Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Personally, if I was going to get a credit card, the usefulness of the card would be far more important to me than FF miles. To me, theres no point getting a card where places wont accept it or where they'll charge me extra to use it just for some miles
That's why you get two credit cards, try Amex first, and then if they won't take Amex, use Visa or MC.
In Australia, where merchants can charge differing fees for different CCs, merchants who don't like Amex's fee can apply the appropriate surcharge of their choosing. Here in the US, where AFAIK this is against the agreements merchants have with Amex, I really don't understand why more places don't start refusing to take Amex. When I can pay the same and get a larger reward with Amex, sure, I'm going to use Amex, which costs them more. And virtually everyone who has an Amex card has a backup Visa or MC, so it's not like they're about to lose many sales because of it.