Originally Posted by
TWA A380
If you want economy/coach awards, it is more reliable to use a 1% cash back card and save your money.
Some people want miles because they want business class awards or upgrades. That is a value judgment. Use of miles for that is worthwhile if you think "see how much money I saved". Use of miles for this is not worthwhile if you think "this is not the most economical way of going from ORD to CDG".
Not sure 1% cash back is a good approach, especially considering the OP is a teacher and her husband a student (so I'm assuming not a high earner/spender household). Assuming $800 for coach tix (which is a good price for summer travel to EU), she'd be looking at over a $400,000 spend to earn the needed $4000 or so for tix over the next year.