Delta and American Express offer a wide portfolio of co-branded credit cards, each with a different look, benefits, bonus, and annual fee. But many travelers aren’t just deciding on the perfect card for themselves – they’re also trying to pick the right card for their spouse, favorite travel buddy, or the entire family.
You’re in luck: Delta SkyMiles cardholders can share some of their benefits by adding friends or family as an authorized user to their account. Exactly what perks that person will get varies depending on which card you’ve got.
From checked bags to priority boarding and lounge access, here’s what authorized users can expect with a Delta SkyMiles credit card.
How Authorized Users Work on Credit Cards
Authorized users occupy a quirky, confusing space in the world of credit cards.
Adding someone as an authorized user to your credit card means they’ll get their own physical card, which they can use to make purchases on your behalf. But be warned. Any charges made by the authorized user will ultimately be the responsibility of the primary cardholder. That means if charges are made from the authorized user that you can’t pay, both the primary cardholder and the authorized user will take a hit to their credit score.
Make sure to pick your authorized users wisely, as they ultimately become an extension of your card’s spending power.
Being an authorized user on somebody else’s credit card will allow you to build a credit history – and assuming all payments are made on time and in full, it will have a positive impact on the additional user’s credit score. For this reason, adding a teen with little to no credit history or somebody with bad credit who can’t get approved for their own card might be a good option to help them build or rebuild their score.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Credit Card Authorized Users
How Much Do Delta Authorized Users Cost?
Before we get too far into what benefits Delta SkyMiles authorized users get, let’s take a look at what it costs to add someone else to your account.
- *delta blue*: No fee
- *delta skymiles gold card*: No fee
- *delta skymiles platinum card*: No fee
- *delta reserve card*: $175 per account, per year
Looking at that list, you’ll see that it’s free to add an authorized user with most SkyMiles cards. While that probably seems like great news, the downside is that authorized users on most of those Delta cards don’t get much for extra travel benefits.
Aside from the top-dollar Delta Reserve card, authorized users on the rest of Delta’s co-branded cards are almost exclusively limited to earning additional SkyMiles and Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) – on some of the cards, at least – for the main cardholder.
What Benefits Do Delta Authorized Users Get?
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get into why adding an authorized user to your card might make sense.
Delta Sky Club Access
For Delta loyalists, there’s a lot to love about the *delta reserve card* – but with a whopping $650 annual fee (see rates & fees), it doesn’t come cheap. One of the card’s biggest selling points is that it’s the best (and only) SkyMiles card for getting Sky Club access.
As of Feb. 1, 2025, Delta SkyMiles Reserve cardholders are now limited to just 15 Sky Club visits each year. You get a break when visiting multiple lounges in the same trip, as Delta counts any Sky Club visits in a 24-hour period as just one of your 15 visits. And there’s a bonus when traveling with a guest, as you get four free guest passes per year – after that, it costs $50 per guest.
But if Sky Club access is your primary concern, paying another $175 to add a spouse or travel companion as an authorized user on your Reserve Card could be a wise move. That person will get their own Sky Club access, with their own allotment of 15 visits each year. Those annual visits aren’t shared between a primary and additional cardholder.
It’s the single best benefit for authorized users and can easily justify the extra $175 per year it costs to add them to the Delta Reserve.
Critically, authorized users can visit Sky Clubs (and Centurion Lounges) whether they’re traveling with the primary card member or not. This is a great way to share lounge access with a friend or family member who travels for work or with a group. The one hitch is that authorized users don’t get another four annual guest passes like the main cardholder.
You can skip Sky Club access limits altogether by spending $75,000 (or more) on your card each year, and spending across all cards (including authorized users) counts towards that threshold. Once it’s met, unlimited complimentary Sky Club access is unlocked for both the main cardholder and any authorized users for the remainder of the year and all of the next.
In addition to Sky Clubs, authorized users get access to Amex Centurion Lounges and even Escape Lounges when flying Delta, too – just like the main cardholder does. Critically, there are no limits to how many times you can visit those lounges each year.
Read more: Delta Sky Club Access Limits Have Arrived: Here’s How to Track Your Visits
Earning SkyMiles & MQDs Toward Status
When it comes to making purchases, authorized user cards earn SkyMiles at the same rate as the main cardholder. This means you’ll be earning bonus SkyMiles on your Delta purchases, as well as when you’re spending in any of the card’s other bonus categories.
But here’s the kicker: The main cardholder gets all of those SkyMiles, regardless of which card gets swiped. Since the primary account owner is the one responsible for paying off all the charges made, it’s only fair.
While that might initially seem like a negative, it’s probably not. For couples who often travel together, having one big pool of Delta SkyMiles actually makes more sense than having two smaller batches. Since Delta doesn’t allow family pooling like a few other airlines, having one big pile of SkyMiles will make your life easier when it’s time to book travel.
Chasing Delta Medallion Status? Both the *delta skymiles platinum card* and the *delta reserve card* earn Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) towards elite status through spending on the cards. Exactly how many MQDs you can earn depends on which card you’ve got:
- You’d only earn 1 MQD for every $10 you spend on a *delta reserve card*.
- It’s even worse on the *delta skymiles platinum card*: just 1 MQD for every $20 spent.
Much like earning SkyMiles, all the MQDs you earn will go to the primary account holder. Again, that might be a good thing: Putting the spending power of two people together makes it easier for one of you to earn elite status. And so long as you travel together, those elite benefits will also be extended to your travel companion.
