HELLO!

My wife and I have about 150000 miles combined between us and we'd like to use them to go PHXFCO next novemeber. A couple of questions:

The Star Alliance award chart indicates that 50000 partner miles are required to get from the US to Europe. It looks like USAir wants 100000 miles per ticket. Can I "shop around" for 50000 mileage awards (such as Swiss Air, Lufthansa or United) or do I have to use the miles on USAir since they serve Rome on their own metal?

Any suggestions on how to find these lower mileage awards? I use Expert Flyer and have had success there. Just looking for other suggestions.

Thanks!