Originally Posted by
Maui Time
If you are only traveling 1,500 miles per year I probably wouldn't be chasing only miles cards. I would move toward points or cash back cards. In most cases you can get airline tickets with points cards.
I bet he will fly more than 1500 miles if he can book free award seats...start with coach so you dont get spoiled on free first class too fast. (you wont want to go back to the cheap awards) If the flight is over 8 hours you will want to see the difference.
also consider a hotel card or 2 in the mix to get free rooms, cash back cards arent what they used to be, some hotel bonuses are getting better...I got the 80k priority club offer, and 30k SPG for personal and business are great offers. It is overwhelming at first, but once you spend the time and read a bunch of the great info here, it gets more understandable.
Here are a couple more sites to add to the list.
http://www.milemaven.com/
http://www.smartertravel.com/frequent-flyer/
http://www.frequentflyerbonuses.com/
I would say this site (FT) is the most comprehensive, but the others are helpful in learning.