I recently got one at the 295/year forever discount. Immediately applied a 10% discount to our AT&T bill and booked a hotel room thus the card paid for itself and then some in about 10 minutes.

From my understanding some of the discounts swap out regularly. For instance the UPS and FedEx ones are gone.

So it kind of depends on what you do. If you travel once or twice a year it might be a good go. I'd try to get the 295 price if possible. At 295 I'd highly recommend it. At 495 you'd need to spend some time looking at their discounts and seeing if the economics work.