Hey, I'm new to this site and I'm looking to fly one way from Detroit to San Francisco in around 3-4 weeks from now. The Delta site says I need 25k miles and I only have 23k saved from a flight to Sydney a could years ago. I was wondering what would be the best credit card so sign-up for, in order to earn miles quickly enough so I can get a free flight.

Would the American Express Gold Skymiles card be a good option or could I sign up for the AA 75k miles card and just chard $1,500 within a couple days?

Thanks for your help!

I just got the Delta Amex Plat a few weeks ago and the day after my first charge, 20k SM posted to my account. It took about 7 days from the date I applied until the miles were in my account.

If you only need 2k quickly I would just buy them from Delta.

Getting miles to post with ANY credit card bonus in 3-4 weeks is going to be iffy. Try one of the cards & then buy some DL miles if your bonus miles don't post soon enough.

That sounds like it could work, how long did it take you to receive the credit card in the mail?

It is $56 to buy the 2,000 miles that I need. But my flight date is very flexible, so I don't think finding a one way for 25k miles last minute will be a problem.

Welcome to FlyerTalk Snowboardz.

While Delta may list a basic domestic roundtrip for 25,000 miles, I would suggest trying to make sure that it only takes 25k miles for the flights you want.

I'm a general member of DL SkyMiles, and not once, have I ever been able to price the flights I want [during off peak times, mind you] on Delta for 25k SkyMiles. Usually the round trips I want price at 40,000 SkyMiles for an off peak coach award when I attempt a fake booking!

Again, be sure to do your homework to make sure you truly have enough SkyMiles before assuming you'll be able to score a domestic roundtrip for 25k SkyMiles.

If you get the Delta Amex Card, you can do the pay by miles option. That allows you to book the ticket at the cost of the ticket and then use your miles to pay it off. One way cost of your ticket is 233.00.

You could do Netflix for $7.99 and get 3,000 miles. If your credit card statement is nearing it's close, the miles will post right away. My AA posted within 2 days, but United took longer due to statement closing.

Thanks Max M, but I only need one way as I am moving to San Francisco.

ntjane66, that seems like a good option. I did not know about that, thanks!

Steelgal32, I was worried the miles wouldn't post in time, but I did some searching on this forum and it looks like they post pretty fast. Thanks

Anyone know how to get the netflix offer without a free month trial? It keeps trying to give me 30 days free, so the miles wouldn't post in time.

Not true, I did my second ever award booking on Delta in Feb Atl-JFK-ATL for 25k miles, so I'm sure there's some availability.

The easiest way is to do a Free Lasik eye exam for 5k, I think mine posted in 2-3 weeks though!

dreamwks, I think that lasik promo is over.

If the one-way cost of the ticket is just $233, then this raises another question for Snowboardz: Why fly this one-way trip as an award flight, using 25,000 miles for a domestic one-way flight? You're using the same amount of miles as you would for a free domestic round-trip ticket!

Why not pay for the one-way ticket, and keep your miles to use on a future round-trip that is almost inevitably going to be more expensive than your current one-way? There are several carriers (AirTran, Frontier, US) that fly DTW-SFO, and their one-way fares are even cheaper than Delta, around $160. Meanwhile, with 25,000 miles you can fly round-trip from SFO to anywhere in the continental US. (Yes, assuming you can even find the lowest-cost award on Delta, but that's another story.)

Unless you don't have the money for the one-way ticket, IMHO your best bet is find a cheap fare, and keep your miles for future use.

bob12403, that is a good point. Maybe I should just book a return flight to Detroit near Christmas time so I can go visit family, since it wouldn't cost any extra miles.

If you don't already have an e-miles account, that's a free way to earn some Delta Skymiles, though it takes a while to earn enough to transfer to your SkyMiles account.