If you asked me this question two months ago my answer would have been "none of the above". The high annual fees of all of these cards scared me off and I had no interest. Thanks to the MF community I started to realize I could really benefit from the perks of these cards so much so that the perks are worth much more than the annual fee.... at least for me since I do travel several times a year (all leisure/personal not for business).
I ended up applying for the AMEX Platinum in July 2016. I've already received my $200 travel credit by purchasing a $200 Southwest gift card, applied for Global Entry and received the $100 credit, received a vehicle upgrade at National Rental Car thanks to the Emerald Club membership which saved me $60. I also have an international trip planned for later on this year and will fly out of LGA so I'm looking forward to accessing the Centurion lounge. I will have one traveling companion so this perk is valued at $100. Then in January 2017 I will qualify again for the $200 travel credit.... so for right now... this card makes sense. I will re-evaluate the need for this card before my annual fee comes due again.
I applied for the Ritz Carlton before the annual fee went up to $450. I signed up for this card primarily for the trip protection. I've been lucky in all of my years of travelling and have never run into any issues up until this year. My last two trips were disastrous and I ended up spending a lot of $$ making alternate travel arrangements. Having this card would have saved me a lot of money. The $300 annual travel credit and the $100 discount on round trip airfare that can be used multiple times made this card VERY attractive.
