1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
I'm new to travel hacking and I want to fly my family of four to Europe in summer 2016 in business-class for free (using miles/points).

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
<25,000 miles

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Economy

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Travel for pleasure. Alaska and Delta are key players in Seattle (but I dislike Delta for all the recent FF program changes). But I'm open to any carrier.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
US Domestic

6. What is your home airport?
SEA (Seattle)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
None

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
I'd rather fly a non-US carrier for the trip to Europe in 2016 because the non US carriers do 1st class so much better (I used to travel full-time for work - over 10 years ago now - so know the differences :-) )

Other information: I've already started hacking points by opening a Chase Sapphire card, as soon as we get close to the spend requirement to get the sign-up bonus we'll be on to next card(s) for additional bonuses.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the best program for us! I'm also interested in total out of pocked - for example I've read that British Airways has pretty big surcharges for an award ticket to Europe.