Hi all:
I am looking for opinions as to what is the best use of frequent flyer miles for my situation. I am part of a family of five. I am thinking of using miles primarily to buy Business class seats for long haul flights on big family trips. In this case, it seems to make sense to build miles on, say, American and United because between them you can also cover a lot of international carriers. I also have an AMEX platinum card which has the international two-for-one benefit and am thinking that if I use that benefit to get four tickets, I should try to build miles for the third full price business class ticket we need to buy. Is this logic sound? Should I be using miles to upgrade to business class instead of using them to buy entire tickets? Should I be thinking in another way entirely? Any advice would be most appreciated.

Though some people have reported success with the platinum card 2 for 1 vouchers, they are not really 2 for 1. That is because they will not allow the paid ticket to be discounted. However, you might still save something if the undiscounted ticket costs less than twice the discounted ticket. But your savings are likely to be in the $100s, not the $1000s.

Also, if you are intending to build miles by making purchases with your Amex platinum, neither AA nor United are part of their membership rewards program.

It really depends on your route. Sometimes you can get a pretty cheap Coach fare, so buying the tickets and upgrading would not only save substantial miles, but you would also be earning miles in the process. This is especially true if you get bonii for being an elite member in the program of your choice or through some promotion.

One of your biggest challenges here may be finding 5 business class seats on the same international flights. Are you willing to fly different routes or on different dates? There's been many a post here on FT about trying to find 1 or 2 tickets on international routes, so 5, on a very popular route such as Australia, could be a challenge.

If you don't have that flexibility, you might be better going the upgrade route instead and buying a coach ticket. Some airlines require certain fare classes in order to upgrade with miles, so that's something you would need to watch for. It can get pretty complicated.

Thanks for the input and insight. I guess one has to evaluate each ticket on a trip by trip basis. I can transfer Amex points to Delta and Continental and I guess we'll keep our AAdvantage cards. I don't know if its worth getting a United card since no one seems to know what their future will be. Anyway, thanks again.