Originally Posted by
PainCorp
I think it's also worth noting that while the co-branded cards do come with priority boarding, free 1st bag, lounge passes, etc, if you're using your points correctly, you'll get most of those anyways.
I think for the vast majority of people that want miles that UR can transfer to, the CSP/Ink/Freedom is a much better combination and will earn RDM much quicker.
I'm in the same boat. I never check in any bags. Although it felt cool at first, I don't give a hoot about boarding the plane first anymore either. Plus I get lounges through the Amex Platinum; which only cost me $200 a year after the airline credit and some annual-fee help from the 3 additional card-members.
Taking all of the latter into account, it makes it tough to justify paying for an airline card. The only airline card I could justify paying for is the US Airways Barclays card because of the 10K anniversary bonus. For normal spending it's tough to beat Chase's program. The Freedom, Ink, and even UR Mall points add up real quick.