I am wanting to take a trip to Europe over the New Years, with short flights between a few different countries. I am pretty new to the whole travel credit card scene, currently I only have the Capital One Venture card. I've already earned the sign up bonus miles, so now it seems the miles are only trickling in... it's time to get another one or two cards for more bonus miles, but which ones? I prefer United airlines, however my instincts are to book whichever airline is cheaper, I'm not someone who needs to be in first class. Which cards have the most flexibility with airlines or am I looking at this all wrong?? (If I can get my airfare AND hotels covered by miles, that would obviously be ideal!) Thanks! 
CSP
@stylenjen wrote:How does the rewards work with CSP? I find it a bit confusing. Can I only use them on United or their partner airlines? What if I want to use an airline not on their partner list?
I'm going to write a thread eventually about my experiences redeeming for an upcoming trip, but in a nutshell you can transfer your UR miles into United (for example or another chase partner airline). Then you can use those miles on United or another airlines on the star alliance. It gets a bit complicated and you have to look at the reward charts because they differ between what it would cost on a united flight and what they would cost on a partner airline and then you have to check for fuel surcharges etc. If you don't want to use a chase partner airline or an airline that belongs to that alliance then the CSP is probably not a card to get. That being said there is a bunch of airlines to choose from.
;If you do go for the CSP you should make it your first app as it is easier to get a chase co-branded card.