Everything You Need To Know About The Delta Companion Certificate

by Daniel | Last Updated April 30th, 2022

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Delta and American Express currently have 4 different credit cards that offer a Companion Certificate, the Delta SkyMiles Platinum, and Reserve personal and business credit cards.
And the companion certificate can offer some great value depending on where you choose to fly to and whether you are using the Platinum card or the Reserve Card to make the booking.
As with the Platinum card, you are limited to an Economy ticket but with the Reserve card, you can book a first-class ticket. 

Now it can be a bit confusing when first using your Companion Certificate, so I thought I’d make a simple step-by-step video to try and make it a bit easier to understand what the rules are and what restrictions apply.

Basically, I’ll explain the ins and outs of the Companion Certificate, and a few other points such as when the certificate expires, restrictions when making a booking using a companion certificate, and where you can actually book travel to.

Now after I have gone over the Delta Companion Certificate information I am going to do a quick review of my time spent at the new Delta SkyClub Lounge at LAX.

https://youtu.be/ip7a7nV_wNc

If you have one of the following credit cards:

• Delta SkyMiles Platinum
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve
• Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business card
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business card 

You will receive a Companion Certificate for each card anniversary.
And this is important to know, as if you are a new cardholder you will need to wait a full 12 months before you have access to use your first Companion Certificate.

Now once you have received your Companion Certificate there are a few things to keep in mind:

• It is only valid for round-trip tickets, any one-way or open-jaw trips are not eligible.
• The Companion Certificate is for a companion traveling on the same flight as you, the primary cardholder, and the flight must be paid for using the eligible card that received the Companion Certificate.
• Also, the certificate will eventually expire, basically, you will need to have booked and traveled before the date that is on the front of your certificate.
• Now if you cancel the primary ticket or the companion ticket, both tickets will be canceled and your companion ticket will not be reissued, so it’s important to be pretty sure that you will be able to travel on the dates you select, as it would not be pretty annoying to miss out on your Companion Certificate.
• And finally, each round trip will incur taxes and fees that are capped at a maximum of $75.

Is There A Difference Between The Platinum And Reserve Cards Companion Certificates?

Yes, there is a big difference!

Basically with the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Card, you will be able to book a round trip on domestic Main cabin fares, which is basically an Economy ticket.
But with the Delta Skymiles Reserve Card, you will be able to book a domestic First class, Comfort+, or Main cabin fare.
So the Companion Certificate that is offered with the Reserve card is definitely worth a lot more than what the Platinum card offers.

Where Can I Fly Too With The Companion Certificate?

With the Companion Certificate, you are eligible for a domestic round trip within the 48 contiguous Unites States.
Now if you live within the 48 contiguous States, you will not be able to use the Companion Certificate to travel to Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or the United State Virgin Islands.
However, if you actually live in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or the United State Virgin Islands and have an address from one of these states on your SkyMiles account, you will be able to use the Companion Certificate as long as it originates from one of these States to one of the 48 contiguous States.
So, unfortunately, you won’t be able to use the Companion Certificate for International travel.

What Are The Restrictions Of The Delta Companion Certificate?

Now when it comes to booking a flight with your Companion Certificate there are a few restrictions on what fare classes are actually available to you.

With the Platinum card, you will only be able to book seats that are in L, U, T, X, and V classes of service.

Then with the Reserve card, you will also be able to book in fares I and Z when traveling First Class and in fares W and S for Comfort+ 

And it’s worth noting that these classes may not be available on all flights.
Also, seeing that the eligible fares are usually the lowest fare class that is offered by Delta, it is a good idea to try and make your reservations sooner rather than later, as they do tend to sell out before the more expensive fares.

Now when you do book your flights, Delta specifies that most flights require up to 14 days prior notice,
Also, there is a 3-night minimum stay and a maximum stay of 30 days for bookings that include a Companion Certificate

So that pretty much covers everything you need to know about the Delta Companion Certificate.
And as you can see, it is a pretty nice perk to have as it will save you a fair bit of money and give you the ability to share a trip with someone.

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Now for the next section of this article, I thought I would share my latest experience at the new Delta SkyClub at LAX, which is one of the largest SkyClubs offered by Delta and is over 30,000 square feet in size.

And as I was traveling overseas I actually got to spend about 3 hours there, which gave me the opportunity to get a decent look around and use some of the club’s amenities.
Now the SkyClub is actually located on the departures level and is between T2 and T3.

And once you have checked in and gone through security, you can head straight there.

So when I entered the downstairs lobby of the Delta SkyClub there were a few Delta employees there that offered assistance and basically just told me to scan my ticket on their computer and then tap or swipe my credit card, and the credit card I used to get into this Delta SkyClub was the Platinum Amex Card, and it literally took me about 30 seconds to sign-in.
So from here you then head up an escalator to the main floor of the SkyClub.

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And I must say that the lounge is very nice, and it is huge, which is good, as it can get relatively busy at times.

So in terms of food, there are two separate dining stations in the lounge, one at each end of the space.
And there was some really nice fresh food on offer.

There was also a Starbucks coffee station that had the choice of drip coffee or espresso-based coffee, and it was quite nice.

So as you can see in my photo below, I kept it simple and got some greek style salad, hummus, mini pita bread, Jalapeño chips, and a Starbucks coffee, all of which were nice and tasty. 

Later on, I also had a nice glass of Rose, which was on the complimentary list of drinks, and was just fine.
Now if you want specialty cocktails or Champagne such as Dom Perignon you will need to pay it, but the list of complimentary drinks is still pretty good.

So seeing that I was going on a 13-hour international flight I decided to try out one of the shower rooms (and this is a first for me).

Initially, you can go to one of the computers that are within the Delta SkyClub lounge.
And as you can see in this picture there is a Delta SkyClub Virtual Queue.

So all you need to do is press the ‘shower‘ button and sign up to be notified when a shower room is free and ready to use.
And lucky for me there was no one using the showers, so I pretty much just walked straight in. 

So the room was nice and private and had a toothbrush kit, shaving kit, a set of towels, and a hairdryer.

And I have to say, if you have a long flight and ever get the chance of having a shower beforehand, give it a go, it really is quite nice.

Now the only negative thing that stood out during my time spent at the Delta SkyClub was the loud background music that they have playing constantly.
The music was ok but was too loud, I had noise-canceling headphones on and all I could hear was background music.

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up my video for today,  

Now if you don’t have either of the credit cards that I mentioned at the start of this video and are looking for some more information on both of them why not check out my detailed review and comparison of them here.