If you love to fly - and fly regularly - consider a credit card that helps pay the way.

Credit card companies have many promotional tie-ins with airlines in which every dollar you charge is converted into a frequent-flier mile.

One of the best credit card deals is a Chemical Bank Visa or MasterCard (the TWA Visa is equally good). The bank has an arrangement with United Airlines and you can get a round-trip ticket (with restrictions) to fly within the lower 48 states and Puerto Rico for only 20,000 miles. Each dollar charged on the card is a mile.

Twenty-thousand miles is the lowest in the industry; most airlines require 25,000 for the same trip. With a Chemical Bank card, you can also get frequent-flier miles for booking hotel rooms, tours, cruises, car rentals, meals and merchandise.

If you require a wide choice of airlines, you might consider an American Express card. You receive one mile of credit for each dollar charged for use on Austrian, Continental, Delta, Mexicana, Southwest, Swissair and USAir Bank One has a Travel Plus credit card that allows you to fly on any airline. It requires only 24,000 miles for a round-trip continental U.S. flight.

Diners Club has an interesting variation. For every dollar you charge with your card, you accumulate miles in your Diners' "bank." At any time, you can select an airline program and Diners will credit or transfer the number of miles you specify. In addition to the credit or transfer, the miles in the Diners' bank never expire. The only problem is the limited number of establishments that accept Diners cards in comparison to Visa and MasterCard.