I don't know the answer to your question about transferring points just before the conversion but I wonder why you would transfer Starwood points to miles? Starwood points have no blackout dates and it's getting more difficult to use air miles these days. I know AS has a decent mileage redemption but you don't earn EQM's by using miles only. I wish I could transfer some of my AS miles to *Wood especially since I have a whole bunch of AS miles from my BofA Visa. I stayed at a 5* Starwood in CUN this past Feb and only had to spend 5K points a night and to top it off, they upgraded me to a Penthouse suite. Starwood and Alaska are definitely the top loyalty programs in terms of service and value.