Update July 19, 2024: We noticed a subtle change in how the one-time guest passes are promoted. You no longer have to be traveling on the same Delta flight as someone to get them into the lounge using a guest pass.
If you hold a Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card for access to Delta Sky Clubs you need to know how your access to Sky Clubs will be changing, starting in 2025.
Instead of getting unlimited SkyClub visits as a benefit of having the card, you’ll receive an allowance of visits, with the opportunity to earn unlimited visits by spending $75,000 or more on the card in a calendar year.
For most cardmembers, this change massively devalues the Delta SkyMiles Reserve Amex card. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming changes to the card and our take.
Summary of changes to Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
Here’s what’s changing with the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card’s Sky Club access benefit
| Current (Prior to March 28, 2024) | Updated (as of February 1, 2025) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Sky Club visits | Unlimited | 15 visits per year |
| How a visit is defined | – | All Sky Club entries within 24 hours of the first entry count as a single visit. |
| How to earn unlimited visits | Included with card membership. | Spend $75,000 or more on the card within the prior calendar year. |
| One-time guest passes Awarded when you open your card and each year after your cardmember anniversary | 4 When announcing the Sky Club access changes, Delta began offering this benefit to new cardmembers and existing cardmembers upon renewal of their Reserve cards. | 4 Award upon opening the card and each year after card renewal. |
Changes to Delta Sky Club Access for 2025
Starting February 1, 2025, Amex and Delta will no longer offer unlimited Delta Sky Club visits as a perk granted simply for holding the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve cards. Rather, the lounge access perk will need to be earned by spending. Here are the highlights:
- As of February 1, 2025, unlimited Sky Club access is no longer a benefit of having the card, rather it will be granted if you spend $75,000 in a calendar year.
- Cardmembers will receive 15 “visits” to Sky Clubs per year to use if they have not earned unlimited Sky Club access.
- A “visit” includes all stays within 24 hours.
- Cardmembers receive 4 one-time guest passes to bring a guest into the Sky Club.
Unlimited visits changes to 15 visits per year
Through January 31, 2025, Delta Reserve cardmembers will continue to have access to the Delta Sky Club when traveling on Delta. On February 1, 2025, this benefit changes and you’ll receive 15 Sky Club visits per year.
If you exceed your visit allotment and have not earned unlimited Delta Sky Club visits, you can pay to access the Sky Club. Delta will charge Reserve cardmembers $50 per Sky Club visit they use their 15 visits.
Earning unlimited Delta Sky Club® access: Spend $75k in a calendar year
Starting February 1, 2025, your Delta Reserve card will no longer include unlimited visits to Delta Sky Clubs. Instead, you’ll have to earn unlimited visits by using your card for spending.
Once you’ve spent $75,000 or more on eligible purchases on your card in a calendar year, you will earn unlimited Delta Sky Club access for the remainder of the calendar year, the entire subsequent calendar year, and through January 31 the year after that.
Amex terms state that unlimited Delta Sky Club access will be processed within a week of spending the required $75k on your card, but that it may take as much as 12 weeks to become effective.
A “visit” includes all entries within 24 hours
After originally announcing that Reserve card members would receive a limited allotment of visits. Delta has since changed and clarified what counts as a “visit.” Essentially, all Sky Club entries within 24 hours will count as the same visit.
When you first enter a SkyClub of visit a Delta SkyClub “Grab and Go” location, a 24-hour timer starts. All subsequent visits to Sky Clubs or Grab and Go locations will count as the same “visit” until that 24-hour timer expires.
You can enter Delta Sky Clubs in different cities as part of the same “visit.” It’s even conceivable to have all of your Sky Club entries count as a single “visit” on a round-trip journey if, for example, you’re flying to a city for a meeting and returning within 24 hours. As long as all of your Sky Club entries are within 24 hours of the first time you accessed the club, they will count as the same visit.
Guest passes: Good for a single entry into the Sky Club
When Delta announced that it was changing the unlimited Sky Club access benefit on its Reserve cards, it added an allotment of 4 Delta Sky Club one-time guest passes. At account opening and each year after your account renewal, you will receive 4 one-time guest passes to bring a companion into the Sky Club.
Your 4 one-time guest passes will each allow one person traveling on a same-day Delta flight to enter the Delta Sky Club with you. Unlike your credit card “visit” allowance, the guest passes only allow one Sky Club entry. If you’re traveling with someone and want to access the Sky Club in two different cities with guest passes, your traveling companion will need to use two guest passes—one for each entry.
