Thanks everyone for your responses. Yes, getting a free ticket is the plan. The thing is, I do have over 35K MR points but my buddy doesn't (only 25K), but we both have some AA miles, so this is the reason I'd rather use AA vs Continental. However, considering there is 3:1 transfer for Starwood I can clearly see it's not an option. I guess we'll need to earn remaining 10K on Continental - fast

Thanks again.