For the last several years, Logan and I have used the Chase Sapphire credit card, a card that we put the majority of our purchases on to gain points. However, bad habits die hard and while I could have reaped the travel benefits from the card, it was easy for me to cash in those points for Amazon purchases instead. In fact, since I can remember, I have checked the “Points toward Amazon Purchases” box, feeling like my Amazon purchases were “free”. While the Chase Sapphire Preferred card does offer many travel benefits, I never used them as I should. Fast-forward to 2022.

This year I entered the new year feeling a desire to reduce our biggest travel expense: airfare. For the last several years, we are so grateful to have our hotel stays sponsored by Good Hotels® in the directory, but airfare expenses continue to soar high in our home. I started to research the best credit card that could be used for travel purposes and landed on the American Express Delta Reserve card.

With a new home base of Greenville-Spartanburg airport and a hub of Atlanta as our go-tos now, it made sense for our family to choose a Delta card. Choosing to stop in Atlanta for international or far domestic flights is an easy inconvenience and one worth lots of benefits from the card. This is why we chose the American Express Delta Reserve card:

• We earned 50,000 SkyMiles each to sign up. Adding this many SkyMiles, plus the few we had reserved from past flights, helped us score four round-trip tickets from GSP to San Francisco for $44.
• We receive a domestic companion round-trip certificate annually upon renewal of the card, so Logan or one of the bros can fly alongside of me, for free!
• With some long flights this year (Africa, Hawaii, etc.), we really wanted to gain lounge access in airports. This card gives me complimentary lounge access and a few passes for family to join (and rumor is that Delta typically allows authorized users/young children to join in the lounge, too).
• Our family loves having TSA Pre✓®, so this card gives us a fee credit to secure that or Global Entry.
• We are hopeful to begin to chose loyalty to one airline and increase our chances of being upgraded while flying. With long flights ahead, Logan especially really wanted the opportunity to sit in Main Cabin or First Class, so a big perk of this card is the possibility of moving up in the plane in comfort.
• The biggest perk for our crew: our first bags are checked for free. Not just my bag as the cardholder, but the first bag for our whole family. When we added up the savings, round-trip for a family of four, we would save $240/flight. With six+ flights planned for 2022, (and we always check at least two bags per family for even domestic flights), this would be a savings of up to $1440/annually for us.

The downside: the annual fee. We are charged $550/annually and $175 for Logan as an authorized user for the American Express Delta Reserve card. While there are other tiers of cards that have a lower annual fee, for us the rewards were not worthwhile. However, for us and our family, when we added up the free domestic flight certificate annually, the savings on checked luggage and the free flights that we will score with 3X purchases on Delta flights and SkyMiles adding up quickly, we determined it was right for us.

We’re spending 2022 finding out if this card continues to serve us well but we’re off to a great start with four free flights to CA! Considering this card for your family’s travels? Please enroll using this link which will reward you bonus points for being referred: http://refer.amex.us/MEGANJUrla?XLINK=MYCP.