What is the best FF program to pair with your SPG card?

I would say the same as the best FF program without SPG. I don't see any correlation between your airline choice and your hotel choice.

I can't think of any special synergies where you would earn more SPG or airline miles (on a regular basis - sometimes there are promos like the current US Airways one), but others may know of some.

The only two I would avoid (if you are thinking of doing SPG->miles transfers) would be Continental and United (which are 2:1 instead of 1:1).

Your profile does not list where you come from but as an East Coast person, I find transferring to Cathay Pacific's AsiaMiles and using it on their OneWorld partners, especially British Air, is the best bang for the buck. For example, it takes 80,000 Asia Miles to get a Business Class ticket from the NY area to almost all of Europe, while the same ticket on BA costs 100,000 miles. BA charges 75,000 for Premium Economy so for an extra 5,000 miles you can go Business Class instead! In addition, using it on AA for upgrades gets you the same seat but without the AA significant surcharge.

The only caveat is that it can take up to 30 days to make the transfer, but Cathay is one of the few that will make the reservation pending transfer of points.

Agreed. It just comes down to your personal preference as to which carrier makes the most sense for you. Look at who serves your local airports and the destinations you use most often. Look at the redemption opportunities and the quality of service of the potential carriers. No real correlation on a program level.

Sorry, I worded the question wrong. What I meant to ask is what airlines have the best conversion rates when transferring points. Similar to the post stevens wrote, in which AsiaMiles has good deals on its partner airlines.

AA is another good one, as you can use Citi Reduced Mileage Awards (assuming you have a Citi AA card, and what FTer doesn't have a dozen of them?) and OW RTW awards. They also have about the most available redemptions.

Another to avoid would be Delta. They have promotions to get more miles sometimes, but redemption is very hit and miss (and that's being generous).

Part of the beauty of Starpoints is that you don't have to decide where to redeem them. If you find a good deal with AA, you can transfer some miles there. If you find a good deal with US, you can transfer some miles there. If you find a good deal with CX, you can transfer them there. If one of the airlines goes out of business or dilutes their FF value, you aren't locked in to just one.

So being new to all this, the best thing to do is just shop all the airline sites to see how much points the flight you want cost, then transfer your points to the one that is the best deal?

I think this is speaking more to the idea of not transferring your points to an airline program until you are ready to redeem an award. This gives you the flexibility to transfer the points only when you need a ticket. Also, due to partnerships you don't have to transfer your points necessarily to the operating carrier.

Also not sure what your priorities are but I think most people would say you would get a better bang for your buck if you used SPG points for hotel stays and not for frequent flier tickets.

A lot of people think that SPG points generally give better value per point if used for Starwood hotel stays rather than for flights (as mentioned by others in this thread).

However, if you really want to use your SPG points for flights, there are actually TWO different ways to do it:

1. Book a flight directly using SPG points:

http://www.spgflights.com/travel/arc...TY_SPG_FLIGHTS

http://www.spgflights.com/images_w/p...yalty/FAQ.html


2. Convert SPG points into airline miles:

https://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefe...tner_list.html

Let me point out that using Starpoints to buy airline tickets directly pretty much guarantees that you won't get more than 1.3 cents of value per Starpoint. Whether transferring to miles or redeeming for hotels, I think most people value their Starpoints higher than that.

Here's what I think

W-----------Delta
Westin------United
Sheraton----American
Marriott-----Continental (BORING)
Hilton-------American
Four Points--Southwest
Aloft--------Jetblue, Virgin America
St Regis-----American
Luxury Col.--American
Le Meridien--Air France

Is this anything like mixing drinks?

sdcarver

I'm going to move this on to the MilesBuzz forum, as experts on all airline programs can be found there.

SanDiego1K
Starwood Moderator

Transfer points before July 31st and US Air will give you 50% credit. So (for example) if you transfer 20,000 miles SPG gives you another 5,000 miles and US Air gives you 10,000 miles for a total credit of 35,000 miles. You must make the transfer before July 31, 2009 to get this deal.