Hi,

My husband has a conference in Rome Sep 12-15, 2012. We'd likely fly Sep 8-15.

What is our best strategy for getting both of us business class RT tickets, and what is the critical timing for doing so?

His airfare will be reimbursed (couch only) and mine will not, so we'd want to purchase his ticket and get an upgrade through miles if possible. For mine we could do pure miles or purchase base and upgrade with miles; whichever is the smarter use of $$ and miles.

Like many, we're on a mileage acquisition streak, so we'll soon have 300K AA points, 100K Chase Sapphire points. (No Amex MR; I'm trying to decide whether to apply for the various Amex MR deals out there.)

Now that I will have a lot of miles, it is time to learn how to use them. If anyone can recommend good resources to start with, I would appreciate it, and am grateful for any advice about this particular flight.

Thanks.