You may also want to look at the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card which earns 2x miles on Airlines and Dining. You can use the points to buy airfare directly (on any airline) or transfer them to the UA or BA (for AA flights) frequent flyer program.

Welcome to FT! Given the priorities you're stating, Cavill, I second the AA recommendation. It offers the best opportunities for upgrades and redeeming miles for award flights. In my experience, much better than UA's deteriorating frequent flyer program or DL's already lousy one.

Plus, as someone else posted, if your credit rating is ok you and your fiance could each get an AA credit card with 50K miles for some level of initial spending. In fact, many folks get two such cards each, one Visa and one American Express. That's a total of 100K miles for each of you. Together with the miles you'd accumulate through your flying, that could be enough to fly you both overseas business class for your honeymoon.

I recommend AA as well. Check into a status challenge at the AA section. I've cleared upgrades as a mid-tier on that route at 'bout 80% rate.

Thanks everyone! This is very helpful! I'll take a look at the recommendations but the AA credit card sounds like it might save us a lot of money and the AA challenge seems like it might get us to a status faster since it's such a short hurts of traveling.

To clarify a few things:

1. We will each be making about 6-7 trips personally. Thus, if there are any programs that let you combine that would be better. We can make all major purchases on a single credit card.

2. This year, outside of these trips, we will probably each fly 2-3 different places (e.g, Colorado, Florida, England).

It does not cost anything to join a frequent flyer program, and you assume no obligations by doing so. I suggest that both of you join the programs offered by American, Delta and United at this time. It will, however, be to your advantage to concentrate your travel on a single airline to the extent that this is possible.

The credit card is a different matter. If you wish to concentrate on AA, there is a credit card offer available with 30,000 or 40,000 bonus miles if certain conditions are fulfilled (see the separate thread for details and up-to-date information). I obtained such a crad last fall (no annual fee for the first year). I received 30,000 miles when I charged a total of $750 to the card, and will receive an additional 10,000 if I charge $5000 within the first six months. Purchase of AA tickets earn 2 miles per $, and I have a $100 credit if I buy a ticket on AA within a year of when the card was issued. You may not receive the same offer, but there should be something of this sort available to you.

From someone who has flown the same exact route as the OP for many many years, I would say that you should focus on multiple frequent flyer programs, namely AA and UA (if you can bear flying into EWR). Why? So that you have options in terms of pricing and flight availability.

For AA, like someone had suggested, those 767s have plenty of "couple" seats (2+3+2 seating is great) and service is not bad. Getting both Citibank AA credit cards (50K miles each, or has the offer been devalued a bit?) is what you really need to do to maximize your miles.

For UA, get their credit card for 50K miles (really can get 60K but that's not worth it) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred (50K points transferred to UA as 50K miles). That's 100K miles with very little work (easier than AA)

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British Airways' frequent-flyer program offers "Household" accounts, that allow pooling of miles earned by more than one member. BA miles are very good for nonstop award travel on AA within the Americas, and BA does not charge a close-in award booking fee that most U.S. programs charge their non-elite members. But BA is a poor program to use for redemptions between the U.S. and Europe because of the high fuel surcharges that BA assesses on TATL travel on any carrier. (The one exception is redemptions on EI between the U.S. and Ireland.)

All of that said, there's little need to pool your miles if you are going to be flying AA or UA primarily. Each of those programs offers one-way awards.