I am very new to the frequent flyer/ miles world and I am trying to understand how this works. I am excited about earning miles through credit card, but I have absolutely no knowledge of how this all works. I even considered paying for the "Travel Hacking Cartel" program by Chris Guillebeau, but as someone on flyertalk mentioned, all that information is available on FT for free so I decided to explore FT first. I have done my research over the last few days and since I could not find the answer to my question, I have decided to post.

I am considering to apply for my first travel rewards credit card - Pentagon Federal Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card! I do not plan to charge more than $1000 per month on this card, so I figured that this card would be the best since it does not have any annual fees.

From what I understand, there are ways to earn miles by buying special things at special times, or by doing surveys, or by charging your credit card on certain purchases. Will I be eligible for all those offers if I get the above mentioned Pen Fed Travel Amex Card?

I read the The "What Credit Card Should I Choose?" Master Thread but still I am not sure which credit card to choose. I don't really care about accumulating points for hotels, so my main goal in getting the credit card miles is to use them to fly. It would be nice if the card supports U.S. as well as international flights since I will be traveling both.

Also, I do not really want to apply for too many cards, so I just want to get one card and accumulate lot of points on that card. I think the points on the above mentioned Pen Fed Amex card expire after 5 years. Is there a way to keep them alive longer?