American Express Membership Rewards - Help me spend 300,000 MR points

Hello. I have a little more than 300,000 MR points. Me and my wife would like to go to London sometime in the first half of 2008. We are in Detroit, and therefore we have NW and CO, and BA (until March 29th, 2008) for direct service. We would like to spend the points in the smartest way possible for the best air travel experience. If it makes an difference, we are Continental Gold, and Centurion holders. Any guidance greatly appreciated. Thanks

For CO/NW service just go over to CO.com and search for availability using their calendar to identify any dates that might have availability. The first half of 2008 is a pretty broad range of time, but you should be able to find some availability on NW for the flight. I found availability on the NW non-stops for 4/10 outbound and 4/18 return in WBC on the A330, which isn't too terrible at the standard redemption level of 100K/person. For BA you'll have to book through a partner, and I'm not sure that there are a lot of redemption partner option on OneWorld (I'm pretty sure that there aren't, but not 100% certain.

Also, you can save a lot of money in taxes/fees if you depart London on a short-haul flight to mainland Europe and then fly back. You should be able to do an open-jaw/layover award that would make this feasible, like DTW-LGW/LGW-AMS/CDG-DTW.

...the best air travel experience.

I would fly Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. Virgin is a Membership Rewards partner, but if you redeem directly with Virgin I believe you would need to make your own way to the gateway city. In your case this would be Chicago. (I am not certain of this because we live in Miami which is also a gateway.)

However, Continental also offers awards on Virgin Atlantic, and if you redeem through CO you may be able to include a connecting flight from Detroit as part of the award.

Either way, do not transfer points until you have an award reservation on hold. Membership Rewards points transfer instantly to CO or VS.

Information about Virgin Atlantic Upper Class here...

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/whatsonboard/upperclass/index.jsp


Information about Virgin Atlantic's lounge at Heathrow here...

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/whatsonboard/clubhouses/lhrclubhouse.jsp

Excellent response. That also leaves some mileage to book hotel

Yeah. I'm starting to wonder if there's *anything* mia doesn't know...;)

A word of caution...just remember that the CO program isn't often referred to as NONEPASS for nothing. Getting awards on CO at "standard" reward redemption levels can be very difficult. A quick search in the CO forum should turn up several threads on this topic. As mia has already stated...DO NOT transfer the points before you actually have an award reservation on hold!

Good advice from mia about Virgin Atlantic. OP - if you are a Centurion holder then you would also be a Virgin Gold member. If you haven't already signed up and activated your Virgin Gold FF account, you may want to do that quickly. I'm not sure if it's easier to find award travel as a Gold, but one would think it couldn't hurt.

Susan

However, Continental also offers awards on Virgin Atlantic, and if you redeem through CO you may be able to include a connecting flight from Detroit as part of the award.
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This is very, very good to know. Can anyone confirm that you can include a CO connection in conjunction with a Virgin Flight?

I may also throw out that since the OP is a Cent cardholder, then EOS (all business class airline) is available as a membership rewards First award, but you'd have to make it to the NY gateway, and EOS flies into Stansted. I can't recal (there is another thread on this elsewhere), but I think it would include limo service at Stansted to/from the city.

I think an EOS award is one of the most valuable ways to make optimal use of points. There are 3 awards: 80k for a free RT ticket, 50k+$500 for a RT ticket, and 50k companion ticket. Since an EOS RT unrestricted ticket goes for about 8k, if you elect the 50k points + $500 cash option, you'd be getting a good 0.15 cents per MR point.

Since an EOS RT unrestricted ticket goes for about 8k, if you elect the 50k points + $500 cash option, you'd be getting a good 15 cents per MR point.

Only if you would otherwise purchase, and benefit from holding, an "unrestricted" ticket.

This is very, very good to know. Can anyone confirm that you can include a CO connection in conjunction with a Virgin Flight?


Yes, you can.

Redeeming directly on VS is slightly fewer miles than via CO, but the CO redemption would include the connection to the gateway city. You could actually book a CO reward from DTW-JFK/EWR/IAD/ORD (once VS establishes the service) or any other VS gateway on NW metal, and then the connection on VS metal, never setting foot on CO metal. You can also choose to fly in Y instead of F on the domestic segment if you want as a displaced F passenger as part of the redemption process in case there is only Y available for the short hop. Look in the CO FAQ for "Plan B" for details about the displaced passenger thing. I'm pretty sure it can apply to domestic segments as well as International ones.

S.

Redeeming directly on VS is slightly fewer miles than via CO...

I think this is only true in the northeast. Virgin requires 90,000 miles to fly between BOS, NYC or WAS and LON, but from everywhere else, including Chicago, it is 100,000 miles. I assume Continental requires 100,000 miles, even though Upper Class is nominally "business" class?

I think this is only true in the northeast. Virgin requires 90,000 miles to fly between BOS, NYC or WAS and LON, but from everywhere else, including Chicago, it is 100,000 miles. I assume Continental requires 100,000 miles, even though Upper Class is nominally "business" class?

Correct on the CO mile level. I wasn't sure if ORD would be in the 100K bracket or the 90K option.

The OP might also check award availability on Delta. CO is very stingy with premium award seats; DL through JFK might offer more options. DL's business class isn't quite as good as CO's, but the difference isn't worth spending a lot more miles if one can avoid it.

Fantastic advice, everyone. THANKS so much for your help.:D