Originally Posted by
wholeinone04
... That being said, I do have a ton of points already racked up across various networks...
American Airlines - 170k
Amex - 100k
United - 69k
Southwest - 67k
US Airways - 54k
...
SPG - 35K
Fiancee’s Point Balances:
Chase - 40k
Barclays - 40k
Citi - 20k
I’d like to use the AA points from LA to Rome and fly first/business. There’s no availability though for 2 people for the 50k business flights, what gives?? I was able to find 2 economy anytime for 60k each(with only one stop in Chicago) but I want to fly first/business since I don’t have status on AA. I was able to hold 2 seats in the economy plus section for 60k each though, is that right?
...
We’ll need a flight from Rome to Santorini/Athens and it looks like Aegean Air is pretty cheap. I know they are a star alliance member but I have no idea how to book Aegean flights with my United or US Airways miles. Any tips?
For the flight back, we’ll fly from Athens to LA and I’d like to somehow use my Amex points for this. I saw something about transferring to ANA and then booking a flight with Turkish airlines. Not sure how I would do this..
For 2 pax RT to Europe at peak times, you have barely enough points to get it done in coach, unless you can find a workable AB or IB itinerary and book it with your AA miles plus 25K SPG points transferred to AA. Nothing else that could be described as 'a ton'. Your best bet by far in coach is to book two matching roundtrip flights to Greece, with a stopover in Rome, one with your USAir miles plus 6K more transferred from SPG, the other with 60K United miles. You can easily put this trip together at united.com, and call US and buy the one ticket.
To search for IB, sign up for BA, Qantas or Iberia plus and search segment by segment, and you can call AA to book the flights you find.
If you go for one-ways instead of a RT with a stopover, That Aegean flight can easily be booked with UA miles at united.com. But if it's cheap, it probably makes more sense to just purchase it.
The best *A value for your AMEX points would be Air Canada, but they, like ANA charge surcharges on airlines other than United and USAirways.