If I cancel my credit card, will the miles earned on that card stay in my frequent flyer account?--or do they cancel too??

They stay until they expire, are used, or you do something to extend their lives.

You should probably check your agreement with the card company. Many will reclaim the miles if you don't keep the card long enough, usually one year or six months. If you've had the card more than a year they probably won't take the miles back. The correct answer is in your agreement.
What the credit card companies don't like is "churning" where you get a credit card and keep it just long enough to earn the bonus/sign-up miles then cancel the card and get a new one.

Another option to cancelling the card is to downgrade to a no annual fee card. In this case, you usually get 1 mile for every TWO dollars spent instead of every ONE dollar. I have done this for AA, UA and Delta. This also helps to keep your miles active-- just spend a few dollars on the cards every few months.

krgystn - which card has no annual fees for UA miles? thanks!

I would be interested in knowing the name of just one card that reclaims miles. In my experience, they don't give the miles until the qualifications are met.

althom - I had a fee Chase UA card and called them and asked them to change it to a no-fee card. They changed it for me and now I only earn 1 mile for $2 and no fee for the card. It is somewhat interesting where I used to earn 6-8,000 miles from the card each month to a mere 25 miles or so per month now. Just enough to keep the card active and miles from expiring. (I have retired and don't travel anymore but still have some miles to use up.)

Ron, I did the same thing...

Gardyloo,

The nail was hit squarely on the head.

Good job, as always.

To answer some of the other comments, banks are now "pulling" some interesting tricks.

I have an Citibank AA Platinum card, and recently called Citibank to reduce the card to a Gold card. I wasn't flying as much as I have been (recession).

I was told that laws enacted in February do not allow a card company to reduce your credit, even though one requests it themselves.

I'm in the process of validating if such a statement is true. Sounds suspicious to me.

Given how fast things are changing, it folks would say when they make the change with their bank, would be most helpful to the rest of us.