Alitalia MilleMiglia - Upgrade to Business

I am taking a cruise in late October and looking to book airfare. We would very much like to fly business for such a long flight (starting at LAX). I note that AMEX points can be transferred for free tickets/upgrades. My friend and I both have a lot of AMEX points, but was wondering, generally speaking, how tight availability usually is.

We are of course, flying into FCO, but returning from Venice. Any tips/advice appreciated. Thanks!

I'll tell you what my experience have been.

I was 45k miles short on AZ millemiglia in order to book to biz seats fco-cdg-lax.
I transferred the needed miles from amex MR and it took 24 hours only.

After that i called AZ CC to book the flight. It took 3 days before finding the dates i wanted to travel in, since availability changes every minute.
I'd suggest you call as soon as the CC opens since some seats are made available during the night.

Good luck

Ciao

It seems there is no direct flight from LAX to FCO. You have to use Delta+Continental or AF+AF.

It seems there is no direct flight from LAX to FCO. You have to use Delta+Continental or AF+AF.

most common options would be listed to my preference:

lax-cdg-fco
lax-ams-fco
lax-atl-fco
lax-jkf-fco
lax-bos-fco
lax-ord-fco
lax-mia-fco

Zazza, you are right on the routing.

Starprincess, so you may need to consider which airline program you transfer to Amex point to. If it is all AF flight, maybe you transferred your points to AF, if it is continental, you need to be careful since CO will exit Skyteam in the end of Oct.

You do not have to transfer your point to AZ.

Yes. We were aware there were no direct flights. We were looking at doing the LAX JFK FCO routing. We dont mind a stop in New York, kind of breaks up the 12 hour flight. Am I correct that if it is a codeshare flight we would not be upgraded on Delta or what ever airline they woudl codeshare with?

Thanks for your help everyone!