Card stable downsizing advice?
 

That time of year is coming, seeking advice on consolidating card accounts:

Point earners currently on hand
UA Exp
old Ink Bold
new Ink Bold
Chase SP
CO PP
Amex Biz Gold
Amex PRG
Amex Plat
Citi AA Visa
Citi AA "amex"
Citi AA Biz

Barring any decent retention offers, any reason not to do the following?

Drop
Citi AA "amex" & Visa - wait the 18+ out
Amex PRG
Ink Bold 1
either UA Exp or CO PP

Keep
Amex Plat for bennies
Ink Bold 2 for category bonuses
SP for dining

On the fence about
Amex Biz Gold's future?
Hopefully Citi AA Biz can still be churned?
Ink Bold 1 above - possible value for threshold bonuses?
CO PP for lounge and FEQM for less than Plat status.

My focus is clearly on the 3 US majors and their partners.
I value long haul awards and access benefits most of all.
With that in mind, I do not value hotel cards, and I personally wouldnt waste a pull on C1

Advice on any major flaws with the above or large opportunities I'm missing?

I might keep one of the Amex Golds if you spend a lot on airfare.

Good point, thanks. ^

The Amex BGR isnt due for renewal until Feb 29 (that was a nice day ;), so there's time. My only debate on the personal is the annual spend bonus. But I really dont need more MR at this moment.

If AA was a transfer partner with Amex, I'd step up that Amex spend a large degree. If only Citi would release that strangle hold on AA...

Plenty of time... almost 4 years!

Why then do you not have the American Express-issued card which can earn AA miles?

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

mia, because I had tunnel-vision that the spg = hotel in my mind, when its so much more than that. saaaweet!

25K sign up for 5K spend? hmmm, that's so class B isnt it, are we all not simply accustomed to 75-100K sign ups as the norm now? :D

Thanks mia, just love days of personal (ie; hey, get a clue) relevation.

By the way, in a couple of months I'll be facing similar decisions. I think I'll keep the Amex Plat for the benefits, and the CSP for 2x on dining/travel. I don't spend enough on airfare for the Gold to be worth it for me. Other than that, I intend to cancel/downgrade basically every other card I have (CO, UA, Citi AA, Citi Visa, Citi Biz, Chase BA, Barclays US).

My goal is to keep probably one Plat for the benefits (between me and my wife) and for each of us to have the CSP and maybe the Starwood Amex (which will be part of a future round of apps) long term. All others I'd likely cancel before the next annual fee hits.

Exactly.

For the plat, I can always purchase the UA club membership for $200 off (even without status), and yet I still get DL, AA access with BP, and US anytime access. Getting the Plat when I did works well for me as I can get two-years of airline credits for the single annual fee.

The Citi will earn AA on AA purchases faster than the SPG, and some other AA bennies; but the SPG has more programs, so its now front and center on the next option to have.

crimson, how come you never dove into the Ink Bold pool of things?

Just haven't gotten around to it. I applied for the Amex Gold Biz when the 75k offer was out on 2/29. Approved, no problem. When I applied last month for the Citi Biz, they wanted all this documentation, which was a hassle. I've been meaning to do some of it already (e.g., separate business bank account) so I'm getting that straight first. Then I should have all the paperwork to get biz cc's set up without any hassle.

So my next wave will probably be SPG Amex, Chase Ink Bold, and a BoA card (AS?).