Hi guys,
been lurking for a while, usually to pick up extra points here and there when I can. A little about myself I'm a recent college graduate. I have my first adult job working for a financial institution. I've worked very hard to start my financial future. A credit score around 740-720 (CKarma and CSesame). I have a Chase Slate, United Mileage Ex, Freedom and Amex Premier Gold (newest)

This year I want to surprise my girlfriend with a trip to Europe. She's been so supportive of my this last year and dealing with me and cramming for my securities licenses. Its always been her dream to visit and I really want to make this happen. I'm pretty sure I will have enough cash by August to make this happen but earning some points along the way to help would be great and allow me to spend money on other things to make the experience even better.

Right now I have 67k of UA miles. Amex I will have 25k sign up bonus MR with an additional 3k+ that I spent in the last two months.

1) Which one should I be concentrating on Amex or UA
a. better points conversion
b. more options in terms of partner airlines to choose from
2) Is there anyway I can somehow transfer from Amex to Canadian Air (I think thats the one in Star Alliance) to UA.
3) Any information on earning points quickly and cheaply would be very much appreciated.

Welcome to FT! I seem to be the one typing the bad news in this forum to others, like yourself, who are trying to book height of the season tickets a couple of months before the trip. Many of us traveling to Europe this summer, booked the tickets in the summer/fall of 2013 and thus, have snagged many of the seats.

Rather than just say no it cannot be done, I would suggest you try a couple of things. First, using your home airport and desired locations, check united for award availability. Is there anything close to what you want? Keep in mind, the time for pickiness was several months ago, now you want seats (or you need to move the trip). Then, check with AA. You can use UA miles over and AA miles on the way back by booking one way tickets. By doing this, you will see what the availability is right now, which of course, is not what the availability is going to look like in a couple of months when you actually have the miles. Do not forget to look at nearby airports that you may need to commute to, either in the US or in EU. You can always move around Europe via relatively inexpensive tickets, but you can't typically get to Europe for that same amount of money.

Then, you need to go to the credit card forum and figure out what cards will get you there. Now quickly can you make the spend? IMHO, if you can't get the card and get the spend done quickly, then, I would consider booking one ticket via UA miles and perhaps, buying the match? This is a taboo idea here, but quite frankly, it is probably the least amount of stress and would allow you to concentrate on hotel points, if you needed a place to stay.

If this is not in the budget, I would reconsider the timing of your trip. By postponing it, you would have time to obtain a few more miles, which would free up some cash for activities, other transportation costs, etc. Even if you have the airfare and hotels, there is still quite a bit of expense in jaunt across the pond.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the post anyway wcj. It is very much appreciated. I think I may open up a Saphire Pref Card which spend I could hit or maybe a Amex SPG. With the Amex I would hit 20k bonus miles which if I transfered to an airline I could get a bonus 5k miles plus the 30k i will already have on my Amex Gold may be enough for a flight back. UA there a Amex partner on the way back.
If i get the Saphire I think its 45k bonus which I could trade for UA making my total close to 115k with a little extra spend I could make up the extra 5k and take UA there and back.
The only thing I'm thinking of is maybe post poning the trip so i could do all this and go in October. And whether at the end of the day the CSP would be more beneficial then the Amex SPG. With the CSP I already have Amex Gold and a Mileage Explorer Card for travel. And i don't yet have a hotel card. But going both ways on UA would be way more convinient.

Thoughts?

I also wish I could give you a thumbs up on ur post or something like on other forums. I do really appreciate the response and at least telling me the bad news rather then avoiding it

If you are willing/considering postponing, then consider AA's reduced mileage for off peak awards. Chart here http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/f...ward-chart.jsp

Go to the CC forum and look at 50k AA card. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...-first-99.html

Before applying for anything, do yourself a favor and make a plan for what you want to apply for based on what you need. There is an amazing amount of people who fail at this step.

Yes, you can transfer AMEX points to Air Canada and book the same flights you can with United. However, most flights other than those operated by United or USAir will incur surcharges. United, Air Canada, AA, Alaska, Air France (another AMEX transfer partner) and others allow one-way redemptions, so you can use one airline or alliance in each direction. Another possibility would be to get one ticket with your UA miles and buy a matching revenue ticket. Having a better idea of your possible origin and destination airports would help as well.

I took my family to Europe in November (Thanksgiving) and while it was chilly, we had nearly everything to ourselves and never had any type of lines or crowds.