My wife wants to go to Australia sometime sooner or later. Our home airport is ATL. We'd want to fly something better than coach for that distance and this would be next December at the earliest (she starts nursing school in the Summer, so this would be during her December break).

I currently have the following points and status:

Delta SkyMiles: 250,000 / No Status
Chase UR: 205,000
Starwood SPG: 105,000 / Platinum

I'm assuming the points alone would not pay for the trip, but I figure that I could transfer points out of UR and SPG to maximize their value elsewhere. Starwood's hotel options in Australia are disappointing, to say the least, so I would likely pay out of pocket for lodging. I figure I could do a temporary status match with one of the hotel chains that gives the elite perks during a challenge/match period (Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, etc.) and take advantage of the benefits from another chain. I also read about flying on Cathay, but I'm not really sure what the options are now and there seems to be a lot of outdated information or inconsistent tricks involved with transferring points into that program (by way of BA, OW, etc.).

Anyhow, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm used to doing what I know best (flying Delta, staying at Starwood), so this is a bit out of my comfort zone and I look forward to learning something new.