Delta Companion Certificate – Everything You Need To Know 

by Daniel | Last Updated June 20th, 2024

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If you’re a frequent traveler who often flies with Delta, the Delta Companion Certificate is a fantastic perk that can really enhance your travel experience.
Imagine being able to bring a friend or partner along on your trip without having to worrying about the cost of an extra ticket. 

Well, the Delta Companion certificate allows you to do just that, 
Essentially it is a perk that gives you the opportunity to brings a companion with you on a eligible Delta flight essentially for free, all you will need to pay for is the taxes and fees.

Whether you’re simply planning a weekend getaway, a business trip, or a much anticipated vacation, the Delta Companion Certificate adds tremendous value to your travel plans, making it a whole lot easier and more affordable to share your adventures with someone special. 

Now the Companion Certificate is only available to select Delta SkyMiles American Express card holders.
And if do have an eligible card you will receive one Companion Certificate each calendar year.

Now it is worth noting that if you do get one of the eligible cards, you wont have access to the Companion Certificate for the first year of card ownership.
Essentially it is only provided to you after you have renewed your card for the following year of card ownership.

Now you might be thinking to your self, is this benefit really that valuable?

Well, it does have to potential to save you a significant amount of money on your travel.
Its not uncommon to save literally hundreds if not thousands of dollars on specific flights.

With the Delta Companion Certificate you now have the ability to bring along a friend or family member on a round trip flight either within the US, to the Caribbean, or Central American.

The only thing you will need to pay for is any associated taxes and fees.
This will be a maximum of $80 for round trip domestic flights and no more than $250 for international roundtrip flights.  

https://youtu.be/Lx_J2C31Zrw

How Can You Get A Delta Companion Certificate?

Now if you want to be eligible to receive a Delta Companion Certificate you will first need to have one of the following cards:

• Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business Card
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Card

Now if you are totally new to any of these 4 cards, its worth noting that you will actually need to wait a full 12 months of card ownership and then pay for the following years annual fee before you can receive your first Companion Certificate. 

Which Credit Cards Offer A Delta Companion Certificate

So as I just mentioned, there are 4 different cards from Amex that come with a Delta Companion Certificate.
The Delta SkyMiles Platinum Personal and Business card, and then the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Personal and Business Card.
And all of these cards currently come with an elevated signup bonus if you can manage to meet the minimum spend requirement.

Now before I talk about what each card currently offers, it’s worth noting the Delta SkyMiles are worth around 1.2 cents per mile.

Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex card

So the first card on the list is the personal Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex card.
And at the time of writing this article it is possible to earn 85,000 bonus miles if you manage to spend $4,000 on the card within the first 6 months of card ownership.

So with miles being worth 1.2 cent per miles, this sign up bonus is worth approximately $1,020.
Thats almost 3 times the value of the annual fee, which is pretty good.

And interestingly enough, this specific card has the best miles earning potential off all 4 cards.
Currently it is possible to earn 3x miles for purchases made directly with Delta and at Hotels.
You can then earn 2x miles on dining and at Grocery stores from within the US.
Then all other purchase will earn you 1 miles per dollar spent. 

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Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business Card

Now with the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business card you can earn an even better signup bonus, but you will have to spend more on the card to receive it.
A the time of writing this article it is possible to earn 95,000 bonus miles if you manage to spend $8,000 on the card within the first 6 months of opening the account.

So you will need to spend twice as much as the personal card to receive an additional 15,000 miles.
And with miles being worth 1.2 cents per mile, this sign up bonus is worth $1,140.

Now earning miles with the business card is a slightly more restrictive than the personal card.
Basically you can earn the same 3x miles for purchases made through Delta and at Hotels.
Then it is possible to earn 1.5 x miles on purchases that are over $5,000 on Transit, and eligible US shipping.
All other purchases will earn 1 miles per dollar spent.

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Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card

So the next card on the list is the personal Delta SkyMiles Reserve card.
And currently it is possible to earn 95,000 bonus miles once you spend a total of $6,000 on the card within the first 6 months of card ownership. 
So this sign up bonus is worth $1,140 based on miles being valued at 1.2 cents per mile.

Now this card doesn’t really offer a lot of way to earn Delta Miles.
Basically there is the ability to earn 3x Miles on Direct Delta Purchases, and then everything else will earn just 1 miles per dollar spent.

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Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Card

Now the last card on this list that comes with a Companion Certificate is the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business card.
And currently it is possible to earn 110,000 bonus miles after you spend $12,000 on the card within the first 6 months of card ownership.
And based on miles being worth 1.2 cents per miles, this sign up bonus is worth $1,320.

In term of earning miles, the business Reserve card is a little better than the personal Reserve card.
Basically you can earn the same 3x miles for direct Delta Purchases.
It is then possible to earn 1.5x miles for eligible transit, US shipping and office supply purchases.
Then everything else will earn 1 mile per dollar spent. 

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Now all of these cards come with a variety of Delta related benefits to help you get even more value out of your travel.
And one specific benefit that is worth mentioning is the ‘TakeOff 15’ benefit.

