserve card, earning 3x Delta SkyMiles per $1 spent on Delta flights. Between the 1,158 SkyMiles earned on the purchase and the 3,146 miles earned for the flight itself, my haul of 4,304 miles was worth $51.60 at our valuations. Only the primary passenger earns SkyMiles and Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) on a Delta companion ticket.

Getting Upgraded to First Class

The Delta Reserve card’s Companion Certificate does allow for first-class purchases, unlike the certificate on the Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum American Express Card, which allows only purchasing tickets in economy.

However, I knew that both passengers could be upgraded when flying on a Delta companion ticket, according to the airline’s usual rules governing upgrades for the passenger with the higher status. So I decided to buy economy, hoping my Diamond Medallion status would get us both upgraded to first — at least on 1 of the 3 flights.

That is indeed what happened, and fortunately, it was on the longest flight in this itinerary, Albuquerque to JFK. We got bumped up a full 5 days before the ABQ-JFK flight, exactly when the upgrade window to first-class opens for Diamond members.

Delta Status Came in Clutch With Sixt Car Rental

In another example of how loyalty to an airline can pay off on many aspects of travel, I also have Platinum status with car rental company Sixt thanks to a status match with Delta. That’s the highest elite level with Sixt, and it’s available to Delta SkyMiles members with Gold Medallion status or higher with the airline.

As a Delta Diamond Medallion, I also have President’s Circle status with Hertz, but I chose Sixt because it was cheaper: $190 for a compact for 3 days. Imagine my delight when the agent surprised me at the ABQ airport counter with a free upgrade to a BMW 330i, courtesy of that Sixt Platinum status.

One night, after a half hour’s drive outside of Santa Fe, the sight of the Milky Way we had come for proved worth the trip.

We set up our camera on a tripod, turned off the car lights, and found ourselves in the kind of darkness that cannot quite be imagined back home in New York City. Even with some light pollution from the Albuquerque area, it was amazing.

We experienced it for far less thanks to the Delta Reserve card’s companion ticket.

Other Delta Reserve Card Benefits

The companion certificate isn’t the only thing I like about the Delta Reserve card. It’s a card that only works for Delta frequent flyers, but for those, it can deliver real value in exchange for its hefty annual fee. Here are the 3 perks of the Delta Reserve card I find the most valuable, besides the companion certificate:

• Automatic 2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs): Just by holding the card, I’ll get these MQDs that count toward earning Delta elite status every year.
• Delta SkyClub and Amex Centurion lounge access: The card provides complimentary SkyClub access plus 4 one-time guest passes every year when flying on a same-day Delta boarding pass. Starting February 1, 2025, cardholders get 15 visits per year to the Delta Sky Club unless they spend $75,000 or more on the card each calendar year. In addition, the card provides complimentary access to Centurion lounges when booking a Delta flight with the Delta Reserve card.
• Better shot at complimentary upgrades: The Delta Reserve card acts as a tie-breaker for upgrades between flyers with the same Medallion status and same fare class paid. There are a lot of frequent flyers with high elite status based in New York City, and having the card helps me get upgraded when flying from my home airports.

Final Thoughts

Once again, the Delta Reserve card has proved its worth for me by saving hundreds of dollars on a cross-country trip, thanks to its companion ticket. It spurred a last-minute decision to travel with my wife from New York City to Santa Fe, a place that awed us and we may not have seen together otherwise.

Those companion tickets are a major reason for my continued loyalty to a card with a hefty annual fee of $650.

I’m already looking forward to how we will use the Delta Reserve card’s companion ticket next year. Now that it has been expanded to cover more of the Americas beyond the continental U.S., I sense a Caribbean break next winter.