Delta Gold Amex 45,000 Point Sign-Up Bonus (No Annual Fee for First Year)
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Update: The Card Match tool is no longer loading the 45,000 mile offer for the Gold Delta SkyMiles card.
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!
[card card-name='Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express' card-id='22034660' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']
