Who is the Platinum Delta SkyMiles Business card from American Express Good For?
If you are a business owner who values Delta SkyMiles and who needs a boost to achieve or maintain the elite Medallion Status, the Platinum Delta SkyMiles Business card can be the cornerstone of your strategy. Sure, the Platinum Delta card is not the only Delta business card out there. There are also Gold and Delta Reserve, but Platinum Delta has two advantages:
- Unlike Gold, it lets you earn qualifying miles
- Unlike Reserve (that also lets you earn qualifying miles), it’s much cheaper
Delta status costs the following:
- Silver: 25,000 MQMs or 30 MQSs and $3,000 MQDs
- Gold: 50,000 MQMs or 60 MQSs and $6,000 MQDs
- Platinum: 75,000 MQMs or 100 MQSs and $9,000 MQDs
- Diamond: 125,000 MQMs or 140 MQSs and $15,000 MQDs
The Platinum Delta Skymiles business card comes with very valuable benefits without a huge cost.
Earn 5,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 35,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months. In addition, earn a $100 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months.
Unfortunately, the earning scheme for the Platinum Delta Skymiles business card is as mediocre as for other Delta cards.
| AIRLINE TRANSFER PARTNER | Membership Rewards, Diners Club - Club Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) |
| ANNUAL FEE | $195 |
| APR | 17.74% (Prime Rate + 12.49%) to 26.74% (Prime Rate + 21.49%), based on your creditworthiness as determined at the time of account opening. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate. |
| RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE | N/A |
| TYPE OF CARD | American Express |
| ISSUER | American Express |
Welcome Bonus:
The welcome bonus for this card has been as high as 35,000miles.
Miles Earned:
You will get 2 miles on every dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta and 1 mile on every eligible dollar spent on purchases. Miles don't expire. Miles Boost® - Make $25,000 in purchases on the Card and earn 10,000 bonus miles and 10,000 MQMs each calendar year; make $50,000 in purchases on the Card and earn an additional 10,000 bonus miles and 10,000 MQMs each calendar year.
What Do Your Miles Get You?
Delta is a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, and it has individual partner airlines as well, so you can use SkyMiles to book flights on 20 partner airlines.
Delta Platinum cardmembership is an excellent way to earn Silver Medallion status.
So, after meeting the spending requirements on the card annually, you will get:
- Enough MQMs for Silver Medallion
- More than 35,000 bonus miles (more if you spend some of this money on booking Delta flights)
Usage Perks:
- Earn 5,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) and 35,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months. In addition, earn a $100 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase with your new Card within your first 3 months.
- MilesBoost that gets you Silver Medallion status
- One free checked bag for the cardholder and other passengers
- 20% in-flight savings
- Priority boarding
- Free companion certificate upon anniversary
- One-way flights are allowed at 50% of roundtrip
- No fuel surcharges for Delta flights (not originated in Europe) and on many partners
- Open jaw is allowed
- Discounted domestic short-haul awards
- Excellent international business class product
Usage Quirks:
- High annual fee
- Mediocre mile earning scheme
- The fuel surcharge for flights originated in Europe and on some SkyMiles partners
- No stopovers
- No official award chart posted
- High change and cancellation fees
How Far Do Your Miles Go?
The best use of Delta miles is for international award flights. Delta has excellent award availability that often surpasses both American and United, even in business class for more than one passenger. Delta offers excellent redemption rates to the Middle East and India and reasonable rates for other international destinations.
Domestically, Delta offers discounted coach redemptions of 20,000 miles per round trip, but these are random. When you have difficulty finding availability for a domestic Saver award on Delta, consider using another program or paying cash and saving the miles for your next international trip instead.
Additional Cardholder Benefits:
- Extended warranty
- No foreign transaction fees
- Zero liability
- Travel accident insurance
- Companion airfare
- Global Assist hotline
- Purchase protection
- Baggage insurance
- Trip cancellation coverage
- Car rental loss and damage insurance
- OPEN benefits