I fly with my wife to Europe once or twice a year, a couple of FL to IL or WI domestic flights, and occasionally to Asia. I have a ton of Amex points, Delta miles, United miles. I have never been able to figure out the best way to use them. We want to fly Business.
I booked a Ft Myers to Warsaw Poland on Delta for travel at the end of April and had to pay a $2500 each for upgradable refundable Coach and Delta wants 50k miles each for the upgrade.
It seems that there should be a better way. I just can't find it.
Should I be looking for NYC to FRA and filling in the other legs separately?
I would love a little lesson!
Welcome to Flyertalk!
Here's why Air Canada's Aeroplan -- an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner --
is my favorite frequent flyer program for redemptions.
First, let me note that Aeroplan charges 100k miles for Ft Myers to Warsaw in business class.
Second, yes, you've got the right idea to search for transatlantic flights first. You don't need to search New York - Frankfurt alone, though. (Although LOT is an Aeroplan partner and does fly JFK-WAW.)
Here's how it works.
First, find the itinerary you want.
It's already been posted above, a suggestion about how to find the seats using the All Nippon Airways website (this will search all of Star Alliance except Swiss, Air China, and Shanghai Airlines).
Do sign up in advance for an Air Canada Aeroplan account, and link it to your American Express Membership Rewards account. Do not transfer any points yet.
Call Aeroplan with the itinerary you've found, give them the departure and arrival cities, class of service, number of passengers, and dates. They may find something you like even better than what you've found! But if they don't, feel free to offer your suggested itinerary.
You don't have the points in the account yet, but once they set up the reservation you can go online to MembershipRewards.com and make the transfer while you're on the phone with Aeroplan. Amex points post to Aeroplan instantly.
Then you ticket the reservation.
I also like Continental Onepass, you can put awards ON HOLD for 24 hours prior to making the points transfer. The routing rules are good but not quite as generous (see my link above for why I love Air Canada Aeroplan's routing rules) as Aeroplan. And many awards cost a little bit more. But you don't have to do the whole instant thing, Continental will put awards on hold without any points in the account.
You have more opportunities out of MIA than RSW, for MIA there's Lufthansa to Frankfurt and Munich and Swiss to Zurich. For Star Alliance awards out of RSW you'll need to fly to Charlotte, Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago, Philadelphia in order to find premium class international awards.
And then from your European gateway on to Warsaw, your destination.
Do not transfer Amex points to Delta. Even if you're tempted by bonuses they might offer.
Another decent option, though there are real drawbacks, is transferring to British Airways. Availability from the US to London is good. They offer one way awards. Points post instantly from Amex. Drawbacks include the high cost of taxes and fees, and the more expensive award chart.