20% Back on In-Flight Purchases
With each of the Delta cards, you’ll get a 20% rebate on any in-flight food and beverage purchases you make with your card. Given the relatively high prices airlines charge for a small snack box, beer, and wine, this can be a nice perk of having a SkyMiles card.
Purchases made with both the primary card and any authorized user cards are eligible for this 20% kick back. You don’t need to be traveling together to take advantage.
What Benefits Don’t Pass Down?
The list of perks that Delta SkyMiles authorized users do not get is a lot longer. Unfortunately, most of the cards’ biggest selling points are exclusively available to the main cardholder.
If you and your go-to travel companion are often heading in different directions with Delta, it’ll probably make more sense for you to each have your own SkyMiles credit card. On the flip side, if you primarily travel together, you’ll still get access to many of the best benefits … even if it’s not explicitly granted from your authorized user card.
First Checked Bag Free
With Delta, you can expect to pay anywhere from $35 to $75 for your first checked bag, depending on the ticket you bought and the route you’re flying. While $35 each might not seem like much, that can add up fast if you’re flying with a family.
It’s easy to avoid paying these baggage fees altogether by having one of Delta’s co-branded credit cards – and there are several to choose from. All but the no-annual-fee (see rates & fees) *delta blue* will get you a free, 50-pound checked bag on any Delta-operated flight simply for having the card in your wallet … even if you don’t pay for the flights with that card! What’s more, you’ll also get a free checked bag for up to eight additional passengers booked on your same reservation.
Unfortunately, this benefit does not extend to authorized users, no matter which version of the card you carry. The only way to get a free checked bag as an authorized user is by traveling with the main cardholder on the same itinerary.
TakeOff15
A while back, Delta and American Express added a new benefit to nearly all of the airline’s co-branded credit cards, immediately becoming one of the cards’ best perks: Cardholders (except with the no-annual-fee Delta Blue Card) get an automatic 15% discount on most SkyMiles award bookings.
Unfortunately, authorized users’ SkyMiles accounts won’t see those savings. To take advantage of this 15% savings on your next SkyMiles award ticket, you’ll need to book through the main cardholder’s account.
Delta Companion Certificate
What’s a Delta companion certificate? Think of them as a buy-one, get-one benefit for flights each year: Use them wisely, and you can get plenty of value, often outweighing the annual fee you’re paying on your Delta card.
You won’t get your companion ticket right off the bat; it starts only after you’ve held either the Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card or the Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card for a full year.
Exactly what you can get depends on which card you’ve got. Let’s go over some basics:
- The *delta skymiles platinum card*‘s companion certificate is good for one main cabin roundtrip fare
- The *delta reserve card*‘s companion ticket can also be used for Delta Comfort Plus, Delta Premium Select, and first class airfare.
Keep in mind: These Delta companion tickets are a use-it-or-lose-it benefit! Pay close attention to the expiration date on your certificate, and be sure to use it before then. It’s not enough to book before it lapses – you have to actually take and return from the trip before that expiration date.
Many travelers wonder if this benefit is also available on authorized user cards – after all, that would make adding another card a no-brainer. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Only the main cardmember gets the annual companion certificate and it can be used on any travel buddies, not just authorized users.
Read More: Struggling to Use Your Delta Companion Certificate? Read This Guide
MQD Headstart
Both the SkyMiles Platinum and Reserve cards give cardholders a boost towards earning Delta elite status by giving them a 2,500 MQD Headstart each year.
This is a huge benefit as it means someone with both a Platinum and Reserve card would automatically get 5,000 MQDS – enough for Delta Silver status without even stepping foot on an airplane or swiping their card for purchases. Unfortunately, this benefit is limited to the primary cardholder only: It doesn’t get extended to authorized users, no matter which version of the card you have.
Read More: How Top Delta Cards Give You A Head Start on Medallion Status
Statement Credits
Early last year, Delta and American Express raised annual fees on nearly all their cards while adding new monthly and annual statement credits to help ease the pain.
From the *delta skymiles gold card* to the *delta reserve card*, you’ll now get an annual credit to use on hotels booked through Delta Stays (the airline’s dedicated booking portal for hotels, rental cars, and more). The Platinum and Reserve Cards also come with monthly rideshare and dining credits at Resy restaurants, and a credit to cover the cost of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry every four to five years.
All of these statement credits can be used by spending on either the primary card or authorized user cards – but the benefits are limited to one credit per account.
So, for example, if a Delta SkyMiles Platinum authorized user card made a $10 purchase with Uber, that would use up the monthly rideshare credit for the entire account. Similarly, if the main cardholder dined at a Resy restaurant at the beginning of the month and that purchase triggered the card’s dining credit, the authorized user wouldn’t be able to double dip and use a credit of their own later on since it’s one per account.
Related reading: From Dining to Hotels, How to Track & Maximize New Delta Amex Credits
Bottom Line
Adding an authorized user to your Delta SkyMiles credit card can be a great way to earn extra SkyMiles on everyday spending and, in some cases, even help with your quest toward elite status.
Although the list of benefits that authorized users don’t get certainly overshadows the list of perks they do, being able to get your favorite travel buddy into Delta Sky Clubs by adding them as an authorized user on your Delta Reserve card can easily outweigh the nominal fee.
