Companion certificates are a valuable benefit of several airline credit cards. In many cases the money saved when using the companion ticket more than offsets the cost of the annual fee. Generally, companion certificates allow two people to fly for the cost of one ticket. Although you’ll have to pay taxes and fees on the second ticket. Today we will be discussing the Delta companion certificates that American Express provides to some of their card holders.
American Express issues both coach and first class companion certificates. American Express provides the Main Cabin (coach) certificate to holders of the Delta Platinum and Delta Platinum Business Credit Cards. The first class certificate are issued by American Express to Delta Reserve and Delta Reserve Business Credit Card holders. AmEx issues the certificates to the card holder on their first anniversary. One common misunderstanding with these certificates is that AmEx only issues them upon your first card holder anniversary and every year thereafter. In the case of the Delta Reserve Card, this means you do not receive the certificate until your second annual fee is due. This is different than the companion certificate that Bank of America issues within just a few weeks of approval to their Alaska Credit Card holders.
Where and When Can You Fly with a Delta Companion Certificate
Both the Platinum and Reserve companion certificates are valid for travel within the 48 continuous United States. However, residents of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico or the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) who have entered their residential address in their SkyMiles account can use the certificate for round-trip travel from their state or territory of residence to the 48 contiguous United States (but not the other way around). So, a resident of Hawaii could use their companion certificate to fly from Hawaii to Key West, Florida (a distance of 5,184 miles including a connection in Atlanta). However, a resident of Washington cannot use the certificate to fly to Ketchikan, Alaska (a distance of only 680 miles).
The certificates are not subject to blackout dates. You only need to find availability in a valid fare class in order to use the certificates.
Valid Fare Classes
The biggest different between the Platinum and Reserve companion certificates which cabin you can use them on. The Platinum certificate is only valid for travel in Main Cabin class, including fare classes L, U, T, X, V. These are the lower cost and non-refundable fare classes. The certificates are not valid for travel any of the refundable fare classes. This means you are better off booking with a companion ticket well in advance of your travel dates. Because, as your travel date approaches, the lower (and cheaper) fare classes tend to sell out.
The Reserve companion ticket is valid for travel in first class fare classes A and I. These are discounted first class fares. The Reserve companion ticket is also valid in Delta Comfort+ fare class W and Main Cabin fare classes L, U, T, X, and V.
Fortunately, you really don’t have to remember all this, because Delta will automatically limit your search results to valid flights when you use a companion certificate from your “Wallet” on Delta.com.
To apply for a Delta American Express card, please use one of these links:
- Amex Delta Reserve Credit Card
- Amex Delta Platinum Credit Card
- Amex Delta Reserve Business Credit Card
- Amex Delta Platinum Business Credit Card
To read more about the Delta American Express cards, please see our other posts and visit americanexpress.com:
- Amex Delta Reserve Credit Card
- Amex Delta Platinum Credit Card
- Amex Delta Reserve Business Credit Card
- Amex Delta Platinum Business Credit Card
Where have you traveled with your companion certificate?