As detailed in the previous post, Amex has revamped all six Delta SkyMiles credit cards as of January 30, 2020.  Now we have updated the following reviews to reflect the changes:

• Amex Delta SkyMiles Gold Card (personal and business)
• Amex Delta SkyMiles Platinum Card (personal and business)
• Amex Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card (personal and business)
• Several other reviews involving these credit cards
• Best Credit Cards for Perks

Note that with increasing annual fees, Delta Reserve Card and Delta Platinum Card both offer incredible Delta perks such as airport lounge access (Delta Reserve only), annual companion certificate, Delta Medallion Qualifying Miles booster, Delta Medallion Qualifying Dollar waiver, first checked bags for free, priority boarding, etc.  That is why Amex Delta Reserve Card is now #3 (up by one) and Amex Delta Platinum Card #8 (up from #10) Best Credit Cards for Perks.

In addition, Amex also introduced some impressive signup offers for these cards:

• 60,000 miles upon signup and an additional 10,000 miles upon the first renewal for Delta Gold Card (personal or business, ~$600 value in our book)
• 80,000 miles upon signup and an additional 20,000 miles upon the first renewal for Delta Platinum Card (personal or business, ~$550 value after considering annual fees)
• 80,000 miles + 20,000 MQMs upon signup and an additional 20,000 miles upon the first renewal for Delta Reserve Card (personal or business, ~$450 value after considering annual fees)

The major revamp of all seven Delta Amex credit cards are on the way.  Let's have at a breakdown of the changes.  All the tables are from American Express / Delta Air Lines.

Delta SkyMiles Blue American Express

• 2x miles on dining will be expanded from U.S. to worldwide
• Foreign transaction fee will be waived;
• "Pay with Miles" feature will be added.

Three business cards also receive similar changes.  Here we highlight the differences from personal cards.

• Delta SkyMiles Gold BUSINESS American Express receives the same changes as the personal version except that instead having grocery as a new 2x bonus category it will have U.S. shipping and U.S. advertisement as new 2x categories;
• Delta SkyMiles Platinum BUSINESS American Express receives the same changes as the personal version except that instead having dining & grocery as new 2x bonus categories it will give 1.5x miles for any purchases of $5,000 or more each (up to $50,000 miles per year);
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve BUSINESS American Express receives the same changes as the personal version except that it will give 1.5x miles for all purchases once the annual spending exceeds $150,000.

Chase has re-branded United Explorer Business Visa as United Business Visa, and introduced a few changes:

• Annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, and not waived for the first year any more;
• Annual 10,000 miles booster for $15K spending is removed;
• Local transportation is now a 2x points category; NEW
• Receive 5,000 miles upon each anniversary when you also have a personal United credit card; NEW
• Receive $100 statement credit upon each anniversary when you buy at least 7 United tickets of $100 or more each.  NEW

Also now the card offers 100,000 miles after you spend $10,000 within 3 months of new account opening, better than United Explorer Business Visa ever offered.

Major changes on City National Bank (CNB) Crystal Visa Infinite kicked in on January 1, 2020:

• Annual fee of each authorized user is increased from zero to $95;
• Gas & groceries are no longer a 3x rewards categories;
• Each cardmember is still allowed to have $250 airline incidental credits per year, but the total credits per each Crystal account is now capped at $350.  That means if you have used $250 as the primary cardholder, your authorized user can only receive $100 credits;
• Priority Pass Select membership provided by the card will no longer cover guests for free.  Each guest will be charged $32;
• Visa Infinite $100 airline discount is discontinued.

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The devaluation is mostly towards previously lucrative perks for free authorized users.  Now for $95 a year, your authorized user will receive up to $250 airline credits (the total credits are limited to $350 per Crystal account, which means if you already use $250 credits as the primary cardholder, the incremental credits are only $100; of course spreading $350 out between two cards adds a little bit of flexibility), Priority Pass Select, 12 GoGo passes, Global Entry reimbursement, and Visa Infinite benefits.  It is up to you to decide whether it is worthwhile to add an authorized user.

As for the primary cardholder, it might still be a good card to have, but there are a few arguably better alternatives such Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, and US Bank Altitude Reserve.

Due to the devaluation, Crystal Visa is no longer one of the Best Credit Cards for Perks; it is still #4 Best Credit Card for Protection.

