American Express Membership Rewards - Please help a newbie redeem Starwood points

Hi All:
I've searched and I'm continuing to search but this forum is a tad overwhelming for the new comer.

Anyway, my wife and I would like to fly from Phoenix to Hungary late summer / early fall and would like to redeem some Starwood points to get there.

We currently have 110,000 and if we redeem them at 20k a pop, Starwood will add another 5k per transaction. That would give us about 135,000 miles if we redeem at a 1:1 ratio.

I think I'm still a member of BA Executive club but I can't seem to get logged in. I still get their statement saying I have about 3k miles.

Is it possible to get to Europe from Phoenix with this many miles?
Is there a better and more advantagous way to redeem these points?

Thanks for help the newbie out, I'm off to continue searching.

Hi All:

Is it possible to get to Europe from Phoenix with this many miles?

Sure, the problem is that it will be two coach seats. Not premium cabin.
And I would be hesitant to transfer into a program that will not let you hold the CONFIRMED reservation pending the transfer. ( some do , some don't)
Is there a better and more advantagous way to redeem these points?

Do you have occasion to stay in hotels in Europe ?
(i.e. are you staying with family?)

If so I'd use for hotels with the weak US Dollar.
I think that finding two coach seats at 60,000 miles each during the peak summer period will be VERY tough. You may have to compromise on flight connection times, dates of travel etc.

A 'free' tix is not so free if you have to go a day later and return two days earlier than you want to.
Also, you'll have to pay hefty international taxes on free tixs.

It will just be my wife and I travelling and we don't have an aversion to coach. She has a friend that has a home in Hungary and he has offered his home to us for a base. We probably wouldn't spend more than a few "overnights" in hotels. Prague, etc.

We need to get from Phoenix to Buddapest and would like to use our points instead of cash. But if this isn't the best idea, we're open for suggestions.

We are somewhat open to dates, but would like to leave late August / early September for about 2 weeks.

there are tons of airline options with starwood, and it only requires 50K for between USA and Europe per ticket for economy class. so youll have 35K leftover.

if you wanted 2 business class, theyre usually 80K, so youre 25K short.

if you fly British Airways, then its only 1 stop in London

otherwise, any other airline you fly will have 2 stops :(

BA economy PHX-LHR-BUD
Alaska Airlines - 65K x 2 = 130K
British Airways - 60K x 2 = 120K
Cathay Pacific - 60K x 2 = 120K
Japan Airlines - 40K x 2 = 80K offpeak (best) / 60K x 2 = 120K peak (May 16-Oct 14)
LAN - 47.5K i THINK x 2 = 92K (best)
Qantas - 42K x 2 = 84K (best)

what you do is check with the airline, and then transfer the points if they have availability. so check with the 3 lower cost ones first, and if they don't have availability go with one of the higher/regular cost ones.

I know this is kind of nuts, but if it were me I'd transfer 50k SPG points -> 60k Cathay Pacific miles. (Do it once a day for two days. I haven't looked at transfer limits for CX but with many carriers it's 99k/day.)

60,000 CX miles buys a business class roundtrip on BA.

Now, that doesn't get you all the way PHX-BUD as the award is limited to 5000 miles each way. But it would get you from any BA station East of PHX to Lodnon. You'd still have to get yourself to the international gateway and from London to Budapest. But you'd have the transatlantic flight in business.

nice thought gleff ^^

options for 60K (using CX miles) BA business XXX-LHR-BUD >
-Baltimore
-Boston
-Chicago
-Detroit
-New York
-Newark
-Philadelphia
-Washington DC

whichever has cheapest PHX-XXX

or he can always go with the 40K economy tickets if necessary

There's also a BA nonstop from MCO (Orlando) to London and a lot of the MCO fares from other US airports are comparatively inexpensive. It's worth a look, IMHO. Good luck.

PHX,MCO,ATL etc are all over 5K miles

the 8 cities i mentioned are under 5000 for XXX-LHR-BUD, so only the domestic US PHX-XXX is needed, not LHR-BUD :)

Thanks for all the help everyone. Let me see if I understand some of these posts....with questions:

I could transfer my Starwood points to Cathay Pacific for miles. I could transfer 120k points which would allow be to purchase 2 business class tickets from XXX-LHR-BUD. Is this correct? 60k miles / bus class ticket?

