jrd8278, With regards to DL, I would have signed up for the DL Platinum Amex for $150 annual fee. You would have gotten 5,000 MQMs + whatever RDM bonuses are out there right now (at least 30,000 or so) and that $100 close-in award fee would have been waived. Pays for itself pretty quickly if you do close-in award booking.
If, after a year, you no longer want to pay the annual fee you can convert it into a no annual fee card (that earns fewer miles per $ spent, of course).