I've had this card for a while now. I thought it was going to be awesome, but availability for the Ritz has been a problem and the flights are on their preferred carriers. Meaning of preferred is usually the lowest price in the market. So if you want to go nonstop instead of connecting which is usually cheaper, you have to use an additional 5,000 miles. Thus, it costs 25,000 to 30,000 for a free ticket rather than 20,000 (once a year) or 25,000. So I've switched away from this as a primary card to SPG Amex.

np