steve100:
just an observation of your change as I've helped others who seemed to follow the same idea behind a cash-back card. I think the item that some who make the change you did miss is that frequent flyer programs are really not about total card spend with a credit card. There are part of the coalition of partners involved in your lifestyle of frequent flyer programs. Typically speaking, of the 25,000 mile award you refer to, only about 8,000 miles of that would have come from a frequent flyer credit card (again, yours and others percentages may change and often do from that average). This is a more real way of comparing cards to value received. In the scenario you mention of the $25,000 spent, that really would have earned you enough miles (based on other coalition program partner activity) to have a business class ticket to Europe - value let's say $5,000, thus you receive back a 20% rebate from that card use - $5,000 rather than $650. Granted, this is extreme, but certainly worth noting and even coming back off that by 50% is still a difficult argument to challenge. Another factor which isn't mentioned is that unlike cashback cards who are constant in the cash back, frequent flyer credit cards often promote and offer double miles promotions which when used correctly double the value of the return even without the coalition value of the programs themselves. For instance, Here for the month of November, the Delta American Express card is offering double miles for all purchases. I've already spent $31,000 (by re-allocating which card I use and for what purposes) on this card earning me over 60,000 miles. That is right now, two tickets to Hawaii (their award until 2004 is still 30k per coach ticket). From Colorado, that coach ticket currently is costing me $700 (the dread of not living on the West coast....) so for my $31,000 spend, I have in hand value of $1,400. In your cash back decision, I would only have value of $403. With coalition partner activity, my value would even increase. The point being that there really is a different strategy for every single person - some are the same, most are different, but comparing card to card with equal spend is really not apples to apples. And yes, cash can be used for anything, but I've yet to find it any fun. The main difference is that the value of cash remains the same, whereas the value of miles change with each and every way you may choose to use them (ala, the city you fly to, the time of year you go, upgrade vs. coach, biz vs. coach, off-peak award, special award sale, etc.

What i like is that you did take the time to analyze the differences and make a great choice for you. Unfortunately, many don't. And steve100, thanks for your support of FlyerTalk.