4 credit cards that get you free or discounted access to Delta Sky Club airport lounges
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- Delta's two mainstream credit cards offer discounted one-time access to Delta Sky Club lounges, while its premium card offers complimentary access whenever flying Delta.
- Until April 3, all three cards are offering their highest-ever public new member bonuses.
- The Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express offers 60,000 Delta SkyMiles when you spend $2,000 in the first three months.
- When you open the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express and spend $3,000 in the first three months, you'll get 75,000 SkyMiles and 5,000 Medallion Qualification Miles.
- The premium card, the Delta Reserve® Credit Card from American Express, is also offering 75,000 miles and 5,000 Medallion Qualification Miles, although you'll need to spend $5,000 in three months.
- Read more about the offers and the differences between the three cards here.
One of the benefits of Delta's two mainstream credit cards - the Gold Delta SkyMiles and the Platinum Delta SkyMiles cards from American Express - is the ability to purchase discounted access to Delta's Sky Club airport lounges.
Until recently, anyone could purchase one-time access to Sky Clubs for $59 at any lounge's front desk. However, these day passes were eliminated in mid-November 2018.
Fortunately, single-visit passes are still available for Gold and Platinum Delta SkyMiles cardholders. If you have one of those cards, you can buy access to the Sky Club for just $29 - about half the price of what used to be available to anyone flying Delta.
Those discounted lounge passes are great for travelers who occasionally fly Delta, or would only use the lounge access a few times each year - for instance, in case of delays, long connections, or a tendency to arrive for flights a bit early.
If you can see yourself using the Sky Club more often, you should instead consider Delta's premium card - the Delta Reserve Credit Card from American Express - which gives the cardholder complimentary access to Sky Clubs whenever they're flying Delta. That helps offset the card's $450 annual fee.
The Delta Reserve card comes with a few other perks, including a domestic first class companion pass, and higher upgrade priority for Delta Medallion members.
An alternative, if you're looking for the widest lounge access you can get from a credit card, the best option is the (not Delta-branded) Platinum Card® from American Express. In addition to Sky Club access whenever flying Delta, that card offers access to Priority Pass lounges, AmEx's own Centurion and International Lounges, and more. That's a network of over 1,200 lounges around the world.
The AmEx Platinum has a high $550 annual fee, but it's easy to get more value than that - in my first year with the card, I got over $2,000 in value. Right now, the card offers 60,000 AmEx Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first three months.