Forget the Natwest (have you got more airmiles than you can use?) and Shell (unless there's not Tesco petrol nearby) cards. Get the Amex upgraded if it's not PP (upgrade rather than get a new one to transfer your accrued spend towards the 241 voucher - find the old thread on this). Use the Tesco Visa anywhere they don't take Amex, or to delay the voucher (see sticky).

Shop at tesco at least once a quarter to use your bonus clubcard vouchers and to fleece instore offers (none at present, but e.g. champagne, Nokias).

Presumably you are already a Natwest current account customer but do you have a partner with a spare account who could get the 10k Primeline bonus (not worth the hassle of switching a main account). You'll need a household account to make this work (sticky again). Get him/her some life assurance too.

And set some aims - for me that's an Amex 241 trip in Club each year as a start. So I typical need 100k miles, and to spend £15k on the card. Read the "Amex & BA" thread to help you reach £15k, and it's a nice miles earner too. I'll use the TCC described therein to make sure I'm earning atleast 10k a month and voila.

One last point - plan far ahead if you can. If you need peak time flights, you need to book 8-12 months ahead. If you want a open choice of trip in '06, you need the miles in your account within '05.

My one-year experience for what it's worth: I earned 110k in '04, none from flying. Abount 25k from Amex, 100k from tesco (normal spend, recycled phones, life insurance) and 10k other. In December I booked to YVR for Aug05, availability is now gone.