Welcome to FT. Check the sticky at the top of this forum and you will find this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457077

If you buy a ticket, the $ spent gets miles. Your butt in the seat may get miles depending on the airline and the fare class - check with your airline.

Do you fly the same airline for all flights? Same alliance? Either way, all airlines have a card, so do hotel chains. Personally I like SPG. One point per $ charged. 20K points converts to 25K miles in the programs I use.

Good luck.