Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Card from American Express Review (Update 2026.1: 125k offer)

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2026.1 Update: New supply is 125k. Expires in 2026.4.1. Spending demand is higher than the previous offer of 125k.

2025.9 Update: New supply is 125k. Expires on 2025.10.29. It’s out of date now.

2025.6 Update: New supply is 100k. Expires on 2025.7.16. It’s out of date now.

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Benefits

1. 125k Offer: Earn 100,000 Delta Miles after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first 6 months. Earn an additional 25,000 Delta Miles after spending an additional $3,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. That’s a total of 125k miles. The latest best offer is a 125k offer with a minimum spend requirement.
2. We value Delta Miles at 1.3 cents/mile (Airline Miles Value). So a maximum welcome offer of 125k would be worth $1,625! Look A Beginner’s Guide to Delta Miles to check information about Delta Miles.
3. With the Delta Reserve Credit Card, you’ll get Friend certificate good for home coach/first class every year just to renew your Card. With this Certificate, you can invite a special someone to fly with you on a suitable round-trip flight. If you use it well, it costs more than $1000 and it is easy to pay the annual fee.
4. Earn 3 miles for every $1 spent on Delta purchases; 1 mile per $1 per purchase.
5. [New] $20 Resy Credit per month. Resy is a restaurant booking platform, featuring mainly high-end restaurants. You don’t need to make a reservation at Resy, just go to Resy partner restaurants and pay with this card to get credit. Registration is required.
6. [New] $10 Rideshare credit per month. Registration is required.
7. [New] $200 Delta Stays Credit: Get up to $200 back annually as a statement credit after you use this card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays at delta.com/stays.
8. Airport Lounge Policies:
   1. Free access to the Delta Sky Club. Keeping this card is equivalent to being a Delta Sky Club Member ($450 annual fee), plus $29 per friend. [2023.9 Update] Starting 2/1/25, Savings Card Members will receive 10 Delta Sky Club Visits per year; to earn an unlimited number of Tours each year beginning on 2/1/25, total eligible purchases on the card must be $75,000 or more between 1/1/24 and 12/31/24, and each calendar year thereafter.
   2. Easy access to The Centurion Lounge when you book your Delta flight with your Reserve Card.
9. Receive 2 Delta Sky Club One-time Guest Passes each year.
10. First is a free checked bag on Delta flights.
11. Priority boarding on Delta flights.
12. 20% savings on in-flight dining and entertainment.
13. MQD Promotion: Earn $1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) for every $10 in purchases.
14. [New] MQD prefix: earn $2,500 in Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) each year of Medallion Qualification through MQD Headstart.
15. [New] Non-Promotional List. Well, but your position is behind Delta SkyMiles Medallion members and Saver Card Members.
16. Global Entry or TSA Pre✔ Cash Credit.
17. Cell phone protection: get up to $800 per claim and 2 claims per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage to phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay with your eligible credit card. $50 deducted.
18. With this credit card, you can get access to the Amex Offer, which often offers great discounts at other stores, such as: spend $15 or more and get $5 back at Walmart; spend $75 or more and get $25 back at Amazon.com.
19. There is no foreign currency.
20. Authorized users also have access to the airport lounge mentioned in 4.

DL Companion Certification Rules

• You can only use the companion certificate on Delta flights only (including Delta connections, Delta motorcycles)
• You will need to purchase your tickets at least 14 days in advance for a minimum stay of 3 nights
• You must book seats in the fare class L, U, or T (discount coach class) only or first class discount
• You and your friend must fly in the same direction
• Taxes and Fees apply to the companion ticket
• Associate certificates can be transferred, but are not eligible for upgrades
• If you cancel the itinerary, you will not receive the certificate
• You will earn miles on a premium ticket, but not a companion ticket
• You it should use your Delta Reserve card to pay for tickets

Evil

1. $650 annual fee, NOT due the first year. Note that the annual fee does not count towards the minimum spend (and this is true for all credit cards)!
2. The annual fee for each additional Delta Reserve credit card is $175.

Recommended Application Period

1. You can only get a welcome bonus once in a lifetime, so be sure to apply when the historically highest offers appear.
2. [New] [Family language] AmEx is starting to add family language: cards with higher annual fees will apply to welcome offers at lower annual fees in the same family series. The Delta personal card family is affected. So if you want more than one welcome offer, you should apply for the cards with the lowest annual fee first.
3. AmEx does not care about the amount of withdrawals.
4. You can try to apply if you have a credit history of 6 months.
5. Only 2 AmEx credit cards can be approved within 90 days, but this rule does not apply to charge cards. Multiple cards approved on the same day will only have one Hard Pull.
6. You can keep a minimum of 5 AmEx credit cards, but this rule does not apply to charge cards.

Summary

The welcome offer on this card has gotten better and better, so you should take advantage of it. Highlights of this credit card include instant MQM and Delta Sky Club membership and accompanying certificates for domestic first class travel. The Delta Sky Club looks great, but personally I don’t think it’s worth its high annual fee. You will have to use your friend’s certificate wisely to pay this amount. So, overall, considering the high annual fee, only people who fly Delta a lot and want its superior status and the benefits of airport lounges should consider keeping it.

Related Credit Cards

Recommended Download Options

• You can’t downgrade this card to any card without an annual fee, so I suggest you close it if you don’t want to keep it anymore.

After applying

• Click here to check the status of an AmEx application.
• AmEx reconsideration hotline number: 877-399-3083. The “real” Amex backdoor number is well protected. Unlike Chase, representatives from this backdoor AmEx reconsideration number are only authorized to help you submit applications.

Historical Supply Chart

Program Link

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