I would then need to PURCHASE a ticket from PHX to XXX. Correct?

So the bottom line is that I could fly business class from xxx to Buddapest (via London) for the cost of a PHX - XXX ticket?

Even though BA flies from PHX, I take it that isn't an option?

Also, there isn't anyway to fly business from PHX - LHR, and I'll pay from LHR - BUD?

Thanks all for the great answers.

60K for a business class ticket on BA is a great deal. ^

you can do that with CX (Cathay Pacific)

but you have to fly from one of the 8 cities i listed for it to cost 60K, otherwise it costs 80K. (like PHX-LHR-BUD business class would be 80K)

so instead, gleff suggested that you buy the tickets from PHX-XXX (one of those 8 cities, for a fairly low amount) and then get the business class ticketd for XXX (one of the cities) - LHR - BUD

I think it would be a no brainer to go ahead and purchase a ticket from PHX - XXX and then fly Business Class the rest of the way.

I was looking at the Cathay Pacific site. I assume I would have to become a member of the Marco Polo club in order to transfer? It costs $50 to join so I want to check here before signing up.

Since I'll be travelling in the August/Sept time frame, how soon should I start this process? Anyone know what kind of $$$ I'm looking at in taxes?

Thanks again for all the help.

you need to sign up for Asiamiles, http://www.asiamiles.com NOT marco polo club, no need to pay that fee.

then call Asiamiles and ask if they have availability for a BA award for your dates. ASAP.

after checking availability, that's when you transfer from starwood to asiamiles and book the ticket, and then buy the ticket for PHX-XXX for whichever route is cheapest.

Bear in mind that transfers from SPG to AsiaMiles seem to be taking 9 to 14 days, though they can theoretically take longer.

This strategy is best, obviously, if there's either lots of availability on BA (which I've found to be pretty good ex-North America) or if you have plenty of flexibility on travel dates.

Don't buy the PHX-XXX segments until you've secured your award. Do know what those segments will cost, though, as it may help you decide which BA gateway city to use. Of course, availability may dry up out of one but still be available out of another, which is why I suggested to wait on the paid tickets until the award is handled.

As mentioned above, no need to sign up for Marco Polo club... just Asia Miles.

Also bear in mind that taxes on (especially premium class) awards to and through LHR are quite high, so be prepared for that. But worth it IMHO.

Bear in mind that transfers from SPG to AsiaMiles seem to be taking 9 to 14 days, though they can theoretically take longer.
I hope to have my ducks in a row by the middle of next month. Then I'll start the transfer process, which should give me enough time.

Don't buy the PHX-XXX segments until you've secured your award. Do know what those segments will cost, though, as it may help you decide which BA gateway city to use. Of course, availability may dry up out of one but still be available out of another, which is why I suggested to wait on the paid tickets until the award is handled.
I'll make sure I have my award before purchasing. I'll check fare prices though.

Also bear in mind that taxes on (especially premium class) awards to and through LHR are quite high, so be prepared for that. But worth it IMHO.
What are we talking here, a couple hundred per ticket?

Thanks for the help.

What are we talking here, a couple hundred per ticket?


Perhaps up to three hunded dollars. Depends.

Before you do anything check the taxes. Last month when I checked a ORD-LHR RT on VS using MR points, the taxes were over $600 :td:

I think the above is good advice. The only thing I'd add is that award availability on the PHX-LHR flight seems to be terrible, so that may not have been an option in any case.

Before you do anything check the taxes. Last month when I checked a ORD-LHR RT on VS using MR points, the taxes were over $600 :td:

Is that PER ticket? That's crazy. It might be cheaper to pay for a coach ticket the whole way. :confused:

im also curious how taxes/fees were $600 on a $4K ticket (15%)

thats like paying VAT on it :D

I've done some additional research.....

I was thinking of trading my points for some miles but I've read in several places that getting a business class seat via miles out of Phoenix is next to impossible.

Airfare from PHX - ORD is about $550 for both of us. I could then fly Business from Chicago - London - Budapest for 60k miles per ticket via Cathay. The only problem so far has been getting in touch with Asia Miles. Too many callers.

