Hello everyone,

I am hoping someone here can point me in right direction in this situation. Im still new to alot of things so please- bear with me!
I currently am a member of United Mileage Plus and Continental Onepass. I have United MP Visa and Chase Continental Checking acct. My United balance is 56K miles and Continental is 25K. I just started using the SPG card that I signed up for ( will get 30K Starpoints for the promo). We will also get the new SPG card for my husband so all together that should be 62K Starpoints when it is all said and done( and more will be available to transfer with their 5K bonus per every 20K transferred)
My goal for next year will be to book a reward trip to Germany for both my daughter and I. Initially I was planning to do it with my United miles doing miles+money option.

Since transfer rate to United and Continental is 1:2 for Spg points would you suggest I transfer them anyway to top off my accounts there (hopefully the merger will close by the time I need to book my tickets for next year) or hold on to them?

Also- since SPG Amex is so recommended on here for every day use, would you still suggest I use my United MP card for every day purchases and bills or move to using SPG card? Basically if I am United and Continetal member, which card is better for me to use every day?

Thanks alot!

That scream of agony you may have heard outside the window arose from some of the diehards here merely contemplating the idea of doing this with any significant number of points.

Wait for the merger to join the two together. Get the UA or CO card(s) and build that way. doesn't make sense to go the spg route for miles. That said, you may want to go the spg route for hotel points for your trip - hotels usually end up costing more than airfare.

Is US air still doing the 50% bonus? If so, you could put points towards usair at 1:1 and receive a 50% bonus and use it with in *A.

Thanks for the replies!
I'd have to check out US Air route-thanks for the tip!
I guess I will stick to my United card once I reach the spend needed for the bonus on the SPG card.
Im not worried about hotels, since Im not using them. My parents live in Germany, so the reward tix i need is to visit them and we're staying with them once we're there.

You should look into getting a Continental credit card. I believe you can get one with a 30,000 mile sign-up bonus and no annual fee right now.

That's floating around here somewhere, and there is also a bonus for a Chase checking account with debit card. Those add up too.

I tried going for the Continental credit card- got denied (opened United card end of april). I did get 25K miles for getting Chase Continental checking account, Im hoping they'll get dumped together with my United miles once merger closes.

Check the Amex cards forum for offers on getting Amex with membership rewards that can be converted 1:1 into Continental

Also I am pretty sure you will be able to find focus who would convert their Amex points into your CO account if you convert your SPG into their account like AA that does on a 1:1 or 1:1.25 basis with bonus

Open up a Chase business checking account to using the Continental promo if that's still available since it will net you an additional 25k.

I'd stop spending on the UA card. You have enough miles for one free ticket and are not likely to be getting a second.

If you insist on using the SPG miles for a second ticket your best bet is to transfer to Air Canada or All Nippon as 50K SPG will get you the necessary points and then you still have the CO miles leftover. Transferring to CO will still cost you 50K SPG.

If you honestly believe that you will never use the hotel points for hotels then its not the worst use of points. If the points post soon enough the US Air route is the best option but its going away in a couple of months.

Hindukid-so, would you suggest I keep continuing using my SPG card as my main card? What do I do with my United Card? I would rather avoid Having 2 cards with annual fees if possible.
Would I then need to join a different FF program for better transfer rate? I just started with miles, so I dont have much to loose If i need to switch programs.
My main goal is being able to have maybe one reward ticket to Germany every year or so. And yes, I would definetely not need to use points for hotels, just for airline miles
Thanks alot!

related question:
Is it ok to transfer Starwood points from 2 different cards in to one frequent flyer account?

I assumed that in order to transfer points both SPG and frequent flyer account have to belong to the same person.

TIA

PS to prevent another scream of agony - the reason I would transfer points is because when traveling I stay with friends - so no need for hotel and redeeming for Amazon GC is not as good as getting miles even if the ratio is 2:1.

I assume you mean from two different Starwood accounts. No, the name on the frequent flyer account must match the name on the SPG account. However, if (for example) you and your spouse both have SPG accounts you can transfer points from one SPG account to the other and then transfer to the airline. To qualify for this the address on both SPG accounts must be the same. The transfer from one member of the household to another can be done by telephone or by using the interactive chat feature of SPG.com.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

tendi07, since United now offers one-way awards on United flights, have you thought about flying United one way, and American (and/or its partner carriers) the other way? This way, you could convert your Starwood points to AA miles, and maximize their value.