How To Use Delta Companion Certificates

While the Delta credit cards are some of the worst cards out there, in terms of earning on every day spend, they are one of the most popular cards on the market. The amount of swipes that end up on Delta Amex cards is actually staggering. While the cards don't earn all that well, they do offer some decent perks at times. One of those perks, of the premium cards at least, are the Delta companion certificates. These allow you to take a flight BOGO of sorts (besides taxes and fees). But, how do you use Delta companion certificates? Even more than that, how do you quickly search for flights that qualify for this credit card “perk”? In the past it was so bad that many went unused each and every year? Not any more, since I am here to give you the keys to the kingdom on just that!

What Credit Cards Earn Delta Companion Certificates?

While Delta cards come in as many colors as Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat, not every card comes with a Delta companion certificate. It is reserved (pun intended) for the premium cards in the Delta credit card lineup. That would include the following cards:

• Delta Amex Platinum
  • Good for main cabin roundtrip fare
  • Acceptable on fare classes L, U, T, X, V
• Delta Amex Platinum Business
  • Good for main cabin roundtrip fare
  • Acceptable on fare classes L, U, T, X, V
• American Express Delta Reserve
  • Good for main cabin, comfort plus, or domestic first class
  • Acceptable on fare classes L, U, T, X, V, I, Z ,W
• American Express Delta Reserve Business
  • Good for main cabin, comfort plus, or domestic first class
  • Acceptable on fare classes L, U, T, X, V, I, Z ,W

These companion certificates are issued on your credit card's anniversary. Basically when your annual fee is charged you should see these bad boys hitting your account. They will only show up after the first 12 months, so on your second annual fee. The first annual fee being the one you paid when signing up for the card, assuming it wasn't waived as a part of the welcome offer.

My Experience

My experience using my Delta companion certificates was easier than ever this year. That is because a few years ago Delta revamped the system for these, which made searching for eligible awards so much easier. I'll give you a step by step guide on how to use Delta companion certificates after recently doing just that.

Step 1: Locate Your Delta Companion Certificates

I find this easier to do on the computer. Actually, I book almost all of my flights on a computer. It is just a better process for me. Anyway, back to finding your Delta companion certificates that were earned from paying the annual fee on your credit card.

Once you log into your Delta Skymiles account you will want to click My Profile and then select Certificates, eCredits & Vouchers from the drop down menu.

Step 2: Select The Delta Companion Certificate You Want To Use

You may have more than one Delta companion certificate, so be sure to select the correct one if you do. When you select the companion certificate it will also show you what fare classes are acceptable for booking. (Just in case you forget which ones are listed in the breakdown above). Not that it matters as much anymore though, with the improved search functionality Delta rolled out they take the guess work out of it.

Select your Delta companion certificate and hit Continue. (It hides at the bottom there which I missed early on)

Step 3: Search Your Desired Routes

Once you have selected your Delta companion certificate and hit continue, you will be taken to the standard Delta search screen. You will want to enter in your desired airports and dates for flying. Be sure to select the My Dates Are Flexible box to get an idea of how available flights are that are compatible with the companion certificates. Once you have done that select Search.

Step 4: View Your Delta Fare Calendar

On the next screen you should see a list of flights for the next week or so, assuming you clicked the my dates are flexible box. As you can see here, every single day has flights that are available to be used with a Delta companion certificate. This is notated under the fare amount for the day in green, where it says certificate applied. The lowest fare on the calendar will also be highlighted in green ($411 above). Pick the dates that work best for your needs and select Continue to see the flight times and routes available to you.

Step 5: Select Your Preferred Routing

The next step on how to use your Delta companion certificates is selecting the best flights for your schedule. I was doing the search with a Delta Reserve companion certificate, so that means every class of service offered should be available. At least if it the flight's fare code is one of the acceptable options.

If you look above the first two flights have main cabin, comfort+ and first class listed, but only 5 of the 6 options are available to book. That is because the first class flight that leaves at 8:54 AM didn't fall into one of the allowed fare buckets.

If you were using one of the Delta Platinum cards, then only the main cabin flights that work would be shown.

I decided to stick with the main cabin option because the other two were too much of a markup for me to use my companion cert on. This credit card perk saved me around $400 (after paying taxes and fees) on our flight though!

Step 6: Using Delta eCredits With Companion Certificates

The last thing I wanted to show you was a really consumer friendly change that Delta made a while back. You can now combine flight credits with your companion certificate. Plus, the ecredits can work towards the taxes and fees for the companion certificate user. I should clarify that is only the case if they have credits in their name as well. My son and I both had a chunk of flight credits from a previous flight cancellation, so we were able to drop the amount due to $0 after applying both of our available credits.

Other Nice Quirks Of The Delta Companion Pass Program

There are some other quirks of the Delta companion pass program that I wanted to highlight.

Delta recently made these certificates a lot more useful after adding these destinations as bookable options (any certificate issued after 2/1/24):

• Hawaii
• Alaska
• Mexico
• Central America
• The Caribbean

Here are some other notable quirks you should know about when figuring out how to use your Delta companion certificates:

• These certificates are a fly by date, not a book by date.
  • That can be confusing, but they have improved that verbiage on the newer certificates.
• You can get upgraded if you have status
  • We had a couple of people confirm this in the Facebook group.
• These are also not eligible for Delta One marketed flights.
  • Sometimes you can still end up in a Delta One seat when the aircraft is on a positioning flight etc. though.
• Only the primary passenger earns miles and MQDs
  • But, you can select who is considered the primary passenger.
• That is because you can use these certificates on anyone, and you don't need to be flying.
  • This is probably the most unique / cool thing about these Delta companion certificates.

If there are any other quirks of the Delta companion pass program let me know in the ToP Facebook Group and I will add them in.

How To Use Delta Companion Certificates: ToP Thoughts

Hopefully this guide on how to use Delta companion certificates makes the process a bit easier for you. I know many people used to let these go unused because they were so hard to search and find flights that worked. That shouldn't be the case anymore with the new updates and changes. These can help offset some of those annual fees if you think the cards are a long term keeper for your needs. The certificates should post within the annual fee refund window if you don't plan on keeping the card another year, which is a nice farewell gift.

Let me know what flights you have booked with your Delta companion passes over in the ToP Facebook Group.