Good point made by Cory on the referrral bonus. Just be careful, though. If you refer your wife for a Starwood AMEX, for example, you get 5,000 points. If she does it on her own, she gets 15,000 points. And I agree that you should each have individual accounts, not joint.

Many people on FT are big fans of Starwood AMEX due to the ability to transfer to essentially program with a 25% bonus and the ability to transfer points among family members at the same address.

You may want to take a look at American's program. I've been with it for over 25 years and, planning far enough ahead, have gotten pretty much all the award travel we want, including the partners. We just snagged two free first class tickets on Alaska from Logan to Portland for October using our AA miles.

Here's a link to a free primer I put together at the request of friends who know of my FF obsession. You may find some advice helpful.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17745143/F...Flier-Tipsheet

Good luck!