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If you can get it, the Platinum American Express card is a delight for frequent international travelers. You get a free \"companion\" ticket whenever you buy a full fare business class ticket for an international flight...it's expensive to shell out the 2-5k for the business seat at full fare, but if there is 2 of you, you get business class at a price cheaper than any discount rate.
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American Express Membership Rewards has a pretty slick thing we happened to use just today. If you go to the Membership Rewards site, login, and go to the Travel area, you'll see on the right a link to \"Book Your Flight With Points.\" Essentially, you book whatever flight you want through American Express Travel and your Reward points are worth 10 cents on the dollar towards your trip.
So, for example, the flights we booked from DTW to AUS would have cost $319 each through American Airlines directly or through Expedia. They cost $319 each through American Express Travel, too, but we could apply points to the trip. So it cost us about 64,000 points for two round-trip tickets on a flight of our choosing (and with really good departure and arrival times - no red-eyes!). Plus, if you don't have enough miles, you can just apply what you have got and pay cash for the rest. It's pretty slick.
I checked the flights through Northwest's frequent flyer program, which I belong to. It would have cost 95,000 miles and we would have had to leave at an ungodly hour in the morning, both ways. This seems much, much better by comparison.
So we're essentially getting 1% cash back on the purchases we put on Amex when we spend them on travel through Amex's travel agency. Better than a sharp stick in the eye!
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But what isn't mentioned here is the fact that with any of the standard rewards cards (the ones actually affiliated with the airlines themselves) also have blackout dates or other limitations that make the travel almost impossible.
I went with the CapitalOne card, fully realizing that I might get \"gouged\" for a \"free\" trip at some point... but also knowing that I'm not going to be blocked, once I have the requisite number of miles, because of some arbitrary blackout dates or already-sold frequent-flier miles tickets.
I've been using AMX Rewards Plus, and AMX Starwood preferred Guest card to travel for many years. I travel once, or twice a year and I realized that the majority of expenses go to lodging. The best deal I found with the Starwood membership program is no blackout dates and I walkout paying zero dollars (no taxes or fees). Several years ago, I used points/miles to go on a honeymoon which I saved for seven years. I saved about $3000. Two years ago, I stayed at two Sheraton hotels in Europe. The total savings came to around $1500. I'm a true believer of incentive programs as long as you understand the restrictions imposed on you.
Capital One's No Hassle miles program is actually one of the best options for rewards. Think about it - you can earn as many miles as you want, they're always cumulative (roll-over every year), they never expire, and you can redeem them whenever you want for whatever you want. If you're looking at travel-related, you purchase your vacation (for which you earn miles - and you can book it any way you want - you're not restricted) and when you get back you redeem as many miles as you'd like - for airflight, hotel, clothes, rental cars ... It's up to you - and then you get a credit to your statement. You can also redeem for cash, merchandise and gift cards. Sounds pretty easy to me.
One thing this doesn't mention (and I know this is primarily about credit card points, but it's related) is the other opportunities for earning miles besides credit cards and actual flights. The AAdvantage program, for example, has a dining program and an online shopping program, both of which can be pretty generous with the miles. Flowers for my girlfriend during Valentine's Day? 15-20 miles per dollar spent. Dinner at a pizza place near my town that participates in the dining program? 10 miles per dollar spent (which is especially great when I can put dinner for me and my friends and the card and have them give me cash). At that rate, the miles can add up pretty quickly, and the costs drop far below what's on the chart.