Where's your home airport? It helps FTers to come up with good recommendations for airlines.
Originally Posted by
millervt
the united miles are obviously tied to my FF account, which I believe I could transfer miles at some hideously terrible rate to my wife's FF account, but I'm thinking that I can't use, say, the 50K miles there to get two tickets for the same flight, one in my name and one in my wife's?
Of course you can! If you have enough miles in your account, you can redeem as many tickets as you like either for yourself or in others' names, as long as there are available award seats.
Don't try the transfer route. It costs too much. Not worth it.
Originally Posted by
millervt
I recently signed up (in my name) for the 50K amex open small business card, and a 25K personal gold card, and the 50K united visa mileage card. In addition, I have the chase amazon card where I'm a month or two away from having 25K points which I could redeem for a free ticket.
You have a good start!
Kudos to your wife and you taking in 7 adoptive children. ^ I am not sure if your wife, being a (career) housewife (I assume), has enough credit history to get credit cards in her own name. If so, have her apply the same cards like you. If not, well, you will keep being the miles-earner in your household.
The best strategy is to concentrate all your miles-generating activities in as few frequent flyer programs (FFPs) as possible. And under the same name, of course. It may not be a bad idea for you to concentrate on UA (you got 50K bonus) and/or Alaska Airline (where the kids are). If your Amex cards are giving your AA bonus miles, both AA and Alaska are OneWorld Alliance partners that you can credit/redeem in the same alliance. The idea is to not spread your miles too thin across different FFPs.
Welcome to FT!