Originally Posted by
naps8906
I normally use fidelity AmEx or any other cards that gives 2% cash back.
Because say you spent $40k using SPG. Then at AA, you'll get 50k miles. Using other 2% cash back, you'll get $800.
800/50k = about $.016 or 1.6 cents/mile. Personally, I dont like to spend anything more than 1cents/mile, so cash back was better deal.
Recently there was a AA promo during Christmas where you got close to .25 cents/mile, hence proving my point.
There are other factors involved above and beyond cents per mile for some people.
Using your example, 50k AA miles are 1/20th of lifetime gold status on AA. For people trying to get to the magic million (or 2mm for that matter) this may be even more important than the back of envelope cpm calculations.