My wife is looking to get a credit card for the first time and I need help determining which card to go with. We obviously want to accrue miles for the same airline accounts, so that will be a major factor in our decision.

As of now, she has never had a credit card. She has been on her parent's account for AMEX. She's never had any sort of loan (auto nor home), so essentially she hasn't really begun to establish her credit.

As of now, I have the Alaska Visa, Continental MC and United Visa. I have over 350K Alaska miles, and over 50K in each United and Continental. She has over 40K Alaska miles and around 5K United miles.

For her first credit card I would like to maximize the sign-up bonus for her, while either depositing miles in an Alaska or United account.

I have thought about the 30K sign-up bonuses for either Continental or United. These are decent sign-up bonuses, but not the best.

I'm not sure if she would even qualify for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature, which is a 25K sign-up bonus.

The other thought is to capitalize on the new 50K sign-up bonus with Chase for their Sapphire card, transfer those miles to Continental and then six months down the road see if they can switch the card to the United Visa...

What are your thoughts? Anything is greatly appreciated. Thanks a ton!