yukon50

I think first/biz is overrated.

Lots of people in the World travel in rough conditions. For example, 12 hours standing-room only via train.

Economy = more trips

FTR 787

Eric you forgot the zeros. 1.2 doesn't sound too appealing compared to 120

linglingfool

For me, I travel domestically, so Avios has made a lot more sense than CB. On a route like ORD-ABQ that I was traveling a lot this summer, R/T tickets ran $550, whereas I could fly for 15k UR points. To get those, I ran $3k on my Ink and spent $73.20 on GCs from Staples. Running the same on a 5x card would have netted ~$120.

member7777

For those of you who don't value First and Business seats over coach, I really think you should stop lying to yourself.
Having said that, I am on the other side now and find it very sexy, although I miss the planning and scheming to book that perfect redemption on Lufthansa.

atxtravel

If you "travel" like certain bloggers, who fly in first to a destination, sip champagne the spend a few days a 5-star hotel suite and don't really get to know the destination, then sure miles / points are best. If you want to do real travel and see the cool parts of the world, cash quickly wins over. I pretty much stopped getting hotel points (except with Club Carlson because its easy) and get my miles from signup bonuses but do MS for 5x cashback.

dublin487

Since we only have time to go on 1 or 2 trips per year, I've found that signup bonuses tend to provide more than enough miles and points, even to fly F/C and stay in nice accommodations.

Therefore, MSing is pretty much all for CB - also known as more ammo to chip away at a retirement account or house down payment. Knowing what my usual income and budget allow, and then seeing a few hundred or thousand extra each month = well worth the effort.

lad2

It's only worth the extra miles on long-hauls IMHO. For domestic, I can do WN all days.

Nomoneyinmybank

Why not accumulate both? I have enough miles now so focusing more on cash back. Once miles are low, then I do more miles again. I don't really need business/first but it would be a nice perk.

CMHFlyerOH

Good point, my friend. Miles are going to be of little value when planning a trip to rural Bhutan, a stay in a Tibetan monastery, or a ryokan visit near the snow monkey park in Japan. And if I'm being completely honest, I suppose any one of these things would pale in comparison to a first class seat on an airplane to get there. Okay, I'm starting to see how cash be get a little sexy. . .

CMHFlyerOH

I think that is a big part of the allure of miles--and a large reason why cash just isn't the same. Although, if you use cash to get you places where you know points and miles would be of little value (because there are no chain hotels or international airlines), there is a certain excitement at that.

Now to figure out what those places are. . .

uncommonsensical

if you're as old and tall as me, and have my circulation issues, economy is not an option for anything north of 4 hours (actually, anything over 3- but i refuse to waste miles on domestic premium). a couple trips to the hospital upon arrival will do that to ya.

as to the OP... i can relate. that's why the arrival card was good for me as a transition towards taking $ over points. the arrival $ is marked for paid flights to gain status to make all my miles more valuable.

i am points and miles rich, cash poor. FINALLY woke up and got the old blue cash for 5x to help balance things out. now, my MS is a combination of category based, opportunistic deals and mostly SPG for non category. even at its worst (ie $5 VGC's), i can get a ROI of 3x on SPG MS in Asia. with over 350m spg points, and staying in cat 1-3, i'm in good shape- though i'll blow thru them all over the next year. if only i could find a checkfreepay-like solution for paying Amex- then i'd push the envelope.

knopfler

350 million SPG points? Or are you using "m" in the Roman numeral syntax?

bmrisko

I typically only MS for points when it involves lucrative sign-up bonuses...usually to pad my accounts (ie, AA Exec, SW, etc) and then use those points for nice vacations every year or so. I have recently discovered that cash is king though, at least for my family's situation. I know people who make their monthly BMW payments strictly from MS money...a "free" BMW is pretty sexy, IMHO, if you're into that sort of thing...and yes, they could afford it without the MS, but if you can MS the cash to help out, then why not?

There is no single answer, as what one person values will differ from the next.

rangerc79

To me MS for cash back is always better than miles. Yes MS for miles is fun and traveling to places with your gf/wife is a big plus. But when you have a family with toddler travel become a hard things, yes you can earn Hotel points for family road trip. But most of us are working middle class trying to pay bills and mortgage, which CB makes it better.

unkinected

It's all about priorities. To me cash back is much sexier - hard to beat cold hard cash that I can do whatever I want with whenever I want.

Today, I use my cash back to fund my retirement and savings goals. I'm trying to max every avenue out I can and I just don't make enough after-tax (and after child support) money to do that, so MS supplements me there. It's also sexy to me to make extra payments toward my mortgage.

I also don't go on a lot of trips that require hotels/airfare. But, next year (fall-ish) I am planning a trip to Paris/London, and so I'm ramping up my spending on my Barclays now, and soon I will be figuring out which airline/hotel sign up bonuses/award programs I should be using. It's sexy to think about taking that trip for free.