American Express Membership Rewards - Best way to use MR for travel to Italy?

Hello,

I have not participated on this board in a few years. Raising children, working on my own business and supporting my wife in her's has limited my travel a great deal in the last few years.

However, my sister (husband, two kids) are living about 20 minutes outside of Rome until next March, and I would like advice on making the most of my MR points on planning a trip to visit them. My kids are 8 and 3, and I have never travelled internationally with them, so any input would be great.

I currently have a little over 200k MR points, 77k Starpoints, 30k miles on Northwest, 30k miles on US Air, and a smattering of other points spread out amongst other airlines. (I think I have like 20k on AA, but I may have used them for something already.)

I have no real airline preference, but US Air and Southwest are the airlines I've been using the most since moving to PHX. I do not believe I currently have any airline status.

What airlines would you suggest? How much lead time to do I need to move points and book award tickets? And, what's the best way to get into Business Class or First Class seating without spending too much in additional money? And, what hotels would you suggest in Rome? (I believe my sister mentioned a Westin or Sheraton near where she lives.)

Thanks for any advice! (and if there might be a better place for me to ask these questions, please direct me to them.)

Hello,

I currently have a little over 200k MR points, 77k Starpoints, 30k miles on Northwest, 30k miles on US Air, and a smattering of other points spread out amongst other airlines. (I think I have like 20k on AA, but I may have used them for something already.)

What airlines would you suggest? How much lead time to do I need to move points and book award tickets? And, what's the best way to get into Business Class or First Class seating without spending too much in additional money?


I would see where you can transfer your MR and Starwood points into the same airline. Some airlines will hold reservations even if your account doesn't have the miles (ie Delta), Air France on other hand will NOT allow you to search for an award ticket without the miles in your account.

I would first call various airline rewards lines and try to search for tickets for the dates you want...if you find something then I'd transfer the points over.

On a good day you can get 90k business class tickets. I just booked two BE tickets on Air France to Paris (with Delta miles) for a trip that was only 3 months away. Initially I received the "there's nothing available" response but some CS people will continue to dig for you.

I got two business award tickets on Altalia airline EWR to Rome last Christmas. I booked through CO and they will hold reservation for 1 week. The MR to CO transfer is instant. But since you only have 200K, that will only get you ONE business class SAVER award. Or use all your MR to get 4 award tickets in economic. I think that will save you a big chunk of money.

Best value for hotel is to use SPG point for hotel in any Europe city because Euro is so STRONG! A 100EU hotel + VAT & other fees, you will be paying 250$ per night for a small hotel that barely fit 2 people.

i did flights and hotels here >
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9412599

My kids moved some miles around and snagged 4 award Biz Class Tickets from LAX/Rome on Swiss Airlines (LX). Think they got those awards with about 4 months lead time and it was for Spring Break Season. They leave the end of next week. Got the exact date they wanted.

Thank you all for your advice. I'll definitely put it to use. I hadn't even considered Swiss Airlines until now.

Just thought I'd correct some items in this post to avoid misinformation:

I got two business award tickets on Altalia airline EWR to Rome last Christmas. I booked through CO and they will hold reservation for 1 week. The MR to CO transfer is instant. But since you only have 200K, that will only get you ONE business class SAVER award. Or use all your MR to get 4 award tickets in economic. I think that will save you a big chunk of money.

First of all, a saver business class award on CO is 100K miles round trip, not 200K ("standard" award is 250K round trip). Secondly, a MUCH better way to use your MR points for a trip on Alitalia would be to transfer the points directly to the Alitalia MileMiglia program, for two reasons: (1) Alitalia only charges 80K for a saver business class award, and (2) given the choice, it's much more convenient to book directly with the operating airline as opposed to through SkyTeam when you're dealing with things like ticket changes, irregular ops, etc.

Best value for hotel is to use SPG point for hotel in any Europe city because Euro is so STRONG! A 100EU hotel + VAT & other fees, you will be paying 250$ per night for a small hotel that barely fit 2 people.

Not that this is too related to the OP, but while the euro is strong it still doesn't cost $2.50 (not yet, at least). VAT is included in European hotel rates, so you're really looking at more like $150-160 for a 100 euro hotel room. Good point though about SPG points being a great value in Europe right now. Too bad they're starting to go up in category now to match the exchange rate! I'd suggest looking for Cash & Points rates (the cash part is priced in USD) to really stretch your 77K points.

Sorry, my bad, don't mean to give out wrong info.

80K roundtrip per CO website (http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/rewards/travel/charts/chart_6.aspx) . But I think the OP want 4 tickets, his/her 200K MR will only get 2 business at best.

The reason I recommand CO is because they can hold reservation for a week, and for the skyteam partner award you will need to call CO customer service to make reservation, they are US base CS people ...:D

As for the hotel room, VAT was not included in the rate for the hotel I stayed at and they are 10% on the bill when I checked out. I assume OP wants to keep the children in the same room (they are only 3&8!), most Europe hotels don't have children stay free policy and it will cost ~20-50$ per kid. So... 100EU + 40kids + 10% VAT + 1.5exchange rate =230$US (depend on if you are renting a car, parking will be another extra)

Yes, the cash+pt with SPG is the best value because you are paying US dollar vs EU. Have fun!

AF has a lot of award availability lately through Delta or NW. I got biz LAX-CDG-Morocco for 90K miles originally MR with less than two months notice. Have a booking for fall LAX-CDG-MAD with NW miles. Biz you have to hunt for but there is plenty of coach availability and 200K would get you four tix if there is the same availability through Delta. Haven't tried transferring directly to AF.

direct with AF might have even better avail, and is the only way to upgrade.

its unfortunate they dont allow you to check avail before transferring the miles.

direct with AF might have even better avail, and is the only way to upgrade.

its unfortunate they dont allow you to check avail before transferring the miles.

Sure they do. I don't understand why everyone here has such problems with it. Call them up, give them your account number, and explain that you will be transferring miles, but need to check availability first. I do this all the time, and have *never* had a problem.

then youre either incredibly lucky or theyve got you down as a VIP

1. when you call, there is a recorded message saying "if you have yet to transfer from membership rewards we will not check availability", in addition to the usual "this call may be recorded for quality assurance" etc.

2. i tried saying "oh but im transferring from starwood" and the rep told me in no uncertain terms "you must have the miles in your account before you can check avail"

i had been calling to find out if i could get a OW to AMM because i could have gotten a free OW EY F.

80K roundtrip per CO website (http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/rewards/travel/charts/chart_6.aspx) . But I think the OP want 4 tickets, his/her 200K MR will only get 2 business at best.


The 80K reward is only for seats on KLM. If you fly on Delta it is 90K and all other carriers (AF/OK/CO/NW/UX) are 100K.

Yes, the CO online reward charts suck. Yes, they know about it. No, they haven't fixed it yet.

so with flying blue you can upgrade on AF, but how do KL upgrades work? you cant upgrade on NW flights numbers can you?