My game plan as of now is to continue trying to get in touch with Asia Miles to find out the availabilty of flights and the $$$ for taxes. I would then see if they can hold until transfer is complete. I would make 5 transfers of 20k points to end up with 125k Asia Miles.

Does this plan sound like the best bang for buck?

If I could get lucky and use miles for PHX - LHR, I would purchase a coach from LHR - BUD.

Thanks for the continued help.

EDIT: I was finally able to log into my Executive Club on BA. There are zero dates available in August and September for redeeming miles for flights. Chicago to London is almost wide open.

im also curious how taxes/fees were $600 on a $4K ticket

1. The UK Air Passenger Duty doubles on February 1, 2007. The new fee on Economy class tickets is £40.00 and on Business or First Class it is £80.00. This fee is based on the date of travel, not the date of purchase, although some carriers have absorbed the increase for tickets sold prior to December 12, 2006. The fee applies to passengers on all carriers, but it makes flying from UK airports more expensive than other European possibilities.

2. BA and VS add fuel surcharges on award tickets. This is certainly not a tax or goverment fee and it does make redeeming awards on those carriers more expensive than US based carriers, but I would much rather pay these charges than fly transatlantic business class on AA, CO, DL, US or UA.

EDIT: I was finally able to log into my Executive Club on BA. There are zero dates available in August and September for redeeming miles for flights. Chicago to London is almost wide open.

huh?

ok, if you do the asiamiles thing, you DONT have to get LHR-BUD. thats PART of the ticket. in business class.

XXX-LHR-BUD all on one award ticket in business class on BA

so all you do is buy PHX-XXX with cash


mia, youre saying the fuel surcharge could be $440 on a $4000 ticket? that's 11% ($600-$160)

huh?

ok, if you do the asiamiles thing, you DONT have to get LHR-BUD. thats PART of the ticket. in business class.

XXX-LHR-BUD all on one award ticket in business class on BA

so all you do is buy PHX-XXX with cash

I guess I didn't write that very well. What I meant was, there are zero dates available to redeem miles for a ticket from PHX - LHR. This would have been my ideal choice. When I wrote that Chicago - London is wide open, I was referring to the ORD - LHR leg. I will book a single ticket from ORD - BUD for 60k miles using Asia Miles.

Still can't get through to them though.

youre just waiting on hold? seems odd to be THAT bad..

youre just waiting on hold? seems odd to be THAT bad..
I'm on hold this very minute. Been about 5 minutes. Yesterday, I waited 15 minutes before I had to hang up.

Living in PHX...you might look at a Southwest flight from PHX to XXX. Lots of SWA markets on that list of 8 cities where you connect to BA. You might be able to snag a really cheap ticket.

<< I would make 5 transfers of 20k points to end up with 125k Asia Miles>>

Not necessary. Two transfers: 60,000 = 75,000 + 40,000 = 50,000 for 125,000 total. You merely need to transfer in a multiple of 20,000 points to obtain the 5,000 mile bonus, and you cannot transfer more than 99,999 in one day which means you cannot transfer 80,000 points which would yield 100,000 miles.

<< I would make 5 transfers of 20k points to end up with 125k Asia Miles>>

Not necessary. Two transfers: 60,000 = 75,000 + 40,000 = 50,000 for 125,000 total. You merely need to transfer in a multiple of 20,000 points to obtain the 5,000 mile bonus, and you cannot transfer more than 99,999 in one day which means you cannot transfer 80,000 points which would yield 100,000 miles.

So what you are saying is that I get a 5k bonus for every 20k I transfer? I thought you were limited to 5k bonus per transfer, which is why I was going to make multiple transfers. BTW, does AsiaMiles charge for this transfer? It mentions charging for transferring on their web site but it doesn't say if it is for transferring "from" or "to".

Have been on hold for 31 minutes with AsiaMiles. The recording is getting real old.

So what you are saying is that I get a 5k bonus for every 20k I transfer? ... does AsiaMiles charge for this transfer? It mentions charging for transferring on their web site but it doesn't say if it is for transferring "from" or "to".

Correct, every 20,000 Starpoints becomes 25,000 Asia Miles. There is no fee for the transfer because SPG is buying the miles, this is different than when you transfer miles between participants.

