Hi. I first posted this in another forum and it was suggested that I try another more appropriate. I hope this one is better.

My wife has a business conference in Portofino, Italy scheduled for Fall 2004 and I am planning to go, using FF miles for my son and me.

Flying from Chicago, which airline's FF program should I be patronizing for a pleasant journey and economic use of the miles?

I have a good chunk of the required AA miles now and maybe a quarter of the ones I would need on DL and a smattering of others.

Or should I just get an AMEX card? In that case, which one (Skymiles, Starwood, Membership Rewards)?

Thanks for any insight.