Delta SkyMiles Reserve vs. American Express Platinum: Which Business Card is the Best Choice for You?

by Daniel | Last Updated Jan 4th, 2023

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If you run a business or are self-employed and need to travel a fair amount each year then it’s worth getting to know both of the credit cards I’m about to talk about.

In this article, I’m going to review and compare both the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Card and the Amex Business Platinum Card.
I’ll go over literally everything there is to know about these cards and then give you my honest opinion on which card I would choose and why.

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Learn more about the Platinum Amex card here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfW5-yntzAg

Who are these cards good for?

Both the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Credit Card and the Amex Platinum Business Credit Card are most useful for business owners who travel frequently for work and are looking to earn rewards from their business expenses.

The Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business Credit Card is a great card for business owners who frequently fly with Delta as that is where most of its benefits are focused.

And the Reserve card offers a variety of travel perks, such as a free checked bag on Delta flights and access to the Delta Sky Club, which can be really quite valuable if you do fly often. In addition to this, the card earns SkyMiles on every purchase, which can then be redeemed for flights on Delta.

Alternatively, the American Express Platinum Business Credit Card may be a better choice for business owners who are looking for more flexibility in their rewards program and want a broader range of travel benefits. The Platinum card offers access to a larger variety of airport lounges than the Reserve card through the American Express Global Lounge Collection.

It also has extensive travel insurance coverage and concierge services.
In addition to this, the card earns points on every purchase that can then be redeemed for travel, merchandise, and more.

Ultimately, the best choice for your business will depend on your specific travel needs and preferences. It really is quite important to carefully consider the benefits and rewards offered by each card and how they align with your business expenses and travel habits.

Annual Fee

Both the Delta Skymiles Reserve business card and the Amex Platinum Business card are both premium credit cards and therefore are both quite expensive to maintain on an annual basis.

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So clearly both of these cards cost a reasonable amount to maintain each year.
Generally speaking, if you run a business that has a reasonable turnover and a decent profit margin, this cost can be quite easily covered.

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Sign-up Bonus

Now as you might expect both of these cards have a reasonably valuable sign-up bonus, which can actually quite easily cover the cost of the annual fee of each card 

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When redeeming membership rewards points on travel through American Express travel, points are worth 1 cent per point.
So this means this sign-up bonus is worth at least $1,500.

Now the Amex Platinum Business card has the ability to receive quite a lot more value from Membership rewards points, first of all, by transferring the points to one of the Airline partners it is possible to receive a much higher value per point.

Or one benefit that comes with the Business Platinum Amex is the 35% Airline Bonus.
This basically allows you to receive up to 35% of your points back if you use your own points to book a flight through American Express Travel.
And this is capped at 1 million points each, which if used in full is worth around $10,000. 

Earning Miles / Points

Now each one of these cards offers a variety of different ways to earn membership reward points or miles.
So it’s worth considering where you will spend your money, as each card has different options for earning maximum points or miles. 

There is however the ability to earn 1.5x miles per dollar spent on any purchases if you manage to spend at least $150k within a calendar year.
So if you spend a fair amount each year through your business, it shouldn’t be too hard to meet this requirement, but I must say that it is a pretty high limit to actually reach before being able to earn just 1.5 miles per dollar spent.

Now basically all other purchases that are made on the card will earn 1 mile per dollar spent.

So if you do happen to travel a lot, specifically with Delta it will be possible to earn quite a lot of miles over the course of each year, but if you don’t, the card is relatively limited when it comes to earning miles from everyday purchases.

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It is then possible to earn 1.5x points on any purchases that are greater than $5,000 up to a total spend amount of $2 million each year.
It is also possible to receive 1.5x points for any business purchases from the following categories:

• U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers
• Electronic goods retailers
• Software & cloud system providers
• Shipping providers

Then all other purchases will earn 1 point per dollar spent.

So it’s pretty clear to see that the Amex Platinum Business card offers a lot more potential to earn a ton of points compared to the Delta Skymiles Reserve card. 

Benefits and User Perks 

Now seeing as both of these cards are premium credit cards that both have high annual fees you would expect to receive a lot of value from the benefits and perks on offer.
And that is definitely the case with both of these cards, as long as you take advantage of the benefits on offer you will receive a ton of value. 

And needless to say, this benefit alone can potentially be worth a  lot of money.
As an example, when looking on the Delta website for a flight from LAX to JFK return, it will cost $2,495.
So it is clearly a very valuable benefit to have access to.

Just note that with the Reserve card, you will only be able to book fares that are in I and Z classes when traveling First Class and in fares W and S for Comfort+.
Then if you book a main cabin trip it will need to be either L, U, T, X, or V classes of service.

Now if you want to learn more about what the Delta Companion certificate is and how to take full advantage of it check out this article here.

Now along with this, there are also quite a few Delta-related benefits which include complimentary Delta Sky Club access.
And with this, it is possible to bring up to 2 guests at an exclusive rate of $39 per person.
But it’s worth noting that you must all be flying on a same-day Delta-marked flight to actually gain access.

Now it is possible to bring up to 2 guests free of charge into the Delta Sky Club with the Delta Sky Club One-Time Guest Passes that are on offer each year of card ownership.

And along with Delta Sky Club access, there is also Complimentary access to The Centurion Lounge and Escape Lounge, and for access to these airport lounges, you will need to be traveling on a same-day Delta marked flight.

A few other Delta benefits included are Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding, Access to Complimentary Upgrades, your First Checked Bag Free on Delta marked flights, and 20% Back on In-Flight Purchases.

One benefit that comes with quite a lot of premium credit cards is a $100 credit for use on either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.

