Amsterdam -> Recife -> Rio -> AMS on Flying Blue Points?
Hi-
Preface: if I'm not allowed to ask this question here, feel free to yell at me/delete it/etc.
Husband and I each have 100k+ AMEX points we got from the Platinum Card sign up. We're planning a trip from Amsterdam down to Brazil for next year (Dec 2016, so it's still pretty early) and are considering transferring our amex points to KLM (Flying Blue) and using them for the flight.
A couple questions:
1) We live in Amsterdam and we frequently travel to DC (IAD) to visit family/friends, but we almost exclusively fly United for that (and in general). United is not an AMEX partner, or we would transfer our miles there and use them for all our various travels. If there is a better use of these 200k points as far as facilitating flights between AMS and IAD, I'd be interested in that.
2) I see Recife is a destination that KLM flies to (or maybe more accurately, their partners fly to?), but for some reason when I'm searching in the awards booking tool it doesn't show up. It does show up, however, when I look to book normal travel. Any thoughts?
3) Any idea how many miles it will take to to AMS -> Recife -> Rio -> AMS?
Thanks in advance for your help/sorry in advance for breaking any etiquette rules!