Hi,

I'd start by checking the various programs for the amount of travel you have to do to start getting meaningful benefits. You mention travelling the globe but that means different things to different people. Most programs won't start giving you free flights till you have 25,000 miles (or 50,000 miles if you want to book the reward travel more easily), and won't give you free upgrades till 25,000 miles either... more like 50,000 miles if you want to get upgraded regularly. The upgrade mileage is compounded annually, so unless you're flying 25,000 miles and up each year, most programs won't give much of a benefit in this department. If you're not acumulating a lot of miles, frequent flyer programs might not offer you much benefit; you may want to continue picking flights based on price, which keeps money in your pockets.

Credit card miles rarely if ever count towards elite status (which is what you need to earn to get free upgrades) so read the fine print before opening a credit card account.


Good luck and enjoy the site--- there is a ton of great information here!