Given your location is ORD I second AA.

On the other hand you might consider a few other things. 1) Are there any particular destinations that are easily serviced by a particular carrier that you would want to make an award trip to? I would also take a look at farecompare.com and look to see what carrier offers the lowest fares out of ORD. 3) Certain airlines will give you 10,000 EQM's for spending 25k per year (earn 20,0000 EQM's for spending 50k) on their credit card. I know US Airways and Delta do it but I am not sure about the others. If you're a big spender it would make it easier to gain a higher status. (i.e. spend 50k per year with a Delta Amex and you're already to 20,000 EQM's.)