I am sorry, my understanding was that this discussion was about the OP and their needs. You chimed in with "I prefer Citi AA to AMEX SPG " its better, blah blah blah, vist amexsux.com blah blah blah. Earning miles on one carrier is better than having choices, blah blah blah.

Thats great that you and the Mrs are going to Europe. But SPG would make it easier to do that than the Citi AA would. There is no discussion for someone who doesnt travel a lot. Unless that "axe", that youre desperately trying to hide out in the woodshed, comes out again.

Ken in Phx

I'm in agreement with previous posters particularly vis a vis the fact that the site you reference deals mostly with the (admittedly) very problematic advisor branch of that biz (now called Ameriprise), which has almost nothing to do with the card operation. And you can't really read too much into any lawsuits for which Milberg Weiss is the lead firm. (See old Fortune articles about William Lerach at Milberg Weiss if you have access.)

More importantly - I've had multiple cards over the past 20 years, including Amex, Citi and many others. Putting aside the issue of card-level features (mileage flex, etc.) I can easily say, without reservation, that I've had better luck with being treated like a client by Amex than I have by Citi or any of the others.

That's NOT an unqualified endorsement. I distrust Amex based on their relationship with the brokerage/asset manager alone. And I'm quite certain there are folks who've had bad client experiences with Amex. I've had so many intereactions with them, and with other card providers, though, that it's an easy call. Nine times out of ten, I'm going to get treated better by Amex.

Au contraire. Customer service becomes paramount for someone who doesn't travel a lot. Amex CSRs are terrible, Amex treats customers like dirt. Citi is the opposite. I am sure it is important to OP that she be treated well by whatever issuer she chooses. Amex does not meet that criteria, as evidenced by hundreds of postings in the credit card section of amexsux.

As for ease of use, with the exception of a few FTers, AA has a well deserved reputation for providing awards seats on AA metal or its partners. OTOH, SPG has - as indicated above- done a stealth raise of award levels without any prior notice - not very customer friendly and certainly not too good for people who are saving up points for hotel rewards. The transfer program is nice, but who knows how long that will last? Just ask all those Amtrak folks who planned to transfer points to UA. And we all know how SPG treats low level elites (the OP would not even be an elite).

As I said, I think that there is room for different opinions on the "best card" subject, as evidenced by the numerous threads. It is always amusing when someone tries to quash dissent with a non-sequiter, i.e. "axe to grind" usually an indication of the weakness of his position.

All I can say is, your Amex and Citi CSRs must be from Bizarro World.

There might be room to discuss which card is better, but Citi AA vs Amex SPG is not an arguement or even a discussion. But good luck with your AA miles.

Ken in Phx

With AA card, it's possible to redeem for less miles for your award ticket, saving between 5K to 7.5K miles. Each quarter, AA releases the destination lists with discount/less miles required to redeem ticket. Japan is sometimes in the destination list.