First I should say I was unaware that AMEX had devalued points being transfered from MP to CO and Delta. Is this universal or unique to your situation?

There are problems with using either Delta or CO for overseas upgraded travel as a non-elite. With Delta, they allocate few seats to Business and in my experience, getting an upgradable seat to, say, Paris, is near impossible unless you are willing to waitlist and hope. Thus, purchasing coach and using miles to upgrade is not attractive since you commit to an expensive coach seat, hoping to clear the upgrade list. Many report here on Flyer Talk that waitlisted upgrades do get cleared, though I don't know the actual percentage. The best way may be to try to book a Delta award without a paid ticket (eg. all points) and book 11 months ahead or whatever the lead time for Delta is.

CO is much worse as a non-elite. They do not allow anyone who is non-Gold to get a Business seat less than 30 days before the flight. Note I said Gold-even lower level elites get no slack. So I suppose if you are extrememly flexible you could waitlist CO for a free seat (eg. Do not buy coach since you have no assurance of an upgrade), then hope for a Business seat.

Depending upong your destination, you might try some of AMEX's lesser known partners depending on the cost of getting to one of their gateways.

Back to the top-what's with the 25% devaluation?