[sidrajaram]

A CSR returns 4.5% on travel/dining, if you only redeem on travel through the Chase portal, which is not a ripoff based on when I've checked and what I've read (you can get even better effective rates if you transfer miles to airlines strategically).

That means if you spend > $6000/yr on travel/dining (which includes uber/lyft/taxis and hotels/airbnbs besides the usual), you're going to come out ahead of the $150 fee ($450 fee - $300 travel credit) as compared to a no-fee 2% cash back card. The $300 travel credit won't count, so change that $6k to $6.3k. This is well within reason for a lot of white collar folks.

[larrysalibra]

The Amex Platinum Card for Schwab [1] returns 6.25% cash[2] for airfare from airlines & amextravel purchases. If you can get the 400 of value from the travel & Uber credits, you break even with $2400 of spending in the 5x point categories and quickly do better than a no fee 2% cash back card.

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CSR is great if you can redeem through their portal. I mostly travel in Asia and Europe where discount airlines don't seem to be in either chase or Amex's travel portals. The traditional carrier flights they offer are usually 2-3x more expensive than the AirAsias of the world.

1: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_produ...

2: 1 MR = 1.25 cents deposited in Schwab account

[ajdlinux]

Discount airlines typically don't appear in travel portals as one of the ways low-cost carriers try to be low cost is by minimising travel agent commissions.