Originally Posted by
Frequent Miler
Wait, now that I've thought about it more: you made a great argument about why having the Barclay's card is better, but I still wouldn't put my spend on it for earning US Airways miles. I would keep the card in a drawer for the annual 10k and other benefits, but I would put spend on the SPG card.
Considering that I got a bulk amount of US Airways miles for under a half penny per mile last year during the Grand Slam, I wouldn't do any credit card transactions just to get US Airways miles (unless I was on the cusp of achieving a particular award, but the economics of miles changes when you're at the margin).
Like
HikerT is saying, the best way to earn US miles is to get a good-%tage cash back card and use that to buy US miles during bonus periods. Even with the recent price increase, you'll pay < 2cpm during a 100% bonus.
During the GS, With a 2% cash back card, I could use that cash back to "purchase" >4 US miles/$ (yes, I know, it's not direct purchasing, but the GS game made it fun and worth my time). Even with the extra time I put into the GS, I'd still consider it as at least 2 US miles/$ cash back. Neither the US nor SPG card comes close to that.