American Express Membership Rewards - Cheaper Alternative to MR?

I've just moved to the U.S. from Australia.

Down Under, I used my Platinum Amex because of MR's flexibility of transferring points into a range of different FF programs (I don't like credit card reward programs which make you to "buy" your reward travel using their points).

Now that I'm shopping around for an American card... Are there any charge cards OTHER than Amex, which would also permit me to transfer points into a variety of different programs? Everything I can find here either seems to be airline-specific (e.g. Mileage+ Visa) or not true FF points (e.g. Citi PremierPass).

Your advice to a newby would be greatly appreciated!

A lot of people here swear by the Starwood Preferred Guest program. You can transfer points to a myriad of airlines. Amex has both personal and business SPG cards.

The most similar program is Diners Club Rewards. In North America Diners Club is a Mastercard. Here is a comparison chart from the Diners Club website...

http://dinersclubus.com/dce_content/clubrewardsandbenefits/clubrewards/clubrewardscompared

The chart does not reflect two recent changes. 1) Air France/KLM's Flying Blue is now a Membership Rewards partner and is leaving Club Rewards. 2) the Tailored Travel redemption rate is changing to be the same as Membership Rewards.

The other reasonable choice is Starwood Preferred Guest, which has an associated credit card issued by American Express...

https://www201.americanexpress.com/cards/Applyfservlet?csi=6/13625/b/63/2051675185/20510452755/0/n

...note that the SPG Credit Card does not participate in Membership Rewards. Instead you earn Starpoints which are automatically added to your Starwood account, but can be transferred to many airlines...

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/starpoints/transfer/airline_partner_list.html

...or redeemed for lodging awards. It is not necessary to stay at Starwood hotels to participate, but of course you will derive more value if you do.

I've just moved to the U.S. from Australia.

Down Under, I used my Platinum Amex because of MR's flexibility of transferring points into a range of different FF programs (I don't like credit card reward programs which make you to "buy" your reward travel using their points).

Now that I'm shopping around for an American card... Are there any charge cards OTHER than Amex, which would also permit me to transfer points into a variety of different programs? Everything I can find here either seems to be airline-specific (e.g. Mileage+ Visa) or not true FF points (e.g. Citi PremierPass).

Your advice to a newby would be greatly appreciated!

You may find it hard to get a card with a useful credit limit unless you have lived in the US before - I found it took me 3 years after I immigrated to get a good enough credit score to get much over $1k limit on a cc, and got turned down even for basic FF cards (even though I had a mortgage from the day I arrived).

Amex will let you transfer your foreign account over, which was a life-saver for me.

My advice is worry about getting credit at all here, before you start worrying about what miles you can earn !

You may find it hard to get a card with a useful credit limit unless you have lived in the US before - I found it took me 3 years after I immigrated to get a good enough credit score to get much over $1k limit on a cc, and got turned down even for basic FF cards (even though I had a mortgage from the day I arrived).

Amex will let you transfer your foreign account over, which was a life-saver for me.

My advice is worry about getting credit at all here, before you start worrying about what miles you can earn !

Many people have had positive experience with American Express offering card members credit cards in other countries.

I agree with MIA:

SPG AMEX and Diners Club are good programs to look at. Note that SPG gives a mileage bonus for large transfers.