Originally Posted by jonsail

Just to complicate things, Citibank offers a no-fee 2% cash back on everything card. (Not sure if it waives foreign transaction fees). So for domestic purchases you have to ask whether 2% cash back is better than 1.5 United miles per dollar spent, keeping in mind that with cash back if you purchase a ticket you get award miles and whatever reward the credit card offers whereas you don't get either when you use award miles. 10 years ago I would have preferred the United miles to 2% cash back, but lately I am not managing to get much more value than about a penny a mile out of United miles when I redeem them. (I do realize that for certain business class flights United miles can be a great deal, but not living in a United hub city or wanting to travel where these deals are, I am not getting great value out of my United miles.)