Having just had to pay an additional $500 per ticket to upgrade to business class using miles, I'm looking for an alterntive to American Airlines on which to accumulate miles for future trips, most likely to Italy. Anyone have a suggestion of airlines they're happy with? We will be flying in the future from Northern California. Thanks.

USAirways FF has affiliations with Visa and a Mastercard. They are in heavy competition and have been passing out a good number of miles. If you are willing to put some time and effort into it, you can accumulate some serious miles in a relatively short period of time.