I'm about to fly more often for my job starting next month around the middle of the month. I currently have the Delta Gold CC and was wondering if I should upgrade to the Reserve card. Here is my situation:
1. I only have 9684 SkyMiles and want to know if it's really worth is to make it to Silver status. So far I read that even though it's the lowest status with benefits, you can still get priority seating and possible seat upgrades if they are available.
2. My travel is less than 500 miles away. I guess this defaults to 500 SkyMiles per trip (1K RT)? Since I have until end of year, I have about 7 weeks (7K SkyMiles) to accumulate making my total 16,684 miles. Since I need 25K to make it to Silver, I was thinking of upgrading to the Reserve card.
I'm still VERY new to the airline mileage earning potentials out there. But from what I understand, I need to hit a certain MQM or MQS (which is out of the question with the limited amount of time we have left this year). MQM seems more probably and if I use the reserve card once, I get 10K MQM. I guess I will have to decide on this quickly since it takes 2-4 weeks for it to get posted. Regarding the posting time, if I took a flight back on 12/31 and the points don't post until a few days later (which seems to be the case), will it still count for the prior year or the near year instead (when it was posted to my account)?
Since I just got my Delta Gold card in early August, will this have any negative impact (ex: my bonus points that I earned will be forfeited back)? I see that the Reserve card only has an Upgrade Only button instead of Apply so I guess this is intentional.
I'm not only doing it for the Silver status (although that is one of the main goals). I also want to have SkyClub access. I was thinking of going with the regular AMEX Platinum card since it also has other add'l benefits like $200 airline fees but I want the 100K offer. Any way I can get that offer because it seems like I'm never targeted for these sweet deals :D
I have some additional questions:
1. Will having the Reserve card have higher priority than other Medallion members even if I'm a Silver member (or say even non-silver...lowest membership like where I'm at now)?
2. I thought I read this somewhere but don't see it listed on the AMEX website. Does the Reserve card have Global Access fee waived also like the regular Platinum card by AMEX? This is the part that confuses me. At first I thought Global Access was only for international travel (customs inspection). I keep reading more about this and it looks like it's useful for domestic travels also.
3. Does the Reserve card give you access to the Priority line during the security checkpoint instead of waiting in the long regular line?
4. With both the Reserve and Platinum cards, it looks like you can bring in two guests with you to SkyClub lounges for free. I know Plat has Priority Pass which has more lounges, but I'll focus on Delta for now. What's the rule with bringing in 2 guests? They must leave when you leave the lounge? Can I bring it 2 other different guests (after the other 2 left) or will that be frowned upon? I will be traveling solo 99% of the time but there is a family vacation planned and was wondering if I can use it that way.
In case it's helpful, these are the airports that I will be using:
JFK - not likely for this business contract since it costs way more than flying from LGA to BTV, but will be using it early next year for the family vacation
LGA
BTV
Please let me know if there should be a better way to do this or if I'm just going about this the wrong way. I know I'm going to get hit with the $450 annual fee but it might be worth it in this case to get the additional MQMs and status hopefully. I probably won't keep this for long since I will be moving towards the AMEX Platinum eventually for the add'l benefits.
Thanks.
1. I only have 9684 SkyMiles and want to know if it's really worth is to make it to Silver status. So far I read that even though it's the lowest status with benefits, you can still get priority seating and possible seat upgrades if they are available.
2. My travel is less than 500 miles away. I guess this defaults to 500 SkyMiles per trip (1K RT)? Since I have until end of year, I have about 7 weeks (7K SkyMiles) to accumulate making my total 16,684 miles. Since I need 25K to make it to Silver, I was thinking of upgrading to the Reserve card.
I'm still VERY new to the airline mileage earning potentials out there. But from what I understand, I need to hit a certain MQM or MQS (which is out of the question with the limited amount of time we have left this year). MQM seems more probably and if I use the reserve card once, I get 10K MQM. I guess I will have to decide on this quickly since it takes 2-4 weeks for it to get posted. Regarding the posting time, if I took a flight back on 12/31 and the points don't post until a few days later (which seems to be the case), will it still count for the prior year or the near year instead (when it was posted to my account)?
Since I just got my Delta Gold card in early August, will this have any negative impact (ex: my bonus points that I earned will be forfeited back)? I see that the Reserve card only has an Upgrade Only button instead of Apply so I guess this is intentional.
I'm not only doing it for the Silver status (although that is one of the main goals). I also want to have SkyClub access. I was thinking of going with the regular AMEX Platinum card since it also has other add'l benefits like $200 airline fees but I want the 100K offer. Any way I can get that offer because it seems like I'm never targeted for these sweet deals :D
I have some additional questions:
1. Will having the Reserve card have higher priority than other Medallion members even if I'm a Silver member (or say even non-silver...lowest membership like where I'm at now)?
2. I thought I read this somewhere but don't see it listed on the AMEX website. Does the Reserve card have Global Access fee waived also like the regular Platinum card by AMEX? This is the part that confuses me. At first I thought Global Access was only for international travel (customs inspection). I keep reading more about this and it looks like it's useful for domestic travels also.
3. Does the Reserve card give you access to the Priority line during the security checkpoint instead of waiting in the long regular line?
4. With both the Reserve and Platinum cards, it looks like you can bring in two guests with you to SkyClub lounges for free. I know Plat has Priority Pass which has more lounges, but I'll focus on Delta for now. What's the rule with bringing in 2 guests? They must leave when you leave the lounge? Can I bring it 2 other different guests (after the other 2 left) or will that be frowned upon? I will be traveling solo 99% of the time but there is a family vacation planned and was wondering if I can use it that way.
In case it's helpful, these are the airports that I will be using:
JFK - not likely for this business contract since it costs way more than flying from LGA to BTV, but will be using it early next year for the family vacation
LGA
BTV
Please let me know if there should be a better way to do this or if I'm just going about this the wrong way. I know I'm going to get hit with the $450 annual fee but it might be worth it in this case to get the additional MQMs and status hopefully. I probably won't keep this for long since I will be moving towards the AMEX Platinum eventually for the add'l benefits.
Thanks.