American Express Membership Rewards - Can I transfer Starwood points to mom's AA acct.?

I know it's late to check this and I'm a moron for just assuming it would work, but I can't find anything definitive on amex or startwood site right now.

I want to gift 40,000 (+10k bonus) starwood points for AA to my parents for Christmas, but I'm not sure whether I can just transfer straight to their AA acct or if I will have to add one of them onto my Amex acct as an auth user in order for it to go through smoothly.
Any insight would be appreciated.

I want to gift 40,000 (+10k bonus) starwood points for AA to my parents for Christmas, but I'm not sure whether I can just transfer straight to their AA acct
You can't, but there are plenty of ways around this problem. For starters, have Mom move in with you and have her open a *Wood account.

I thought about either doing that or going ahead and transferring the miles to AA in my account and buying the tickets for them when they're ready to book.

Any input on the easiest or cheapest route of the two?

I thought about either doing that or going ahead and transferring the miles to AA in my account and buying the tickets for them when they're ready to book.

Any input on the easiest or cheapest route of the two?

The easiest is probably the second option. And I'd think both are free.

Happy Holidays...

fuzz

...going ahead and transferring the miles to AA in my account and buying the tickets for them when they're ready to book.


I would wait until they know where they want to go, then choose the airline most likely to give them an award ticket (consider partner airlines), then transfer the Starpoints into an account with that airline.