SK3, despite your claim that you aren't as patient as sdserch, you gave me a fantastic amount of information!
I will become a student of AA and Iberia now.
"You've been given some terrific information from sdsearch - who should be commended for the effort he expended on your behalf by rewriting what has already been compiled on FT. You're a better man than I Gunda Din."
I feel silly that despite reading the site for weeks, I managed to miss a wealth of already compiled information. I will commence re-reading and I will find it this time!
I appreciate sdsearch and sk3 for posting the links to good resources. Sometimes it is easy for even conscientious newbies to miss the important stuff because this stuff is very intricate, and we don't have a context or mental map yet to judge what's important or relevant.
I know I need to do the work myself and I appreciate the tips in getting me started.
Again, major thanks for getting me started,
Anita
Here are 2 more "primers" that are linked to FlyerTalk.com:
http://www.webflyer.com/
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
And akp, I apologize, I had misread your initial post. Since you're also willing to purchase 2 coach tickets and use miles to upgrade both - then you could obviously fly together on AA if the upgrade inventory is there.
For this reason, I do highly recommend you get a subscription to ExpertFlyer to start monitoring "C" inventory.
And in terms of your question as to what is the best usage of your miles, this could be the optimum since you'll also be earning a lot of miles. You should also both take AA's "challenge" and get a fast track to Platinum status - which means you'll earn double miles for these flights. The earning of the miles offsets the expenditure of the miles of course. Or if you end up just buying the one revenue ticket your husband should take the challenge - unless he's already Platinum of course.
When I used to go this route my routine was I'd first see if "C" inventory was there then I'd call AA and in the one phone call I would have them grab the confirmed upgrade and put the flights on hold. Then I'd look it up on my AA online account and double check that it was all in order - then I'd call and ticket it. (I did it this way because IMO human error is not a rare occurrence). My point with sharing this is that I never had to first ticket it and then call to add the upgrade as sdsearch mentioned. In fact I'd ONLY ticket it if the upgrade was confirmed, because like your husband I refuse to fly coach.
Regarding the fare for your revenue tickets there are many sites you can use to track these. I used to be able to find great fares, and when I couldn't and paid more than I wanted, I would continue to track the fare and when a lesser fare was offered I'd get a rollover. But then FCO fares increased more and more, the copay was initiated, and to me it became too costly to upgrade a coach ticket and I opted from about '05 to just get outright award tickets.
If you go the coach upgrade route, an important thing to know is that you're only guaranteed a seat in coach. In other words, say you have your confirmed flights with your confirmed upgrades but you miss your connection because your first flight had mechanical issues, for instance. So you're at ORD or JFK wanting to fly in business on the next flight to FCO, but you only paid for a coach ticket (even tho you upgraded from there) so coach is where AA is obligated to put you. Whereas if you purchase a business class seat either with $$ or miles, it's business where AA has to put you if the above scenario plays out.
Lastly, I never addressed your bank of 100K Chase Sapphire Points because I have no familiarity with that whatsoever. But if you're allowed to use those pts for Star Alliance carriers then Swiss Airlines is a marvelous way to get to FCO through ZRH.