My husband & I have been saving AMEX Membership REwards forever. We finally have more than 260,000 points which I think should be enough for our family of 4 to get to Italy this summer. I have been reading various posts that discussed the lack of availability of seats, excessive points needed & other things that could get in the way of our dream.

Could I have some advice as to how to get started on the process? We currently have FF accounts with Delta & Continental. Should I start accounts with all of the flyers to be ready for transfer to whatever tickets will be available? If we don't have enough points for all of us & we need to purchase some, can we guarantee that we will all be on the same flight?

Any help is appreciated!