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December 10, 2024: If you fly on Delta Air Lines, you might enjoy visiting the Delta Sky Club® during your travels. But starting in February 2025, cardmembers holding variants of The Platinum Card® from American Express and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card will only get a limited number of Delta Sky Club visits each year. If you use your card for Delta Sky Club access, this likely changes the card’s value proposition quite dramatically.
Sure, you’ll be able to earn unlimited Sky Club access by spending $75,000 on your credit card each year. But that’s a costly value proposition when you consider that you could earn $1,500 of rewards with that spending on a 2% cash back credit card. In some cases, buying a Sky Club membership outright is a better way to access the Sky Club.
Here’s how you can get into the Delta Sky Club® after February 1, 2025.
Ways you can get into the Delta Sky Club® in 2025
Starting February 1, 2025, here are the ways you can get access to the Delta Sky Club®:
- Holding an American Express Platinum or American Express Business Platinum credit card: This will get you 10 visits to a Delta Sky Club per year and allow you to bring in a limited number of guests for a per-visit fee.
- Holding an American Express Centurion Card: This will get you unlimited Sky Club visits for yourself and let you bring in a limited number of guests for a fee.
- Holding a Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card card. Starting February 1, 2025, you’ll receive 15 visits per year to the Delta Sky Club and get four one-time guest passes upon card approval each year at your cardmember anniversary.
- Purchase a Delta Sky Club membership. An individual membership costs $695 and gets you unlimited visits.
- Selecting a Sky Club membership as a Diamond choice benefit. Delta Diamond Medallion members can select a Sky Club membership as a Choice Benefit.
In addition to the above, you might qualify for Sky Club access if you’re flying on Delta or on SkyTeam in premium cabins internationally.
Here’s how all of this looks in a chart:
| Base visits per year | Guests | Earn unlimited visits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Express Platinum American Express Business Platinum on same-day Delta-operated or Delta-marketed flights on WestJet. | 10 | Up to 2 or immediate family.* Per visit rate of $50/guest/visit. | Spend $75,000 on the card in a calendar year. |
| American Express Centurion on a same-day Delta-marketed or Delta-operated flight | Unlimited | Up to 2 or immediate family.* Per visit rate of $50/guest/visit. | – |
| Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card on a same-day Delta-marketed or Delta-operated flight | 15 days + 4 one-time guest passes | Up to 2 or immediate family.* Per visit rate of $50/guest/visit or use a one-time guest pass. | Spend $75,000 on the card in a calendar year. |
| Delta Sky Club Member | Unlimited | Up to 2 or immediate family.* Per visit rate of $50/guest/visit. | – |
| Delta Sky Club Executive Member | Unlimited | Up to 2 or spouse/domestic partner and children under 21 included free. Plus up to 2 additional guests for a per-visit rate of $50/guest/visit. | – |
* Immediate includes a spouse or domestic partner and children under 21. A per visit applies for every guest, including each child.
Which way of accessing the SkyClub is best?
If you’re considering how you’ll access the Delta Sky Club® in 2025 and beyond, here are our recommendations:
- If you’re a solo traveler and fly Delta occasionally, get the Amex Platinum card.
- If you travel with a companion a few times a year, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card is best.
- Are you a road warrior traveler who flies Delta? The best option is likely to buy a Sky Club membership outright.
Here’s a bit more on each of these recommendations:
Solo traveler and fewer than 10 visits a year: The Platinum Card® from American Express is an easy call
If you usually travel on your own and you’re visiting the Delta SkyClub fewer than 10 visits per year, your best bet is to stick with lounge access through some variant of The Platinum Card® from American Express.
The Amex Platinum can access more lounges in more places than the Delta credit cards. Between Amex’s own lounges (The Centurion Lounge and Escape Lounges) and network lounges like Plaza Premium and Priority Pass, the card is valuable both when flying on Delta and on other airlines.
