1) Check out the MBNA Starwood. I think it's the best for me, spending about 30k/year on the card.

You get 1 point for every 2 dollars, plus you get 5000 points for every $10k up to $30k.

So if you spend exactly $10/20/30k in a year, you'll get 10/20/30k points. If I come up short and spend $29 000, I would get 24500 points, still pretty good. The Starwood points transfer into FF points 20k to 25k, so there's a 1.25 transfer if you do want FF points in the end.

But an even better deal is nights and flights. For 60k points, you get 5 nights in a Starwood class 3 property AND 50k in FF points. For 70k points, you get 5 nights in a class 4 property and 50k in FF points.

The best part is that it has NO ANNUAL FEE. But it still comes with a bunch of insurance.

2) Yes, both cards can put rewards into the same Aeroplan account.