American Express Membership Rewards - Changing Cards Rewards Plus to SPG?

I have a Reward Plus Gold and Optima Plat and use MR.

I thought MR was decent until I saw the info here about SPG AMEX. Since I mainly fly AA, SPG seems like a no brainer. However, I occaisionally transfer points to Southwest since they have a very liberal ticketing policy for Freq Flyers. (SPG does not appear to link to SWA).

Would there be any advantage to keeping the Optima Plat and changing my Rewards Plus to SPG? What benefits would I lose?

Does MR have any advantages over the SPG program that I missed?

Any advise is appreciated.

Rewards Plus is a charge card. SPG is a credit card. You cannot "change" from one to the other.

Rewards Plus is a charge card. SPG is a credit card. You cannot "change" from one to the other.
And futher, I believe you may lose all your MR points if you do not maintain an active card linked to the program (which SPG is not). So you'd still have to drop down to a green card until you spend or transfer all of your MR points.

Rewards Plus is a charge card. SPG is a credit card. You cannot "change" from one to the other.

Thanks for your input. So for the record, it is impossible for me to cancel the Rewards and apply for SPG?

Thanks!

So for the record, it is impossible for me to cancel the Rewards and apply for SPG?No, it's not impossible - for the record. I'm not sure how you arrived at this conclusion from the previous posts.

You won't be able to simply switch over from your Rewards card to an SPG card. You'll have to apply for a new SPG card and then close your rewards card.

Note that MR is having a 2:1 SPG conversion somewhere between 1/1/06-3/1/06, so if you're planning on getting the SPG card, get it now so you'll have it in time for the conversion of pts. Otherwise, spend it all before closing the account.

You might also want to look at the Southwest forum, as their program is making a change on February 10th.

All awards issued after 02-10-06 will have capacity controls on their use. Thus their awards may not be as easy to sue as in the past.

If you're a big fan of WN, the best Visa card to get is not the Southwest Visa.

It would be the Choice Hotels Visa from Bank of America.

For more info., go to:
http://www.bofa.com

I have a Rewards Plus Gold Card and am dropping it as soon as billing things settle down. I have picked up a Starwood Amex which I will use for *Alliance access via Dividend Miles and have transferred all of my MR points to DM.
I maintain the MR membership with another Amex card that I only use for personal expenses and think that having the two is the way to go. As a matter of fact, Lieber in the Wall Street Journal today was touting the virtues of the SPG Amex and it's nice to see that the general interest press is only a few months behind the learning curve in stuff like this.

Thanks to each of you who provided useful information. It is much appreciated.