If you fly infrequently enough that what you want to do is accumulate miles but not attain elite status, take a look at the Alaska MVP program. Even if you never actually fly on Alaska, you can dump miles from American, Northwest, Continental, and a number of other travel partners into your Alaska account. (www.alaskaair.com) Alaska also has a check card through Bank of America that will earn you miles. I think American has one through CItiBank.