Hi AWalker - welcome to FT.

It seems like your primary goals are as follows, in this order:

1) use your miles to travel to Germany and California with your boyfriend
2) enjoy a comfortable hotel program when you do travel
3) transition away from US Airways into a superior airline option

That's all pretty attainable. I fly out of Boston and I've found that Delta and SPG work best for me given my needs, but I don't think that makes sense for you.

With regards to your airline of choice, I think your best bet is probably AA. They have a meaningful presence in Boston to each of their hubs, but infrequent enough direct flights that you'll get four segments each RT. If you fly enough for their Executive Platinum status, you'll get upgraded domestically frequently enough and get meaningful upgrades to use on transatlantic flights.

AA also works well because, in the case that the AA-US merger goes through, your US miles would become more valuable AA miles. If it doesn't, then you have valuable miles in US to go with whatever you earn in AA. AA also periodically has lucrative status matches/challenges (most recently a couple of months ago). They have a paid status challenge for a fee for their Platinum status - more details at http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel...match/2499795/.

AA miles are probably the best way to get to Europe, especially considering the recent devaluations at UA. Availability is good and you can use BA to get there, too (although there are fees for their flights through LHR, which are all their flights). The cheapest transatlantic crossing uses BA Avios on Aer Lingus to fly BOS-DUB for 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, so you might alternately consider flying AA and crediting your flights to BA.

Hotel-wise, you're probably best off sticking with Hilton, given their huge footprint in the states and Europe. Hilton has a comfortable number of hotels in Germany and California alike, and HH Diamond should treat you well on your own travel across the States. Unfortunately, Hilton points are among the least valuable currencies after their recent devaluation. I'd consider making a switch to SPG if you have a bunch of unbooked travel coming up -- they have a Status Challenge that grants you their top-level Platinum status if you stay 18 nights over a three-month stretch. SPG points are far more valuable and, honestly, not a ton harder to earn. Until then, you're fine sticking with Hilton.

Best of luck!