Whatever you decide, be sure to get the best up front bonuses available. They are listed in the Credit Card section of my website below.

There is no reason to restrict yourself to one airline program. Having enough miles in several programs to go to wherever you want to go gives you a much higher probability of actually getting a ticket. Both United and American Airlines have particularly good bonus offers now, enought to get your or almost get you to Europe or Asia, if you get all of the different cards available for each airline, particularly the business cards. (You do have a business.) For American, for example, get the personal and business Mastercards, the American Express card, and possibly the Visa card. Continental has a $50 credit deal that get you very cheap up front miles.

For some airline and hotel programs, getting a standard American Express card that offers bonus Membership Rewards points is a good idea. They are usually available with no annual fee for a year. Membership Rewards points convert to miles on several airlines at a ration of 1,000:1,000. The list of airlines and hotels to which the points convert is now on my What's New page.

Airline miles are far superior to bank "miles" like thank you points, as the miles can be combined with miles earned from other mega-bonuses, like those from brokers and banks. (See my Finance page.)