Originally Posted by
jbcarioca
American Express OPEN Platinum. No annual fee, cash back with greater cash value than any points card I can find. All the benefits of Platinum with no fee.
I don't understand the fixation with points cards because the economics are generally poorer than on cash-back ones.
It is YMMV. I use SPG AMEX to get points, convert Starpoints into AA miles, and redeem 110,000 miles for J seat to HKG twice a year. 110,000 miles is about $88,000 in purchase, which would have generated $1,760 from the 2% cash back cards. Now the 88,000 in purchase, however, will get me a CX J class seat which sells for at least $3,000. So that is 3.4% of value for me.
Y class redemption has a lower % of return (around 2%), while F class redemption has a higher value (at least 6.5%). So everybody is different. This topic has been debated many times, and all the conclusions are YMMV.