Volvic,
This is a little off topic, but you mentioned that you had seen bonus promotions twice before. I missed the AA promotion last month, and am thinking of taking advantage of the 50% US bonus before it expires at the end of July. It's a great deal, but I prefer other programs to US. Do you recall seeing this offer before for other airlines?

guv1976- thank you for this information, it did clear up alot of things for me, thanks a lot!! I'll be traveling off-peak for a while (either April-May, or September) at least while my daughter is not in school yet. And traveling with her (plus having only very limited vacation time at work) I can only handle 1 connection, I cant imagine doing more, it is already an exhausting trip for us.
dfyant-no, I dont have US Air credit card yet, nor do I have AA one. I think I'll be getting one or the other when Im ready to transfer my points, though.

Volvic-I'd like to know as well, how often the bonus percentage for hotel points transfers reoccur with airlines? I dont think I'm going to have my points for our new SPG cards posted in time to do the transfer to US Air this time.

Again, Id like to thank everyone for helping me with this- I appreciate it so much!

Ok, one more question i have- since everywhere I read it is recommended to focus on one airline to accumulate miles, how would I go about that with using SPG card? Am I understanding it correctly- if I go with US Air and use miles within Star Alliance, Im going to be crediting the miles to US Air, and of course to AA if I go that route?

You do not have to decide which program to transfer your SPG points to until you are actually ready to transfer. You can transfer some points to US Air, other points to AA, and still other points to ANA, depending on which program offers you the best redemption opportunity when you are ready to book your award seats. Until you decide to transfer points, your points are just SPG points, with no need to identify the airline program or programs to which you wish to ultimately transfer the points.

Also, low season or "off-peak" varies considerably from airline to airline. With AA to Europe, I think it runs from mid-October to mid-May; with US, it runs from mid-January to the end of February. With ANA, there are no seasons for partner airline redemptions.

If you want to fly on Star Alliance carriers, and you're planning to fly in April, May, or October, transferring your SPG points to ANA will give you an award to FRA for the fewest number of miles, assuming that there is award seat availability. Unless there is a transfer bonus to US or some other Star Alliance carrier when you are ready to transfer, ANA will be the best deal (43,000 ANA miles vs. 60,000 US Airways miles). But do some research to find out what ANA's fees are for Star Alliance award travel between the U.S. and Europe.

tendi07 already has the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card and Starpoints transfer 1:1 Miles & More.

The Miles & More Mastercard for the USA market is issued by Barclay's:

http://www.miles-and-more.com/online...l=en&cid=18002

Oops! Right you are re the M&M Mastercard. Sorry!

As for the Starwood Amex, I meant no CC is directly affiliated with M&M.

That's good that you and DH each got the SPG card. Consider having each of you sign up for the SPG Business card as well; the 30,000 points for $1k spend is also available on that, extended 'til July 31 (there's another thread with links).

That way, instead of a combined 60,000 SPG points, you (and your husband combined) could have 120,000 SPG points, which could be transferred into 150,000 AA miles (for example), enough for 3.75 r/t's to Europe in "low season".

Perhaps your daughter should apply for both as well, especially if the app asks for "household income".

Volvic,

I must have missed this promo, was it an email targeted one? (AA 35% bonus)

Thanks

If you combine the SPG all to one account and transfer 60k each day (to maximize points) you will get
60k +15k bonus + 37.5k = 112.5 US miles, for 120k spg= 225 US miles over 2 days.

For 220k, you can go for 2 people to EU with a stopover in Asia all in Biz or 2 people to Australia / NZ in Biz.
The AA promo is over, the US 50% promo is still going on.
Transfer when you have the flights and booking ready and seats are available and res is held for 3 days.