Thanks for the kind (and snark-free!) explanation of the Freedom cards. The marketing is totally misleading. Would they allow me to just downgrade my existing account to a Freedom?

I THINK it will have been 4 years in January, but good point. I need to double check that.

As much as I like the ability to redeem on the Chase travel site at such a high valuation, I'm just not sure that feature is worth $250/year. I'm already putting all my dining on the Gold Amex, so this card was really just used for Priceline hotels and Expedia packages, which I booked fairly frequently, and for foreign purchases because it never got declined. I'm wondering if I should just get an Amex green for the other travel costs, since it offers 3 points/$ for all travel. In fact, with 3 points/$ for dining, it might be worth dumping the Gold Amex. I'd need to find another good card to approach the 4 points/$ for groceries.

What are some combinations you can think of for such a situation? E.g., keeping the Amex Plat for the travel benefits, needing good return on other travel not covered by plat, and also maxxing out the return for dining and groceries?