I want to travel to Nairobi in Feb 2014 and am in Orlando/Tampa area so I know I will need to connect once in US and once in Europe/Middle East.

I want to get the most out of my miles and don't know if I should be looking for award travel or use miles to upgrade? And which airlines I should try to book through? Any help is appreciated, I am new and if I need more miles I would like to rack up the right accounts and am very confused.

I have AA and DL miles and Amex points.

The flights I am considering are on United/Swiss, KLM/Delta, Emirates, and Qatar.

United/Swiss is Star Alliance and with Amex I can transfer points to Air Canada, ANA, or Singapore Airlines, but I don't know if this will help me book a flight from US to NBO on United or Swiss?

KLM/Delta-I can use DL miles and understand how to book, but does it pay off to pay higher fare and upgrade or should I just look for an award ticket in economy?

For Emirates I would need to transfer AMEX points and set up an account with their FF program?

Qatar is part of One World so do I call AA and they can book me with my AA miles?

Who uses the least amount of miles/taxes for award tickets and upgrades?


Thank you for any pointers or where to start.