It is possible to request an award online, rather than holding on the telephone. The tradeoff is to allow seven days for a response.

1. Login to your Asia Miles account.

2. Click Redeem Miles

3. In middle of page look for link to "Airline Award Request Form"

What I meant was, there are zero dates available to redeem miles for a ticket from PHX - LHR. This would have been my ideal choice. You couldn't have done PHX-LHR in any case, as that exceeds the 5000 miles permitted on a 60k AsiaMiles business class award.

It is possible to request an award online, rather than holding on the telephone. The tradeoff is to allow seven days for a response.

1. Login to your Asia Miles account.
2. Click Redeem Miles
3. In middle of page look for link to "Airline Award Request Form"

I've been to that site but haven't done what you suggested because the form has to include a credit card. I don't want to do this yet for a few reasons:

- I want to know what is available.
- I want to know what the taxes will be.
- I haven't transfered my points yet.

maybe call BA to ask about taxes/fees?

Last summer I transferred 180,000 miles to AsiaMiles (145,000 Starpoints) for 2 first class tickets from Newark to Paris on BA. Could not have been easier.

This summer we used 80,000 Starpoints to get two Bus Class JFK - vancouver on Asia Miles with Cathay Pacific. This time the transfer took 6 weeks! And as the OP stated, something horrible must have happened in Hong Kong as it it nearly impossible to get through. Either you get a message that says there are too many callers and you need to call back, or you are on hold for 20+ minutes.

That said, stick with it as it is still the best program. I only hope these problems are not a sign that it's going downhill. I heard a rumor that there was an earthquake that destroyed communications. We'll see.

The OP has to decide if he wants Bus Class or Coach. If he's not averse to Coach, then save the points. All of the advice has been great but only he can decide what's important.

Thanks for the info. I'll continue to try and get thru to AsiaMiles and in the meantime, I'll call BA and see what they say.

My wife and I have been to Europe 3 times and each time we flew coach and as you can imagine, it isn't much fun. We've saved these points and would really like to fly Business Class. Neither one of us has ever flown anything but coach and think it would be a nice change.

I don't see paying for it, but with points I think it might be worth it.

Please Delete (I am guilty of a Mileage Marker miscalculation due to early morning sleepiness. Kagehitokiri's original calculation below is correct.)


PHX,MCO,ATL etc are all over 5K miles

the 8 cities i mentioned are under 5000 for XXX-LHR-BUD, so only the domestic US PHX-XXX is needed, not LHR-BUD :)

Well I still can't get thru to AsiaMiles. Right now they won't even put me on hold they're so busy.

I called BA and asked them about taxes and they said they could NOT give them to me until I booked. They did say that I could attempt to book the ticket online and when they ask for a credit card, cancel out of the operation. That way I'll know what the taxes are.

I tried that..... but since I don't have the required miles, I didn't get that far. Their software caught this and wouldn't let me go any farhter.

So if anyone is real bored and has enough miles to fly business class from Chicago to Budapest, maybe you could plug in the numbers and let me know what the taxes would be.

I know what you're thinking... this MarkY guy is a real PITA.

what dates? i enjoy doing these kinds of things :p

what dates? i enjoy doing these kinds of things :p

Thank you kindly. We plan on leaving Chicago on August 28th, returning from Budapest September 11th.

$280 per person for taxes, fees, charges and surcharges

$280 per person for taxes, fees, charges and surcharges

Thanks a bunch. So for $560 I can get two rt business class tickets from Chicago to Budapest. That's not too bad a deal. I'm real tempted to go ahead and tranfer my points. I read on the Cathay forum that someone called them and AsiaMiles "held" the reservation for them until the transfer took place. This was last year though.

I'm going to try and get through to them one more day. Then I'll probably just transfer and book. When you checked this out, you found that these flights were available on the BA website? I'm trying to verify that I did that part correctly.

Thanks again.

i cannot check BA Executive Club availability. that availability would not be the same as Asiamiles though.

i did see plenty of availability and a number of flight options when i did a new reservation search. the tickets were about $4K.

This is the third day and I still can't get thru to AsiaMiles. Would it be a smart gamble to transfer my points and then attempt to book using their web site?

