Currently the best way to acquire United miles is to grab as many Continental Airlines miles as possible before that airline merges with United in December. Then, after the merger, go for United offers. There are many mega miles and points credit card offers for Continental. See the 8/24/2011 and 9/3/2011 postings on my What's New page of my website below to find brief descriptions of each and links to my more complete descriptions with links to the offers. The combination of the Chase Ink Bold(SM) with Ultimate Rewards business card (25,000 points) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Credit Card (50,000 points) might be ideal for you. The Sapphire card is good for spending on specific broadly defined travel catetories (double points) - even bridge tolls. Points transfer 1,000:1,000 to Continental. It is unknown if Continental will be replace by United for points transfer after the merger, but it makes sense, as Chase has the credit cards from both airlines.