This is one of the dumber threads I have ever seen on FT. I can't believe people will actually think about wasting Amex on DL at a 1:1 ratio. DL miles are terrible and we all know that. If you are going to get DL miles at least wait until they have a 50% bonus. They will have a 50% bonus. Guess why? Because DL knows they are worthless and loves to sell them to anyone who will buy them. That is why there are always DL miles on sale. It is easilly worth the $125 fee to wait for the DL 50% bonus.

Plus if you like flexibility than nothing is better than Amex. Next time you want to travel, guess what? DL is unlikely to have reward seats. If you have Amex however you just find who has reward seats and transfer to the appropriate partner.

Transfer to BA makes sense. Not that BA miles are really that great but at least they have a 50% bonus.

If you like diversity, why not transfer to All Nippon or AC. You will then have star alliance awards which in general has far more availability than the other alliances.

You have enough points that the annual fee should be insignificant in comparison to getting good use from those points. The BA transfer does make sense because of the bonus though.