This trip isn't until August but I like to have my ducks in a row.

smart gamble to transfer my points and then attempt to book using their web site? This trip isn't until August .

I wouldn't. It may be that Asia Miles is temporarily busy rearranging trips for people whose flights were cancelled then reinstated after British Airways settled the cabin crew labor dispute without the planned series of strikes.

Have you tried submitting the award "request" form on the website, or does this check to verify that you have sufficient miles in your account?

I wouldn't. It may be that Asia Miles is temporarily busy rearranging trips for people whose flights were cancelled then reinstated after British Airways settled the cabin crew labor dispute without the planned series of strikes.

Have you tried submitting the award "request" form on the website, or does this check to verify that you have sufficient miles in your account?

I've looked at that form. It requests a credit card in order to submit. I'm hesitant to do that because I don't know what they'll do since I don't have any miles. Would they CHARGE me for the ticket?

I think not...

"Our Members Service Agent will contact you in seven days to finalise your redemption request."

"Your credit or charge card information is required for taxes, fees or other charges."

I went ahead and filled out the request form. We'll see what happens, they should contact me within 7 days.

Here is what came up at BA.com executive club for those dates on those dates in Club world.

Your travel information
Chicago to London London to Budapest
Outbound details
Flight 1: O'Hare (Chicago) to Budapest
Flight number: BA294
Cabin: Club
Departure: Tue 28 August 2007, 16:40
Arrival: Wed 29 August 2007, 06:20
Flight number: BA866
Cabin: Club
Departure: Wed 29 August 2007, 07:50
Arrival: Wed 29 August 2007, 11:15


Inbound details
Flight 2: Budapest to O'Hare (Chicago)
Flight number: BA867
Cabin: Club
Departure: Tue 11 September 2007, 12:35
Arrival: Tue 11 September 2007, 14:15
Flight number: BA299
Cabin: Club
Departure: Tue 11 September 2007, 16:10
Arrival: Tue 11 September 2007, 18:35

Mileage and fare quote details
Passengers BA Miles Tax*
Adult 120000 $ 244.66
Total 120000 $ 244.66
* Includes applicable taxes, fees & charges. In addition, the price of your ticket includes a security, insurance & fuel surcharge per flight levied by the carrier

BTW Budapest is just a great city. I hope to be there in June. The Hilton westend has pointstretcher rooms available for only 18k HH in june :cool:

I've been reading all this since Mom and I want to go to Rome in March from Florida. We have mucho miles in both Skyteam and *A hopefully in business. If I get it routed not through LHR then are the taxes alot less? I saw the 80L
fee mentioned and I hate to pay more than I should when I could get a cheaper routing. Other option is a cruise from FLL to Rome then 1 way it back to FL.

JudyJFLA

AF business isn't bad, and its better than *A business

if you have AF miles you could do F as well

re ORD-BUD

there are 3 flights to choose from out of ORD
1640
1740
2020

2 flights to choose from out of BUD
0825
1235

make sure you get a BA flight for LHR-BUD and not a partner/codeshare

This has become quite an active thread. Kind of nice.

I've completed the form on the AsiaMiles website and submitted it. Supposedly, they'll get back to me to finalize within 7 days. The only change I made was to fly from ORD to Prague.

My wife has a friend that is letting us use an apartment of his for a week in Budapest. He'll be in Budapest in his own home on September 1st. So my wife and I will spend the first week visiting Prague and Vienna. Then we'll spend the second week in Hungary.

BTW Budapest is just a great city. I hope to be there in June. The Hilton westend has pointstretcher rooms available for only 18k HH in june :cool:

Thanks for all the great information. Our Budapest lodging is taken care of, have any tips on Prague and Vienna lodging? Also, do you recommend renting a car in Budapest?

If I get it routed not through LHR then are the taxes alot less? I saw the 80L fee mentioned and I hate to pay more than I should when I could get a cheaper routing.

Email from Virgin Atlantic says...

From 1 February this year, the UK Government has increased Air Passenger Duty (APD) from £20 to £40 per passenger for Economy passengers, and £40 to £80 per passenger for Upper Class and Premium Economy passengers. The tax applies to passengers on a flight from any UK airport.

