Originally Posted by
J.Edward
I really think this is one of those YMMV situations.
If one is flying CO 75,000+ BIS miles per year then the PPlus is a no brainer. Lounge access + ~19,000 bonus miles + Avis + ability to earn points for purchases, especially if you would have already bought a membership to the PC anyways ($325 1 year Plat vs $375 1 year annual fee from Chase.) The downside is you're linked to CO and if you venture out, the card won't offer much value.
Now if one is not flying CO 75k+ (or is traveling heavily on other alliance too) than I think the AMEX option gains value. While you do loose some abilities to earn bonus onepass miles, one could easily argue MRs impressive list of partners justifies any potential loss. Likewise the ability to access multiple airline lounges across alliances is particularly useful for those who fly multiple carriers. The rather steep $500 annual fee can easily be justified if one could save buying a PC, AC and DL lounge membership - to say nothing of the ability to earn MR points.
Anyways, I think this is truly one of those YMMV but if you're just on AA once or twice a year (and CO for the rest) I'd think the PPlus card + a daypass or two to the AC when needed would be a better value...but that's just me.
I did fly over 75K this year on CO and I still think I did better without the PPlus card. The Avis benefit is useless to me as I have a much better deal from "elsewhere" that I tend to use. The bonus miles are nice, but they don't sway the deal for me. I like that the MR points are much more fungible, even if I earn them at a (very) marginally lower rate.. While you're earning all those CO points for the 100K reward on VS UC from NYC to London I'm happily redeeming that exact same reward for 63K points via ANA from MR. That's just one example; there are others.
As for the AA example, I've taken a trip or two on them each of the past couple years and my wife was with me. That's a lot of day passes. And the AX card is $450, not "nearly $500" for the annual fee. I also happen to get some other perks that are work-related from it (I have the Biz version, not the Personal) so there are other value considerations for me, too.
Believe me, I consider it very carefully every year. I might not renew next year and take a year off since I'll have BD *G that will get me into CO lounges throughout 2010. It is definitely YMMV and each person has their own values they assign to the various bits.