Delta Gold Amex 45,000 Point Sign-Up Bonus (No Annual Fee for First Year)

UPDATE: Citi deal no longer available.

I love me a “no-fee for the first year + hefty sign-up bonus” credit card offer and while this offer pales in comparison to the a-mazing 75,000 American Citi cards, it’s still not bad. Simply spend $3,000 in the first three months and you get 45,000 Skymiles, plus there is no fee for the first year.

At a very minimum, 45,000 Skymiles can be used to take $450 off the price of any flight using the Pay With Miles feature, or can be redeemed for a first class domestic award. While the Delta award search engine is buggy, 45,000 mile awards can still be done, especially close to departure.Even if you aren’t a Delta flyer, having miles on multiple carriers is like having an insurance policy in case you need to book a trip and your primary carrier has no availability.

Some other things I like about Delta award tickets:
-2 stopovers or a stopover and an open jaw on international flights
-Stopovers on domestic flights
-Domestic award travel upgrades at your Medallion window for Platinum and Diamond Medallions
- No last minute redemption fees compared to $75 on US Airways, $50-$100 on American and $75 on Continental.
- Lots of options going to Europe (redeem on partners Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Czech, Aeroflot, Air Europa and Tarom).
- Lie flat business class seats on a lot of flights (including almost all London flights)

Negative things about Delta awards:
- Three award tiers= triple the ways to gouge you for points
- Wacky delta.com award search engine
-  No centralized tool to check partner award availability
- No one-way awards
- Very high surcharges on foreign originating itineraries (for ex. JFK-CDG-JFK may be $100 in taxes vs $350 CDG-JFK-CDG)
- Not many options to South America/Africa

Overall, every airline has its positives and negatives. but when you are presented with essentially free miles- you should take advantage of it!

Tip of the hat to TPG reader Glen who brought this deal to my attention. Keep the tips coming, people!

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.