The following passengers are exempt from paying the additional tax: Infants (under the age of 2), those passengers in transit who are connecting to an onward flight within 24 hours of landing in the UK...

There is some ambiguity in this wording, suggesting that connecting passengers may be exempt only from paying the "additional" tax, rather than completely exempted. I will look elsewhere when time permits.

Vienna
-Bristol (Starwood, Virtuoso, FHR)
-Imperial (Starwood, Virtuoso, FHR)
-Sacher (Virtuoso, FHR)

Prague
-FS (Virtuoso)
-Le Palais (Virtuoso)
-MO (FHR)

Kagehitokiri-

Okay, someone has to ask it.

Would you be willing to be my personal AMEX Centurion Concierge and travel agent?

Seriously, you are knowledgable and generous - an overwhelming asset to this board. Many thanks!

i dont work for amex.. you can always PM me if you dont want to post.

i think the people who know more are better assets, but i do try to help out. its the only way to learn more :D

also, the concierge is provided by circles, not amex.

Forgive me for being so cryptic - I assumed you'd know I was only kidding!

My clumsy way of stating how kind it was of you to do so much legwork to help the original poster. Thanks from all of us!

Well, I finally got through to Asia Miles this morning. The customer service rep I spoke with was one of the most helpful and kind service reps you would ever want to encounter. I wish all were like her.

Anyway, I was able to tentatively book a flight from ORD - LHR - PRG and a return flight from BUD - LHR - ORD, all on business class. Each ticket is 60k miles and she said she would HOLD the reservation until March 7th so I would have time to transfer my points from Starwood to Asia Miles.

I told her that I didn't want to start the transfer until I was sure the flights were available. She completely understood and gave me a confirmation number that she'll hold until March 7th. She said that should give me plenty of time to complete the transfer.

Thanks to all on this forum for the help. I'll keep you posted on the progress. I imagine the points will take a week or more for the transfer to go through.

EDIT: I will make the transfer in 2 parts. One for 60k points which will give me 75k Asia Miles. The other for 40k points which will give me 50k AsiaMiles for a total of 125k Asia Miles.

Does this sound like the correct approach?

Your approach is correct. As I stated earlier, my latest transfer took over 6 weeks. The good news is that if you call them in 5 weeks (and hopefully it will be easier to get through then) they will be happy to extend the hold period to however long it takes for the points to be posted. You're right - they're the best and as easy to deal with as possible. Congratulations!

you can always try calling both spg and asiamiles to try and speed up the transfer if it doesnt happen quickly.

Couple things to bear in mind...

1. Allow ample time for connections in Chicago. The domestic and international flights will be ticketed separately, and BA will (typically) accept no responsibility if you misconnect due to delay or cancellation of your inbound flight.

2. Intra-european business class seating is nothing like transatlantic business class, nor even USA domestic first class on most carriers. You may want to search in the British Airways section of Flyertalk for descriptions if you are not familiar with it.

Just thought I would post an update.

My Starwood points have transferred to Asia Miles. It took about 2 weeks. I'll give them a call and let them know since they are holding my reservation. As soon as this is confirmed, I'll keep my eye on a cheap flight from Phoenix to Chicago.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

2 weeks, thats unfortunate it took so long.

hope it goes smoothly from here!

Couple things to bear in mind...

1. Allow ample time for connections in Chicago. The domestic and international flights will be ticketed separately, and BA will (typically) accept no responsibility if you misconnect due to delay or cancellation of your inbound flight.

Amen to that, and on the return you need to allow even more time to clear customs and immigrtation in ORD. Whatever cheap domestic RT you buy will likely be non-refundable, and if you miss the ORD-PHX leg you will be buying a one way same day walkup fare - which is something you don't ever want to do.

sorry, probably a stupid question.. but why redeem through CX for BA, isnt it 60k eitherway?

British Airways Executive Club redemption requires 100,000 miles for a business class roundtrip USA/UK, versus 60,000 Asia Miles on trips up to 5,000 miles. This is due to BA using a zone system (e.g. North America/Europe) while Asia Miles uses a distance system.

well then... I guess that explains it! :) great advice! Does that occur often? better to redeem miles from a different program?

does this also work better using miles to upgrade a ticket on BA? thanks

always compare the different programs when you can choose to redeem from several..