I was in the same boat. I have been using Freedom and Discover for a very long time, only to get the cash back as statement credit. I have always paid out of pocket for family travel. Our FICO scores are also 800+. I read a lot of miles blogs. I knew I have to accumulate, primarily, AA miles. So, I and my spouse signed up for Citi Exec, Citi plat, and US Air MCs. We are doing BB, Serve, AP, TD. You need to know how many miles you need for award travel. Our goal is accumulate at least 135k and we will do it by the end of August. Once miles get posted, I plan to reserve the award ticket for our travel next year.