I had my wife sign up although her offer was in the mail and had no fee for the first year. I had 3 of my kids sign up as well when you get into the application page, you will see that there is a $50.00 credit when you use the card the first time, so actually the card will only be 35.0 not a bad deal for 21K especially if you need the miles to round out to 50 or 60K for international tickets.^