While your guest must be flying on a same-day Delta-operated or Delta-marketed flight, they do not need to be flying with you. On July 18, 2024, Delta and Amex updated the language they use to describe the one-time guest passes, eliminating the requirement to travel together. You still must enter the Sky Club together, but you do not need to be traveling on the same flight.
My take on the changes to the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
The changes to Delta Sky Club access represent a massive devaluation of the Delta Reserve cards. Ironically, they devalue the card the most for Delta’s most frequent flyers. The more you fly, the worse these changes are.
Delta’s best (flying) customers are hurt the most
If you are a Delta loyalist, fly Delta every week for business, use the Sky Club frequently, and earn Medallion® status without relying on spending on a credit card, these changes are a slap in the face. What was once the reason to get the card turns into a book of prepaid lounge access coupons. If you divide the 15 lounge visits by the card’s annual fee, you’ll find that you’re paying almost $50 per Sky Club visit. Is that a good value? There are probably better options.
For Delta’s most frequent flyers, the most reasonable path to keeping lounge access likely involves canceling your Delta reserve card:
- If your travels take you to airports with Priority Pass, Amex, Capital One, or Chase lounges, another card offering airport lounge access can get you unlimited lounge access and better rewards.
- Having the card and spending $75k on the card each year earns you 10,000 Medallion Qualification dollars. If you don’t need the MQDs to earn status but plan to spend this much on the card, consider a variant of the Amex Platinum card instead. Spending $75k on one of the Platinum cards will earn you unlimited Sky Club access, you’ll get better travel rewards (and even earn more points on your Delta flights) and have access to a wider variety of airport lounges.
- If you don’t plan to spend $75k on your card, cancel your Delta card and purchase a Delta Sky Club membership. Delta still offers annual Delta Sky Club memberships to its Medallion members with unlimited Sky Club access when flying on Delta.
Occasional flyers aren’t hurt much, but are already getting a bad deal
If you fly fewer than 15 days a year, this change may not matter much to you. After all, if you’re not even using 15 lounge visits per year, you won’t be substantively impacted by these changes. The addition of 4 one-time guest passes may even make these changes a net positive change if you occasionally travel with someone.
However, if you’re flying fewer than 15 days a year, consider that you’re paying a lot to access the Delta Sky Club. Another travel credit card that offers lounge access might be a better choice for you. If there are Priority Pass, Amex, Capital One, or Chase lounges at the airports you travel to, from, and through, you can almost certainly pay less and get better benefits with another card.
Earning unlimited Sky Club visits becomes very expensive
Sure, you can earn what was previously a perk of your card by shifting your spending to your Delta card. But when you consider that you could otherwise earn 2% cash back rewards or more on all of your spending, spending $75,000 on a Delta credit card has an opportunity cost of $1,500. That’s a lot to pay in addition to your card’s annual fee for unlimited Sky Club access for a year.
What Delta and Amex could have done
Throughout 2023 and into 2024, Delta’s Sky Clubs were notoriously overcrowded—Delta had sold more lounge access than it could deliver. It responded by changing the deal. Here’s what Delta could have done instead:
Give cardmembers a limited ability to skip the lines. Airport lounges have relatively high fixed costs, but relatively low marginal costs. When a Sky Club is not full, it costs Delta very little to provide Sky Club access to one marginal guest. But full clubs and waiting lines cause frustration and turn off loyal customers. May be Delta could have instead given customers 5 “skip the line” passes each year. This would enable cardmembers to get guaranteed access to a club when it mattered the most to them and it makes it a choice to stand in line.
Make lounge visits transferrable. The 15 visits included with the Delta Reserve Card can only be used by the cardmember. Had Delta made these visits transferable, it could have provided a massive boost to the card’s value for occasional Delta travelers who travel with one or more companions. Right now, there’s little reason for a family of occasional travelers to ever consider the Reserve card. But if a family of 5 could all get into the Sky Club with a single Reserve card once a year, it might make sense to pay the card’s annual fee. Especially when you consider that that family would likely make use of the card’s companion certificate and Delta Stays credits.
Bottom line on the changes
Starting on February 1, 2025, Delta changes the lounge access benefit on its SkyMiles Reserve cards. Cardmembers will receive 15 lounge visits per year instead of unlimited Sky Club access when flying on Delta. Cardmembers can earn unlimited Sky Club access for spending $75,000 on their Reserve card.
