I took the time to do a comparative analysis of the Platinum, CSR and VX based on my spending patterns over the last 12 months, and the outcome is pretty interesting. When I factor in my AAdvantage Executive card, even more interesting.
My annual spend on a given card is going to be between $40-50k, unless I made a concerted effort to spend more on CC (which I'm unlikely to). About 75% of this spend is in bonus-earning travel/dining categories - most on flights, then hotel, then dining, finally rental car. I'm putting less of my daily spend on CC than I thought.
Analyzing points earnings:
If I were to concentrate this spend on one of the three and use $40k as a conservative baseline, and book all my flights and hotels direct (not using their travel portals), the CSR is the best card. VX would earn the least (93.5k), followed by Platinum (109K), with CSR leading (136k). The points difference is 42,403 so a cash value of $636, which more than offsets the $445 difference between the two cards' AF.
If I moved my hotel spend into their booking portals (unlikely), Platinum earns the least (157k), followed by CSR (184k), with VX leading (190k). Given the lower AF, the VX wins hands-down, but I'm guessing any benefits would be outweighed by (presumably) increased pricing in the C1 booking system.
Now, I wanted to see how this compares to the performance of my AAdvantage card and determine whether it would be better to ditch the AAdvantage Executive card or keep and complement it with one of the other three.
If 100% of my spend goes on only one card and I use the card's hotel booking system, VX earns 190k transferable points, AAdvantage Exec. earns 187k AAdvantage miles. CSR not far behind at 184k.
The first thing I'll acknowledge is that I do use aadvantagehotels.com religiously. Not only do I get 10X AAdvantage miles/dollar and 1 Loyalty Point/dollar towards requalifying for EP status, but also very rich bonuses (usually between 5-15k/stay). The price is often the same or lower than booking direct, sometimes $20-30 higher. On average, the card will earn me 20k LPs, plus another 20k in bonus LPs. 40k is 20% of the way to requalifying for EP, so pretty hard to give up.
If I keep the AA Exec., then it's a question of what is the best compliment.
Keeping my AA flights (half my flight budget) and all hotels on the AA Exec, and move everything else to another card - the AmEx is the best choice given my current spending, due to the 5x points on flights. I would earn 175k AA miles and 55k MR points. Not really enough transferable points to be intriguing.
If I moved my hotel spend to another portal (from AA to say, C1), then VX comes out on top due to their 10x bonus. I'd get 54k AA miles and 173k C1 miles. Likewise, putting more daily spend on CC would give the VX a significant leg up due to the 2x. There are no likely outcomes where the CSR is the best compliment to the AAdvantage Executive.
My absolute best way to maximize mileage earnings would be to combine AA Executive (all hotels), AmEx (all flights), and VX (everything else), but would dilute my points across too many systems in the long-run, unless I increased daily spend on the VX.
Looking at each card's various benefits and credits relative to the AF, I find that I'm likely to get the most value from the CSR despite the highest AF. I'm likely to get $840 in value from AmEx, $970 from CSR, and $300 from VX. The value I'll get from credits exceeds the AF of the CSR by $175 ($145 for Platinum, -$50 for VX).
Finally, looking at transfer partners, Chase is pretty weak. I only plan to transfer to airline miles for premium cabin redemptions. AmEx leads, C1 is not far behind.
So (drumroll, please)...my plan is to keep my AAdvantage Executive and my AmEx platinum. I've got the right combination for my current spending habits. If I stick with AA in the long run, the VX is a hearty contender. If I ditch and go full free-agent, then the CSR possibly becomes the best card.
If you've made it this far, congrats - you're enjoying a slow work day!