Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex: is the $350 fee worth it?

The honest math on the Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card: which credits you'd actually use, what its points earn beyond a plain 2% card, and what its protections would cost to buy — against the $350 annual fee.

American Express · $350 annual fee · earns Delta SkyMiles

Compared with: Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex vs Delta SkyMiles Reserve Amex

Earning rates

3x Delta purchases
3x Hotels booked directly
2x Restaurants (incl. takeout/delivery)
2x U.S. supermarkets
1x Everything else

Statement credits (4)

$150 Delta Stays Credit — Up to $150 back per year as a statement credit on prepaid hotels or vacation rentals booked through Delta Stays on delta.com.
$120 Rideshare Credit — Up to $10 back each month on U.S. rideshare purchases with select providers — $120 a year.
$120 Resy Dining Credit — Up to $10 per month in statement credits at over 10,000 qualifying U.S. Resy restaurants.
Global Entry / TSA PreCheck Credit — $120 Global Entry credit every 4 years (~$30/yr) or up to $85 TSA PreCheck credit every 4.5 years.

Certificates (1)

Annual Companion Certificate — One companion travels free (plus taxes/fees) on a Delta Main round-trip within the U.S. and to Mexico, the Caribbean, or Central America, issued each year after Card renewal.

Protections and perks (15)

First Checked Bag Free — Your first standard checked bag flies free on Delta flights worldwide, for you and up to 8 companions on the same reservation.
Second Checked Bag Free (Domestic) — Your second standard checked bag also flies free, but only on domestic Delta flights and only for the primary cardmember.
Zone 5 Priority Boarding — Board Delta flights in Zone 5, ahead of general boarding, for you and up to 8 companions on the same reservation.
TakeOff 15 — 15% off the miles price when you book Award Travel on Delta-operated flights through delta.com or the Fly Delta app.
20% Back on In-Flight Purchases — 20% statement credit rebate on eligible Delta in-flight food and beverage purchases charged to the card.
Complimentary Upgrade List — Added to Delta's Complimentary Upgrade list on eligible tickets, after Medallion Members and Reserve Card Members; one companion on the same reservation and flight may also be upgraded.
MQD Headstart & Boost — $2,500 Medallion Qualification Dollars deposited each Medallion Qualification Year, plus $1 MQD for every $20 of card purchases — both count toward Delta Medallion elite status.
Hertz Five Star Status — Complimentary Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status: expedited counter-free pickup and elite bonus rewards.
Secondary Rental Car Coverage — Secondary collision/damage coverage up to $50,000 when you decline the counter waiver and pay for the full rental with the card.
Trip Delay Insurance — Up to $300 per trip for reasonable additional expenses when a round trip paid with the card is delayed more than 12 hours.
Purchase Protection — New purchases covered 90 days against damage or theft, up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per calendar year.
Extended Warranty — Adds a year to eligible manufacturer warranties of 5 years or less, up to $10,000 per item and $50,000 per account per year.
Baggage Insurance — Up to $1,250 for carry-on and $500 for checked baggage that's lost, damaged, or stolen, in excess of the carrier's coverage.
Cell Phone Protection — Up to $800 per claim for damage or theft when you pay your phone bill with the card ($50 deductible).
No Foreign Transaction Fees — No surcharge on purchases abroad.

Recent changes to this card's data

2026-08-31 — Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card

Companion Certificate taxes/fees wording updated to Amex's current "between $22 and $250" (was "up to $80 domestic / up to $250 international"); the certificate's value anchor is unchanged. Per americanexpress.com.
Verified accurate otherwise — no changes. Fee, earning rates, credits, MQD benefits, and coverages re-confirmed against americanexpress.com and delta.com.

2026-08-21 — Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card (new card)

Added amex-delta-skymiles-platinum.json, sitting between amex-delta-skymiles-gold.json ($150) and amex-delta-skymiles-reserve.json ($650) at a $350 annual fee. Sources: the americanexpress.com Delta Platinum product page and its own benefits-guide page (read in full, collapsed sections included), cross-checked against hellosafe.com, NerdWallet, Daily Drop, WalletHub, Upgraded Points, and Military Money Manual.
Earning: 3x Delta-direct, 3x hotels-booked-direct (both direct-channel-only, so shown but not auto-counted), 2x U.S. dining (incl. takeout/delivery), 2x U.S. supermarkets, 1x everything else.
Credits: $150 Delta Stays Credit (annual — distinct from Gold's $100 and Reserve's $200), $120 Rideshare Credit ($10/mo, no first-renewal wait unlike Gold), $120 Resy Credit ($10/mo, stacking with other cards' Resy credits), and Global Entry ($120) / TSA PreCheck ($85) every 4 years (one shared answer across cards — Platinum and Reserve both have this credit; Gold does not). No $200 Delta Flight Credit on this card — confirmed absent from Amex's own full benefits guide, despite a claim floating around that incorrectly attributes it to Platinum.
Companion Certificate: Delta Main cabin only (narrower than Reserve's First/Comfort+/Main), up to $80 domestic / $250 international taxes+fees, $400/yr replacement-cost anchor matching Reserve's.
Perks: first bag free worldwide (cardmember + up to 8 companions) and second bag free domestic-only (cardmember only, rolled out June 2026, already live); Zone 5 priority boarding; TakeOff 15; 20% Back on In-Flight Purchases (new perk, not on Gold/Reserve — modeled like TakeOff 15 with a per-dollar replacement cost, no published annual cap found); Complimentary Upgrade List (behind Medallion members and Reserve cardholders); MQD Headstart $2,500/yr + MQD Boost $1-per-$20 spend (half the Reserve's $1-per-$10 ratio); Hertz Five Star Status (a lower tier than Reserve's President's Circle).
Coverages: secondary rental CDW $50,000/30-day (excludes Australia/Italy/New Zealand/OFAC, NOT upgraded to primary abroad like Reserve's $75k version); Trip Delay $300/trip after a 12-hour delay, 2 claims/12mo (see flag below); purchase protection $1,000/$50,000/yr; extended warranty $10k/item, $50k/yr; baggage insurance $1,250 carry-on/$500 checked; Cell Phone Protection $800/claim, 2 claims/12mo, $50 deductible (confirmed via its own tile on the primary benefits-guide page); no foreign transaction fee. No lounge access, trip cancellation, or emergency medical coverage on this card (confirmed absent, consistent with sitting below Reserve).
Open items noted at the time (both since resolved by later passes — see the 2026-08-21 Delta Reserve cell-phone entry and the 2026-08-31 Delta Platinum entry): the Trip Delay $300/12-hour figure rested on two agreeing secondaries because Amex gates the card-specific terms behind a login (a competing $500/6-hour claim was rejected as bled-in from the Reserve card); and Cell Phone Protection's presence here implied the Reserve card was missing the same benefit, which it was. No published cap was found anywhere for the 20% in-flight purchases credit.

Card data verified against American Express on 2026-08-31.

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