Consider Continental
Welcome to FlyerTalk!
You should also consider Continental Airlines. You can transfer 1:1 through September of 2011. Continental merged with United, so your miles will all likely to become United miles. You can also open up a Chase Continental credit card and make more miles. Then when they all become United miles, open up another credit card with Chase for United Airlines. Just a suggestions, but there are a few people doing this long term planning + credit card churning.
Best,
PedroNY