Hi,

I used to live and work abroad. In the period of 2003-2005 I had approximately 10K miles accumulated on Alitalia. Now I am back in the US and starting work that requires lots of travel. I am a US Citizen, so I can apply for American credit cards and all that.

I recieve offers from Amex about Delta Skymiles. Both Delta and Alitalia are Skyteam. I was wondering if there was a credit card program (like Amex) that would allow me to use deposit the sign-up bonus miles to this program. Or if not, is it possible to rescue these miles and have them become a part of the Delta Skyteam program. I don't have a Delta Skymiles account (as a matter of fact, I don't think I have taken a flight with them ever)

But I will probably travel East Coast to Atlanta a lot, so this makes sense.

Thanks for the feedback,
George

DL sounds like the way to go for your airline, based on your travel to ATL. It will be more convenient, but you'll earn fewer miles/segments with fewer connections.

But just because you use DL as your airline, that doesn't automatically mean you should use the DL AMEX as your credit card. Some hotel programs, and some non-cash reward programs - Citi Thank you, SPG Amex, etc., may be better for your needs. Remember, DL Skysaver and Skyteam tickets in general are not all that easy to redeem.

As for your stranded AZ miles, I don't know of a way to feed them to your DL account, and even if you could there'd probably be significant devaluation. Depending on some of the rules, maybe you can use AZ miles to upgrade a paid flight while accruing the miles to DL? Otherwise, you'll probably be looking at converting them to some non-travel use. Check the AZ website for program-specific options.

That seems to be increasingly true