luxaflex

Has anyone had success transferring more often than every 24 hours?

aglp2k

I currently have 19,250 SPG points and do not have any stays planned this month. Is it worth to spend $35 to buy 1,000 SPG points to bring the total to 20,250 SPG points and convert to AA in order to receive 35% bonus AA miles?

Starwood Lurker

Probably...but they will never go through without having to follow up afterwards. The airline is just not going to allow that to happen on their end.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

Really there is no way to know for sure. Some airlines are more sensitive to this element than others. Some here have even reported that Delta will allow the transfer to another member's Delta frequent flyer account.

But, just as an FYI, my personal experience with this is that American Airlines AAdvantage is one of the more conservative airline programs when it comes to security concerns on their end.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

hhoope01

That really depends on what you plan to do with those AA miles.

Basically, you are asking if approx. 8K AA miles is worth $35. Some may say yes it is worth it, other no it isn't worth it. Is $35 a lot of money to you or just pocket change? If you need those 8K miles to get a specific award and if you can't order it now you are in trouble, then definitely it would be worth it. If you have no AA miles at the moment and need 25K miles for an award and you can't wait a month or more to get more SPG points, then again it may well be worth it. If you don't have any miles in AA, but would like to have 25K in the account for some future award, then the extra 8K miles doesn't do much for you, it might be better to wait until you normally earn your 20K SPG points.

Also, you might want to think about what value you can get for your SPG points by using them for hotel stays rather than airline miles.

Starwood Lurker

Since affinity points are a liability on the books of any affinity program, I would think the effect would be more positive than negative. YOMV, however.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

luxaflex

Curious, so even if I get a confirmation from Starwood, there is a strong likelyhood American will block the double transfer within 24 hour period? What then happens with the points, do they automatically transfer back or go in limbo?

Thanks for the help Starwood Lurker.

Starwood Lurker

That is my experience. YMMV.

They are in limbo until you call SPG to ask for an airline transfer follow-up. But, you can't do that until 14 days following a domestic transfer or 30 days following an international transfer. After the follow up is initiated, it can take another 5 business days to sort out, so - at the minimum - there is going to be a significant delay in getting the points turned into airline miles. What effect that might have on this particular offer only American Airlines AAdvantage can answer.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

OkieFlyer

It did the exact same thing for me. I called AA and they said not to worry about it because in their system it was my shortened name. Within 24 hours when I logged in it had my shortened name. Not sure the reason for the delay. All of my transfers for that week went through without a problem.

thebobmc

William;

I realize my situation is not exactly the same as those described in this forum, but I am hoping that it is similar enough that the same strategy can be used to arrive at a solution.

Back in March I transferred a small number of SPG points to a friend's AA Advantage account. This was done online and I received a confirmation e-mail. The SPG points were removed from my account. When the miles had not posted several weeks later I did some research on FT and learned that AA would reject the transfer because of the name mismatch and Starwood would have to process the transfer manually.

Since there was no hurry ( the trip we were using the miles for ended up being cancelled ) I decided to give it a bit more time to work its way through the system.

But the miles have not yet posted, so a week or so ago I phoned Starwood. The phone rep. advised that he could see the transfer on his system and that the points had indeed been transferred to AA. He told me that this was a " one way transfer " and that there was nothing Starwood could do at this point. He suggested that I call AA Advantage.

I haven't screwed up my courage to call AA yet, but I have a strong feeling that the result of the call will be less than useful in solving the problem. So the question is, was I given correct advise by the Starwood phone rep, or is this a case of if you don't like the answer you get call back and talk to a different rep ?

Apologies for the long winded story, but I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed any important details. Thanks very much in advance for any wisdom you may be able to provide.

merrickdb

Has anyone tried booking a Nights & Flights award with points transferred to AA and seen whether the bonus points posted? I'm tempted to give it a shot based on William's comments, but I'm obviously nervous about the official AA terms excluding hotel and flight packages.

On a semi-related note (and it admittedly doesn't really belong in this thread), has anyone booked Nights & Flights with the associated hotel stay the requisite 14 days in advance and then changed the dates of the stay to dates fewer than 14 days in advance? It doesn't technically seem to be disallowed based on the T&C (and hopefully William won't now start watching for such a thing in my account ).

OkieFlyer

My dad booked a Nights and Flights award this week, so I'll know if the bonus hits this Sunday and will report back.

Starwood Lurker II

I am not William but the rep isn't exactly incorrect as our associates are advised that Starpoints to miles transfer is irreversible. However, I doubt calling up AA in this case would help to resolve the issue either.

You can still ring up SPG and convey that a mistake was made and would like to get your Starpoints back. Speaking to another rep may help in this case.

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Online Forum Coordinator(AP)
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

sc flier

The N&F T&Cs say, "Nights & Flights Awards must be ordered at least 14 business days prior to the arrival date for a U.S. airline and at least 30 business days prior to arrival for a non-U.S. Airline. This will allow for processing of the airline transfer portion of the award."

So it sounds to me as if SPG shouldn't have an objection to moving the date to fewer than 14 days as long as the airline transfer has already completed successfully. The 14-day restriction allows SPG to be sure that the airline portion completes successfully before the stay begins.

Whether a CSR is allowed to do so, I do not know.

NJUPINTHEAIR

The above poster presumably was talking about transferring those points on Saturday 6/19/10 and they did not appear the next day -- Sunday 6/20/10 -- when SPG apparently sends its tally to AA.

Does anyone know when is the cutoff for such transfers to be posted on Sunday and thereby hit your AA account?

This Sunday is the last go-around that will be eligible for the AA bonus, I believe, and therefore, all transfers would need to be wrapped up by this weekend or perhaps by Friday at the latest(?), and not on 6/30 -- which is techincally the last day of the promotion.