Star Alliance - Using Amex points for a Star Alliance rewards

Hi,

A friend has some Amex Membership Rewards points and wants to use them to travel New York - Singapore without paying too much in YQ surcharges. What should be her strategy?

As neither United and American is a transfer partner of Amex, she would need to transfer the points to a non-US airline transfer partner. But all non-US airlines have high surcharges ($400-$500) on redemption. So I was thinking of having her transfer to a non-US airline but redeem it for a United flight. The question is which airlines do not have surcharges on redemption for United flights.

I heard that SQ does not charge YQ on United flights, but the miles needed for an economy seat is quite high (110k). What about ANA? They only charge 65k for economy. Does anyone know if it charges YQ on United flights for the NY-SIN route?

Thank you.

NH doesn't charge YQ on UA flights

NH doesn't charge YQ on UA flights

That's great news. What about NH redemption on SQ or other partner airlines, just in case UA flights are not available? Is there YQ on those?

Thanks!

Per my knowledge, NH charges YQ on all except UA and US, but I could be wrong, so check first

I called up ANA today to ask and they said that there is a surcharge even on United booking but she couldn't tell me how much unless I first make a booking.

Having read their fuel surcharge policy on their website, it doesn't look like you can escape the fuel surcharge on any redemptions on ANA. This is disappointing. It really devalues MR points when we still have to pay $500-600 to get a redemption on a ticket that normally costs around $1300.

Also you can transfer to Aeroplan, though they have surcharges on -some- flights now.

I looked at some NH bookings today. For transatlantic flights, they were charging $400 for YQ on BOTH UA and US each way!