This essentially provides you with the ability to get a 15% discount when you use your own Delta SkyMiles to book a Delta operated award flight.
So if you are a frequent traveler, it can potentially save you a significant amount of money.

To use this benefit you will need to log in to your Delta SkyMiles account via their website or app and then choose ‘Shop with Miles’.
Once you have selected your flights and go to check out you will automatically be shown the miles savings applied to your itinerary. 
Just note that it is not possible use the benefit when flying on a partner operated flight.

Is There A Difference Between Companion Certificates?

Now you might be wondering if there is a difference between the Companion Certificate that comes with the Platinum card and Reserve card, and there is.  

With the Delta SkyMiles Platinum personal and Business card you can essentially book a Main Cabin domestic, Caribbean, or Central American roundtrip flight, and this is basically an economy ticket.

Then with the Delta SkyMiles Reserve personal and Business card you can also book a domestic, Caribbean, or Central American roundtrip flight.
The main difference is that it can be either a First class, Comfort+, or Main cabin fare.

So the Reserve card has the ability to provide you with a lot of value depending on where and when you travel.

Rules And Restrictions Of The Delta Companion Certificate

So as you might expect, there are a few things that you should know about how to use your companion certificate, as there are a few rules and restriction.

• The Companion Certificate is specifically for a companion traveling on the same flight as the primary cardholder, and the flight must be paid for using the eligible card that received the Companion Certificate.
  
  If you are using a Companion Certificate from a Platinum card you can only travel in the following classes: L, U, T, X, and V in main cabin travel.
  
  And if you are using a Reserve card you can use both I and Z classes for First Class bookings,  A and G classes for Delta Premium Select travel,  L, U, T, X, and V classes for Main cabin bookings and then W and S classes for Delta Comfort+ travel (if L, U, T, X, or V classes of service are available in the Main Cabin).
  
• If you cancel either the primary ticket or the companion ticket, both tickets will be canceled and the companion certificate will not be reissued.
  So it’s important to make sure you are certain of the dates you want to travel on to avoid losing your companion certificate. 
  
• Companion Certificates are generally valid for 12 months from the date of issue and are usually deposited into your SkyMiles account after you have paid the card’s annual fee.
  If you don’t use the Companion Certificate within the 12-month period it will expire.
  
• Generally speaking, fares require an advance purchase of up to 14 days.
  Then you must stay a minimum of 3 days  and up to a maximum of 30-days.
  
• Companion Certificates are only valid for round-trip tickets, so any stopovers, open jaws, or circle trips are not be eligible.
  
• If you decide to make a booking and use your Companion Certificate, each round trip will incur taxes and fees.
  For a domestic round trip it is capped at a maximum of $80, and for an international round trip it is capped at $250. 

Where Can You Fly With The Companion Certificate?

So at the start of 2024, Delta actually upgraded where you can fly to with a Companion Certificate.
Originally you could only fly on a domestic flight within the 48 contiguous United States.

However, it is now possible to travel from either United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands to the following destinations:

The United States, Puerto Rico, USVI, Mexico, Antigua, Aruba, Bermuda, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, and El Salvador.

So you now have a lot more options to choose from when using your Companion Certificate. 

How Much Is The Delta Companion Certificate Worth?

Ok, so now let’s take a look at a few example of how much you can potentially save with the Companion Certificate from both the Platinum and Reserve cards.

And starting with the Platinum card I’ve been able to find a return flight from JFK to LAX on August 19th, returning on the 26th for $716.95.
And the fees you will need to pay for are $78.11.

Now Importantly, the flight there is in the Main Cabin in U class, and returning it is in the Main cabin in L class.

As I mention earlier in the video, only flights that are in classes  L, U, T, X, and V in the main cabin are eligible using the Delta SkyMiles Platinum cards Companion Certificate.

So minus the taxes and fees of $78.11, you are essentially saving $638.84, which in my opinion is pretty good!

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Now using the Reserve cards Companion Certificate I have been able to find a first class return flight from JFK to LAX, also leaving on August 19th and returning on the 26th for $2,032.71.
Then the fees you will need to pay are $187.58.

And both flights are in I class which is necessary for first class bookings using the Companion Certificate.

So minus the taxes and fees of $187.58, you are basically saving $1,845.13.

Final Thoughts 

Ok, so that covers pretty much everything you need to know about the Delta Companion Certificate that is offered with both the Delta SkyMiles Platinum and Reserve cards.
And as you can see from the two examples I just showed you, it is possible to get a decent amount of value from either version of the Companion Certificate.

I really like the fact that Delta has now made it possible to use the Companion Certificate  to travel to the Caribbean, or Central American as well as within the United States.

Now when it comes to choosing one of these cards it will depending on your current situation and what you are actually looking for from a credit card.

If I had to pick one, I would personally go for one of the Delta SkyMiles Platinum cards,
First of all because the annual fee is substantially less than the Reserve card.
And second, because the miles earring potential (at least with the Personal Delta SkyMiles Platinum card) is much better than either of the Reserve cards. 

And if you’d like to learn all about each of the 4 Amex Delta SkyMiles cards make sure to read my latest article here.