I don't know your situation, work/family life or travel habits, so take this as you will. I had been all geared up to rant against these cards, and even after thinking some more, I don't think they're for me. Normally, I see them as mostly geared towards the truly 'frequent flyer'. You know, the type that has TSA Precheck status and is in the air multiple days/week. Certainly, these folks really benefit from these cards, especially if the company you work for is paying for the flights and you get the rewards. My initial problem was this:
Miles for Miles:
20,000 miles for a (one way!) ticket in the continental US? The EARTH is only 24,900 miles (approx). You'd have to fly cross country (approx 2,680 miles wide) more than NINE times to get that reward. I guess that would only be 5 round trips, or maybe 4 if you're flying from Maine to south Cali, but still, that's way more than most people are flying in a typical year. If you have a spouse to bring along, double that. Even more for kids. Then they ding you with other charges like a $30-$35 booking fee, or a $75 fee if booking less than 21 days before departure.
However,
Money for Miles:
Spend a dollar get a mile. Or two, or maybe three? I don't know what their redemption policy is. Honestly, I'd rather get 1-2% back (depending on card) in cash that I can then spend on what I want, but if flying is your thing and you want to travel, especially long distances, then these kinds of cards may not be a bad choice. At the rate of $1=1 mile, you need to spend $20,000 on your card to get that flight. Or I can spend 20,000 on my card and get...$200, which depending on distance may or may not equal that flight. I can get a on way ticket from Boston (where I live) to pretty much anywhere on the east coast for around that much, depending on day and destination. But I certainly can't fly to California on $200. (Be aware, based on a very light analysis of the miles/destination chart and common flight costs, the balance gets better and better as you go further, so plan those Australia vacations when you've racked up around 130K miles per person!)
So I don't know, I guess it depends on what you're looking to do with your money and how often you vacation. That $95 could go towards your ticket instead.
[disclaimer: I did not spend much time on this, and my math may be wayyyyy off] [but I don't think so]