To reflect the major changes that kicked in as of January 12, 2020, our review of Chase Sapphire Reserve has been updated, so as many other reviews that involve this popular card.

In a nutshell, the changes for Sapphire Reserve are as the following:

• The annual fee for primary cardholder is increased from $450 to $550, which seems an industry wide trend (Amex Platinum is $550, Amex Delta Reserve will soon be $550, Citi Prestige is $495, ...)
• One year Lyft Pink membership - activate before March 31, 2022.  Lyft Pink (valued at least $199 on paper) offers 15% off every car ride, priority airport pickups, relaxed cancellations, and exclusive savings;
• 10x points on Lyft purchases through March 2022, i.e., 7 additional points over the 3 points on regular travel;
• One year DoorDash subscription service for free - activate before December 31, 2021.  This subscription service offers $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on food orders over $12 via DoorDash;  
• Receive $60 statement credits for DoorDash purchases through December 2020 and another $60 through December 2021;

As we can see the new Lyft and DoorDash perks, which might be useful to some customers, are sort of temporary to mitigate the annual fee increase.  We think in general this card was devaluated.  Considering the easy-to-use $300 annual credit, the effective annual fee is increased from $150 to $250.  In order to cancel that out and beat the benchmark 2% cashback provided by several non-fee cards such as Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa, the minimum spending on the 3x categories (dining & travel) is increased from $6,000 to $10,000, with our valuation of Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cents a piece, because $6,000 x 3 x 1.5% = $6,000 x 2% + $150 while $10,000 x 3 x 1.5% = $10,000 x 2% + $250.

When compared to another Chase card that offer flexible miles/points transfer feature - Sapphire Preferred which carries a $95 annual fee and offers 2x points on dining & travel, you need to spend $10,500 per year on dining & travel to cancel out the effective annual fee difference, because $10,500 x 3 x 1.5% - $250 = $10,500 x 2 x 1.5% - $95.  Previously, you only need to spend $3,700t on dining & travel to cancel out the difference in effective annual fees, and that was why it was an easier recommendation to get the seemingly more expensive Sapphire Reserve.  Now you really need to figure out if you could spend that much in those categories and how much you value the extra perks and protection provided by Sapphire Reserve.  Another factor to consider is that Sapphire Reserve is still a better card for Ultimate Rewards ecosystem (we always recommend comparing it with the non-fee Freedom Unlimited to get best out of this ecosystem), as in addition to the flexible miles/points transfer feature it does offer a better fixed travel redemption option at 1.5 cents when you book through Chase.

All in all, it is not as easy as before to recommend Chase Sapphire Reserve, but for cardholders who spend enough on dining & travel and/or value excellent travel perks such as airport lounge access, luxury hotel privileges, primary rental car insurance, premium roadside assistance, the best travel & consumer protection provided by any credit card, and the ultimate flexibility in redeeming points, this card still represents great value.  After number crunching, Sapphire Reserve maintains the No.1 spot on our Top 10 Best Credit Cards list, for now.

We wrote about Amex's major protection changes kicking in as of January 1, 2020 back in November.  Now we have updated our Protection page to reflect these changes.  The ranking for the Top 10 Best Credit Cards for Protection hasn't changed.  None of the Amex cards are on the Top 10 list.

Chase has upped signup bonuses on all three personal Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards  (RR) Visa Credit Cards to 75,000 points each with a $5,000 spending requirement: Southwest RR Plus Visa ($69 annual fee), Southwest RR Premier Visa ($99 annual fee), and Southwest RR Priority Visa ($150 annual fee).  These bonuses are arguably the best in history in terms of number of points.  Remember Chase used to offer a straight Companion Pass plus 30K points back in 2019, and Companion Pass plus 40K points for California residents back in 2017.  Companion Pass status allows you to take one companion for free as many times as you want, as long as you pay your own tickets and taxes and fees for your companion.  With the new 75K offers, it is actually not hard at all the qualify for the Companion Pass which requires 110K points accumulation in a calendar year.  Note that you won't receive a second bonus if you open two personal Southwest Visa cards; however, you could open one personal Southwest Visa and one Southwest Business Visa (RR Premier Business or RR Performance Business) to easily qualify for Companion Pass.