Hi,

I plan on using Amex membership miles to redeem a business class ticket for Christmas--phx-lgw. Can I dump my MM into my DL account and choose other sky team members to fly on if I want to? When I would fly UA this was no problem. That being said, would you recommend CO, DL, or NW over the pond?

Thanks

Ian

Let me move this to our SkyTeam airlines forum and there is an active thread there now discussing a similar Q. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Once you've figured out which carrier you want to fly on, and which has seats available that is when you should move miles around. Both DL and CO allow "instant" redemption from MR points so the transfer just happens, and CO will hold the seats in case you need to call to move the points or something like that.

My recommendation would be to fly the DL/ExpressJet flight from PHX to LAX and then use either VS or AF to LHR from there. That will get you the best value for your points and the most comfortable long-haul flight, assuming the seats are available. CO can redeem on both VS and AF, so that should help you out there. And I'm not sure exact dates that you're looking for, but CO has at least one seat on the VS flight on the 23rd of December.

Thanks for the info. What I have decided to do is open a AC aeroplan account, and dump my MM in there. Then I used the ANA tool and found US to Den in F and DEN-LHR on UA F availability for the dates I want for 100,000 miles. Sky Team wants 250,000 miles for a business first product? To me the 100K F awards on UA are a no brainer.

Glad you found the flights that work for you. As for the 250K redemption, that is a rule-buster award. The cost for redemption on DL/NW/CO is also 100K if the seats are available. Without knowing dates I cannot say if the seats are or are not there. Still you got the seats on the dates you want at a fair price, so nothing to complain about there. Not sure which of the UA 777 configs you'll have, but all have fully flat seats, something that you would not have had with a SkyTeam redemption.