100k AA miles sign up bonus!

David's last post described the thought process in choosing the right card(s) to get you that trip you've always wanted. It was thorough, detailed—and let's face it—didn't answer the question you asked in the first place: Which card should you get?

I'll cut to the chase I am telling you exactly which card to sign up for.

Redeeming Your Points (Part 2): Partner and Alliance Networks

In Part 1 of my Redeeming Your Points post, I talked about putting your points to use and how straightforward it can be to redeem them (some more so than others, of course). But here's an important thing to know when you want to redeem your miles: you're not limited strictly to that airline.

Let's say you have racked up an envious amount of Avios points (the reward points for British Airways) and you want to fly from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. It doesn't mean you HAVE to fly British Airways (BA). If you were to fly strictly BA, you would first have to fly east to London before continuing onto Hong Kong. Two precious days of your vacation time will be devoted completely to traveling—one way.

But luckily for all of us, most airlines aren't this guy:

Learn more about Partner and Alliance networks and how it's getting easier to use them after the jump.