2) If you don't like BA miles you can redeem 25,000 Merrill+ points for a $500 airline ticket on AA, BA, CO or DL, which is also 2%.
So this is the same (or slightly worse) than the Schwab, right? If you don't max out at exactly $500, your redemption rate is just under 2%.
Alas, I usually redeem for Economy travel so BAEC isn't worth that much to me.
