United was simply catching up; other airlines raised their award tables earlier, others may raise it later. In the long run, not much difference. (And to get awards from rewards cards, you have to collect long run, right?)

How does your friend use miles? If for domestic flights to "competitve" destinations, which they book well in advance, then yes, a good cashback might have similar value.

If business class flights overseas, then cashback is a horrible alternative, and only "real" miles from an actual airline like AA or UA (those two having better redemption than, say, DL) will help.

Also, it depends on the destinations you want to fly, and where you're based. I prefer to collect miles with multiple airlines, because one doesn't get me everywhere. AA will fly me to places in Latin America that UA won't, UA will fly me to places in the American West that AA won't.

And why doesn't your friend like Chase? Is it for a Chase-specific reason, or is to because Chase it what they've been using, and they found things that they would have found at any credit card company had they been using a different one???