So if you're really trying to use your spend to get Delta status, getting multiple Delta cards to get multiple headstarts and then spending on the reserve cards is going to be your best way to do it. But I would push back and say at some point, if you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Delta card to try to get Delta status, you got to ask yourself what the opportunity cost of that spend is.

And I went through an email exchange with someone who was asking me about this. And it turns out that by not using, let's say, a 2.625% cashback card, they were effectively spending $4,000 on Delta status each year to try to get all the way to Delta Diamond. If you think that that's worth it and you understand the benefits and the perks, awesome.

But if you're actually thinking, wow, I don't fly Delta that often. If I just took that $4,000 and just paid for Comfort Plus or paid for business class, I'd probably be a lot happier. And maybe I wouldn't even fly Delta all the time.