findark

I think what has really done this is that we're at a high-water mark for rewards rates on cards, especially premium cards. The pathetic 1-2x UA miles on purchases hasn't changed in a very long time, whereas there has been a constant escalation of per-spend benefits on the 450 card portfolio (Citi and Amex now at 5x in their currencies in major categories). The airline cards haven't kept up, probably because it's unprofitable, and I do think this is just one more domino falling in an eventual rollback of some of the best card benefits.

I love the Chase portal at 1.5 cpp because you don't need to hoard large piles of points on the off-chance your travel patterns and availability will align for a redemption before the next devaluation hits. You can redeem part of a ticket, and it continues to earn qualifying miles for that travel too

Very miffed about Citi killing even 1.25 for TYP and that along with effectively ending 4NF means my Prestige is getting canceled next year.

Amex has always offered a much less lucrative benefit portfolio (at least to the average consumer not doing FT levels of games on the benefits) and focused on offering more intangible services for a fee rather than fungible benefits like the direct travel credits on Citi/Chase. See the airline fee waiver, which was always intended to ease the cost of ancillary fees (because apparently Amex's best customers still fly Y ) and not as the airfare credit it's been manipulated into on FT. Their original business model was earning by people paying money up-front simply for the convenience and prestige of carrying an Amex, and they have given ground on that only grudgingly over the last 40 years.