Alitalia MilleMiglia - Traveling to Venice

hi guys, i'm new to this site, and i'd like some help. my wife and i are planning on going to venice (and its vicinity) in march (from nyc). i currently have about 40000 AA miles, 52500 amex membership pts, and 34500 spg pts. i'd like to use them to make the trip most cost effective. so far i understand you get 5k extra points for 20k spg transfers. i tried alitalia website, but they don't seem to have flights available. i also looked at british airway for 2 one way trips to italy for 2 (rome) and it'd charge almost $700 fees plus 60000 miles (via london)!!! AA doesn't have direct flights to venice, so i feel i'm stuck. also i realized using spg points for their hotel seem not so great idea, since i could find either cheaper and/or better hotels at better prices elsewhere. any bright suggestions?

thanks!:):):)

look into whether you can use the AA or Amex points for hotel rooms. I know that with Delta points (a different creature, certainly, but it might be similar in this case) hotel room can be a very effective use of points.

Do you need just one-way or round-trip?

From my recent searches I did not find oneworld to be good for Italy flights.

Delta has only round-trips and sometimes the taxes it shows are on the higher end too (not as much as BA).

Continental has one way awards all of March from EWR -VCE (via MUC on lufthansa)for 30k + $32. So you could transfer your MR and SPG points to some star alliance member and redeem. I am not sure if you will have enough miles for round-trip for 2.

You can use your AA miles for car/hotel awards. I found that AA has a limited city/hotel selection when compared to delta, but slightly better point values for non-elite members. For elites the pricing might be different though. In either program the car/hotel bookings are non-refundable. So be aware of that.

Do you need just one-way or round-trip?

From my recent searches I did not find oneworld to be good for Italy flights.

Delta has only round-trips and sometimes the taxes it shows are on the higher end too (not as much as BA).

Continental has one way awards all of March from EWR -VCE (via MUC on lufthansa)for 30k + $32. So you could transfer your MR and SPG points to some star alliance member and redeem. I am not sure if you will have enough miles for round-trip for 2.

You can use your AA miles for car/hotel awards. I found that AA has a limited city/hotel selection when compared to delta, but slightly better point values for non-elite members. For elites the pricing might be different though. In either program the car/hotel bookings are non-refundable. So be aware of that.

Your best bet is *alliance... LH, BD, CO, OS and I think SK and Swiss and TAP all fly to venice... you shuold be able to sort an award ticket transfeering your hotel and other points......