First time poster, but have been doing some reading and interested in beginning to use cc points for travel. Spouse and I are looking to travel to India this spring - would it be possible to pay for the trip via cc points given the relatively short timeframe? If so, two questions:

-- What are the best cards to get (the chase sapphire seems like a good choice)?
-- What airline program has the best redemption value for US to India?

The trip would be an expensive one for us, so just looking for the best way to fund with points -- no frills needed, coach class is fine to maximize redemption value. No miles anywhere currently and credit scores are good. So newbie here, but hopefully someone has suggestions on a good approach? Thanks for any help!