Originally Posted by MellieAZ

Skywalker,

The Starwood AMEX card gives you a mileage bonus (an extra 5k miles for every 20k points transferred) and flexibility since the points can be transferred to some airlines at 1:1 ratio (I think United is 2 for 1). With your annual spending that could be a lot of tickets!! The down side is not all vendors take AMEX. I haven't had any problems with their customer service but YMMV.

The Schwab card (at least the only one I know about) gives you 2% cash back, not miles and doesn't charge foreign exchange fees. These are the only 2 cards I use - when I'm not churning.

Also, you mentioned 900K AA miles, that means you should be close to the million mile mark. This would give you lifetime gold status which lets you pick the exit row seats and no charges for your first 2 checked bags. If you are close, you might want to make that milestone before switching to another airline.

Sorry to hear about the diagnosis. My best wishes to you and your loves ones.