This can potentially help to save you time when you are going through security at the airport, for me I find that Global Entry is the most beneficial in saving time, seeing that I travel out of the county a fair bit throughout the year, when I arrive back in the US I can just skip the cue at Immigration and just scan my face and walk straight through to collect my bags.

Now as part of the sign-up bonus, you can receive 10,000 MQMs (which are Medallion Qualification Miles).

And by building up your MQMs will basically give you the ability to reach a specific status level, with Silver Medallion Status being the first level, and this requires 45,000 MQMs.

Then after this is Gold, Platinum, and Diamond, which all require quite a lot more MQMs.

And once you do achieve Medallion Status you will then be able to earn more points per dollar spent with Delta.

With Silver Status allowing you to earn 7 miles per dollar spent, all the way up to Diamond Status allowing you to earn 11 miles per dollar spent.

There is also a whole host of other benefits that come with Medallion Status that includes complimentary upgrades waived baggage fees and discounts on Clear memberships just to name a few.

Now one nice benefit of the Delta SkyMiles Reserve business card is the ability to earn an additional 15,000 MQMs for every $30,000 you spend on the card, and this can be received up to 4 times in a given year.

So if you manage to spend $120k within the year it is possible to receive 60k MQMs.
This is enough to qualify for Gold Medallion status and still have 10,000 spare MQMs from the sign-up bonus.

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Then another valuable benefit that comes with this card is complimentary access to the Global Lounge collection.
This includes access to:

• The Centurion Lounge
• Escape Lounges
• Delta Sky Clubs 
• Plaza Premium
• Air Space lounges

Then along with this is a complimentary Priority Pass Select Membership that is valued at $469 each year.
This basically provides you with access to over 1,300 airport lounges from all over the world.
And if you want to learn more about priority Pass, check out my in-depth review here.

You get the same $100 credit for access to TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

A nice addition that is similar to this is a $189 Clear Credit, and this basically covers the cost of Clear Membership.
This can really speed up the process of getting through airport security as you will be able to skip the queue at airports that support Clear.

There is a $200 Airline fee credit that helps to cover incidental fees that are charged by an airline such as baggage fees or in-flight refreshments.

And a nice benefit is the Cruise Privileges Program which provides you with up to $300 in shipboard credit for any bookings that are 5 nights or more.

And finally, there is over $1,000 in business-related benefits that includes:

• $400 statement credit for Dell Technologies purchases
• $360 Statement credit for use at Indeed
• $150 statement credit for Adobe Creative Solutions
• Then a $120 statement credit that can be used for any wireless telephone service purchases

So it’s clear to see that the Amex Platinum business card comes with quite a lot more value from all of the benefits it offers.

Insurance Related Benefits 

Now in terms of insurance-related benefits, both of these cards offer almost identical coverage except for the baggage delay Insurance.

So both cards offer Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance that covers up to $75k in the event of an accident and this is secondary coverage.

There is also Cell Phone Protection that covers up to $800 per claim with the ability to make 2 claims over a 12-month period.

The only thing you will have to pay for is a $50 deductible fee for each claim.
And for this to be valid you must pay for your phone bill with the card.

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In terms of travel coverage, there is Trip Delay Insurance that provides coverage of up to $500 per claim with the ability to make 2 claims in a 12-month period.
And this comes into effect if your trip is delayed for more than 6 hours.

Similar to this is trip cancellation and Interruption Insurance which covers up to $10k per cover trip and $20k per card per year.

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Then in terms of purchase insurance, there is Extended Warranty protection that provides 1 additional year of coverage on warranties that are 5 years or longer.
And this covers up to $10k per item and a total of $50k per year.

There is also Purchase Protection that gives you 90 days of coverage against loss or damage of new purchase and covers up to a total of $10,000 per item and $50k per year 

And finally, there is Return Protection that also provides you with  90 days of coverage for items that a merchant won’t take back, and this covers up to $300 per item and a total of $1,000 per year 

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So the only difference in insurance coverage between these two cards is the Baggage Insurance Plan.

Basically, the Delta SkyMiles Reserve card provides you with a total of $1,750 for any loss or damage to your luggage, whereas the Amex Platinum business card provides up to $3,000. 

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APR

Now for the final section of this review, I’ll just go over the APR for each card and what fees are associated with late or returned payments.

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Final Thoughts

So that pretty much covers everything there is to know about both of these Business Credit cards, and to be fair they both offer a ton of value as long as you make use of the cards and take advantage of everything on offer.

And clearly, it is worth considering what benefits you are more likely to use, as both of these cards do offer somewhat different benefits.

So if you are an avid flyer, specifically with Delta Airlines, the Delta SkyMiles Reserve card is pretty much a no-brainer.
It offers a ton of value that is specifically related to Delta and as I talked about you earlier in this article,  just the companion certificate alone can be worth at least $2,500 each year.

Now if you want even more value then the Amex Platinum Business credit card is the way to go.
Even though it costs $145 more for the annual fee it offers substantially more value than the Reserve card.
For example, the signup bonus of 150,000 membership reward points is worth about $840 more than the 60,000 bonus miles that the Reserve card is offering.
And then the 35% Airline Bonus allows you to receive up to 1 million points back each year, which as I mentioned earlier in the video if used in full is worth at least $10,000.

So for me, I’d have to choose the Amex Platinum Business card over the Reserve card as it presents a lot of value that I can actually take advantage of.
But let me know in the comments section below which card you prefer and why.

Now if you’ve made it this far through the video don’t forget to hit the like button so more people get the chance to see this video.

And if you want to see my choice for the best hotel credit card available now check out this article here.