welcome to FT.

Now that you have been introduced to a bit of FT sarcasm, I guess you are ready to better realize this: All things involving travel need research in planning... Lesson learned.

Something tells me you may wish to join a few FF programs and maybe BUY these tickets outright, leveraging towards future awards you could use later in life. Example: if you are flying, say, Air NZ or Quantas or Air Tahiti... join the program that partners up with airlines you will fly most. If it were me, I might put all my Air NZ miles onto United, all my Quantas onto AA and all my Tahiti onto NWA. I dunno. Depends on what you are doing, etc. It is best to try to get them onto one or two and that way you earn more faster, but you may not have that choice. Again, we need to see where you are flying, etc.

Anyway, either way, you then save all your tickets, itineraries, boarding cards and receipts and ask to have your miles and points put into the appropriate program. If there is any delay or error, you submit copies of these things to the FF program and they will credit you. Later in life, you will have something in your accounts and THEN you can fly using those miles!

Maybe now this thread belongs in TRAVEL forum?
MM
good luck mate! Also be sure to check out the Starwood (SPG) AMEX and threads on that program.