Capybara is deeply antiquated with credit cards, but favors a combined points & cashback strategy that helps him maximize his day to day spend. Given he lives in New York, he is quite flexible, since there are so many different airlines to choose from between JFK, LGA, and EWR.
Capybara's favorite card is the American Express Platinum Card.
Since Capybara is so flexible, he enjoys taking advantage of the various lounge benefits that the Platinum has. He can access Centurion lounges at JFK or LGA (and eventually EWR) and Delta SkyClubs (when flying Delta). Plus, he gets 5x points on his flight purchases. Just gotta be mindful of the $895 annual fee...
He used to like the American Express Gold Card, but it became a huge hassle that just wasn't worth the mental upkeep. He's since kept his wallet a bit slimmer, using a combination of cards that help cover a bunch of categorical bases.
The beauty of cashback is that it's pure, cold hard cash—no games, no fluff. However, points can have their upsides but I like to keep it balanced and not overindex on either currency.