Accessing the Delta SkyClub lounge with the Amex Platinum comes with the downside of not being able to access the Sky Club when flying on SkyTeam partners… if you read the fine print, you’ll need to be flying on Delta or a Delta-Marketed flight by WestJet. A KLM or Air France operated flight would not qualify, even if it is sold with a Delta flight number.
Even if you’re flying on Delta more than 10 times a year, augmenting your SkyClub visits with visits to Delta’s other lounges
Occasional Delta traveler with a companion: Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
If you travel with a companion or with your family a few times a year, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card card might be the best choice.
Both the business and personal variants of the Delta SkyMiles Reserve card come with four annual one-time guest passes, which Amex and Delta have clarified are valid for multiple visits for 24 hours after they are used.
For someone traveling with a traveling companion twice a year, this might be perfect. And it pairs nicely with the card’s companion certificate, which can get your companion on your same itinerary within the United States, the Caribbean, and Central America.
In general, we prefer the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, which offers a larger Delta Stays credit and more bonus points for spending categories.
Road warrior travelers: Buy a membership
With Delta putting limits on the number of SkyClub visits that credit card holders get each year, the best option for the most frequent Delta flyers is simply buying a SkyClub membership outright.
While you might be tempted to spend your way to unlimited SkyClub access with a credit card, this is a bad deal. Spending $75,000 on a Delta credit card will cost you $750 when you consider that the alternative is putting your spending on a 2% cash back credit card and that your Delta SkyMiles are only worth about a cent each. And that’s on top of the $650 annual fee you’d pay for a Delta card.
A better option is to pick the membership that works best for you:
- Individual membership: $695.00 or 69,500 miles per year. Allows you to bring up to two guests or immediate family for a $50/person/visit fee.
- Executive membership: $1,495.00 or 149,500 miles per year. Allows you to bring up to two guests or immediate family for free.
If you’re a Diamond Medallion member, you can also get a SkyClub membership through your Choice benefits.
Aside from being the most cost-effective option, a Delta SkyClub membership will get you more Delta SkyClub access. You will be able to access the Delta Sky Club when traveling on same-day travel on Delta or on eligible flights on partner airlines—a much less restrictive policy than you’ll get with the credit cards.
Our experiences: Our plans for Delta lounge access
At Cards and Points, we write about credit cards because we love and use the benefits. Here’s how we’re thinking about Delta SkyClub access in 2025.
I’ll be honest. Before writing this article, my plan for Delta Sky Club access was to stick with The Platinum Card® from American Express. I’m rethinking that.
My home airport is Minneapolis. Being a Delta hub, it has multiple Sky Clubs. But it also has an Escape Lounge and a Priority Pass lounge. So I’ve got plenty of options for lounge access.
Most of my travel is on my own and when it’s just me, I go to the Delta Sky Club. It’s the best lounge experience at my home airport by a wide margin. Currently, I’ve got my partner on an authorized user Amex Platinum card, so we’ll go to the Sky Club when we’re traveling together, which happens a few times a year.
When we’re traveling with the kids, we’ll either go to the Priority Pass lounge or the Escape Lounge. (Unlike the Centurion Lounge, the Escape Lounge lets you get in with two guests with a Platinum card.) But with the other options available, it’s no huge loss if we end up with no Escape Lounge access. (I have a few other cards with Priority Pass access.)
The other factor here is that my partner and I will make use of the Delta companion certificate every year, so the SkyMiles Reserve card has some additional benefit there.
In January, I’ll probably end up canceling my Platinum Card and picking up the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card.
Bottom line: Delta Sky Club® access is changing
How you access the Delta Sky Club® is changing in 2025 and if you currently access the Sky Club through your credit card, you might want to reconsider which card you’re using. If you’re a very frequent Delta traveler, you might consider canceling your Delta credit card and just buying a Sky Club membership outright. If you’re an occasional Delta traveler, you might want to consider switching which card you use to access the Sky Club based on Delta’s new access policies.
American Express Rates and Fees Disclosures
- For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please see this link: See Rates and Fees
- For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please see this link: See Rates and Fees
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
