Hi Everyone! I just found this forum and I can see there is just so much information on here its hard to take in. I like to travel and I have just recently realized how many points and potential rewards I could have gotten if only I signed up sooner. I just have a couple of questions, and I really appreciate it if anyone could advise and answer, or at least direct to where I can read more information in order to learn!

Right now I'm signed up for Virgin Flyer and United's flyer program, I have 0 miles. I have traveled to places like johannesburg south africa, hong kong, london, and guam/hawaii, and japan. In the future I will probably be travelling to africa a lot, and within africa.

In the next couple of months I'm going to be traveling more in the US, so I'm trying to capitalize on earning miles that I can redeem with partners like South African airways. In terms of ease of earning points and redeeming for flights, what are some of the better flyer programs out there? With credit card programs, it looks like most are specific to the airline (I applied for a Virgin card but was declined). Are there credit cards you can sign up for that let you transfer the points you earn into miles with a number of different airlines to choose from?

When miles are earned say, with one airline, is it possible to transfer them to another airline flyer program? When redeeming miles for a flight, can you buy a flight for another person but using your miles? Also, If I purchase a roundtrip ticket that is say 6 months apart from departing and returning, do I only earn miles after the whole flight is over?

If anyone has any more tips for earning a lot of miles in a short time, it would be greatly appreciated. In the mean time I will keep looking over the forums. Thanks!