kybourbon

I'm trying to figure flights for a relative and I assume we would need to put the FF flight on hold with the airline and then contact AmEx. I don't have AmEx so I'm not familiar with the times/transfers and my relative has never used his points before. I think I need to get an AmEx though, since they just sent me a cc offer for Rewards Plus Gold Card. Fee waived first year and you get 50,000 points by just spending $500 by end of April.

Jed

A couple of years ago a friend got an offer for "50,000" points from Amex. I don't remember exactly, but there was something strange with the offer, as if the points were not completely transferable. Did you read the fine print?

50K points seems a lot to me, comparing what other cards offer. Do you have a URL for us to check out?

I have transferred Amex points to USAir (a long time ago), and it was almost immediate. Best to check now with Amex.

rkkwan

Transfer from AMEX Membership Rewards to Continental is instant.

kybourbon

Thanks.

The offer doesn't seem to have any stings attached other than the normal ones. Others have reported about it on Flyertalk. This is the card, but I don't think you can get the points offer unless you received a mailer.
https://www143.americanexpress.com/c...RDS/152/0/0/-1

Patty

Transfers to Delta and Virgin are also instant.

Some programs like ANA and Flying Blue (AF/KL) aren't instant and as far as I know, they also won't hold award reservations so you should research carefully.

kybourbon

I should have mentioned that it would be skyteam as I think he has a Delta account.

travelgourmet

If it is Delta, then transfers are immediate. I still recommend finding the flights before transferring.

I find the best place for one-stop search for SkyTeam availability is the NWA (Japan) site @ http://nwa.com/jp

It isn't perfect, but it is about as good as it gets, covering Air France, Northwest, KLM, Continental, and Delta. You can also try the Continental and Delta websites, as well. I know of no way to check availability on Korean Air, without calling.

kybourbon

It appears I can choose Delta (through Atlanta), Continental (through Newark) or NWA (through DTW/AMS) to Zurich. We will be flying coach and I think NWA might be preferrable. I know the extra connections would make some not take that flight, but my cousin has only been to Italy once and nowhere else. If we fly NWA I was planning a long layover at Schiphol(about 6 hours) and a quick run into Amsterdam for a few hours which I think he would enjoy. Does that make sense or should we just book shortest flight times? I've been to Amsterdam, so I pretty much no my way around and where things are located.

If we use points for hotels, do we have to pay any tax on those?

Patty

<i>If we use points for hotels, do we have to pay any tax on those?</i>

Are you talking about using Membership Rewards points directly for a hotel voucher or transferring MR points to hotel frequent guest programs and redeeming from the frequent guest program?

If the latter, normally you don't pay tax on free hotel night redemptions from frequent guest programs. Sometimes, you have to pay the &quot;resort fee&quot;, but this doesn't apply to city hotels.

If the former, I don't know the answer.

In general, I find anything other than FF mileage transfers from MR to be a poor value but YMMV.

kybourbon

I have points with Priority Rewards and so does my cousin. He has an odd amount (about 23,400) which I thought would be good to top off to 25,000. I'm in the same boat, but only need to add about 1,000 pts to make the numbers crunch for redeeming. My plan was for him to transfer 50,000 AmEx pts to Delta FF account for his flight (he has about 84,000 AmEx pts), transfer 2,000 to his Priority Rewards program (we've found hotels for anywhere from 5,000 + per night) and convert the rest of his points (32,000)to SPG (he'll have to open an account)to get another night or two free. I also have points with Marriott and Hilton good for a few more nights. I plan to get the 50,000 pts offered with the new AmEx card, but they won't be credited in time to use.

DH has status with a few of the hotel rewards programs, but I'm not sure we can use it to our advantage since he isn't traveling with us.

thit_cho

I transferred from Amex to Continental in January, and the miles were there by the time I returned to the CO site, about 10 seconds later.

kybourbon

I assume whatever I would charge in the next month or so on the new AmEx would be available for transfer even if the bonus for signing up wouldn't. I don't have NWA or Delta cards (have ff accounts with both), but am tempted to apply for them just for the bonus points before the merger. I think you get flagged and rejected if you apply for multiple cards too close together (30 days?).

Patty

Do you mean Priority Club? If so, I haven't paid tax on any of my PC redemptions.

OK if you just need a limited amount of points to top up an account in order to redeem, it's probably not a bad value.

Be aware that the SPG transfer ratio is 1000=333 so 32,000 MR will only equal 10,656 SPG.

Which frequent guest program does DH have status in? While technically a spouse isn't supposed to get a member's elite benefits when the member isn't traveling, I find that in practice if the award is issued from the elite member's account, you end up getting the benefits anyway. My experience is with Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and to a limited extent, Priority Club.

With Amex charge cards, your points do not automatically become available until after the next statement date. For example, say your statement closing date is Mar 5 and you spent $500. Those 500 points will show as Pending Points on your MR account. Sometime after your next statement date of Apr 5, they'll automatically become available. However, once you've paid your Mar 5 statement in full, you can contact MR and ask that they accelerate your pending points (they'll verify that you've made full payment) so that you can transfer the points. It may take a couple of days after your statement date for this to happen as 1) the points need to show up as pending on your account and 2) the full payment needs to be reflected on your account.

There's also a Points Advance feature where Gold cardholders can advance up to 15,000 points. You have 1 year to &quot;pay back&quot; the advance. At the end of 1 year, if you still have a negative advance balance, you'll be charged for any negative points at the same rate as points purchased from MR which is currently $25 per 1000 points.

Which brings me to... you can purchase up to 500,000 per year from MR at the above cost.

Every card you apply for will result in a credit inquiry on your credit report and affect your credit score. However, if you have an otherwise long history of excellent credit, I don't see why you'd be rejected if applying for multiple cards within 30 days. If you were planning to apply for a mortgage soon, I might not do it.

Patty

One more thing, MR charges a small federal excise tax for transfers to US carrier FF programs. I believe it's currently $0.0005 per point capped at $75.

It's not charged for transfers to foreign carrier FF programs or any other types of transfers that I'm aware of.

If you're thinking of transferring to to foreign program to save the excise tax, be aware that with most foreign programs you have to pay taxes <b>and</b> fuel surcharges for award redemptions whereas with most US programs you only pay taxes.

kybourbon

Yes, I meant we both have Priority Club. DH has status with Marriott and Delta. Our focus will be Italy, but we will probably fly in and out of Zurich (rent a car) since it seems to have the most FF availability for my cousin and the cheapest flights for me. I'm sure my cousing will enjoy the short trek through Switzerland to Italy.

I have an MC that I've had for years that added a point program a few years ago. I was informed in Dec. that 45,000 of those points will be expiring the end of May. It's not a very good rewards card as Europe flights are 65,000 pts, but you just pick the flight up to $850, put it on your MC and they pay it with your points. You can't transfer their pts to an FF account. It's one reason I'm interestd in the other cards that have better benefits. The advantage to my MC card is it doesn't charge all the extra fees in Europe that other cards do because it's issued through my credit union. We usually get the exchange rate listed on Oanda the day we charge. They also don't charge fees on ATM's in Europe so it's a keeper.

I was aware of the SPG transfer amounts, but still thought it would be a good deal or better than transferring to Priority Club. Some of the cities have availability for SPG with as little as 3,000-4,000 pts(Genoa). We are actually looking at properties out of the cities since I've been to Italy several times and my cousin has been to the big three and Amalfi and we will have a car. We are considering Caserta as a base also since Priority Club has the Crowne Plaza listed at 5,000 pts per night. A bargain!

What would the Delta ATL/ZRH flight be like? Old planes? Have you flown that leg? I just got an e-mail from Delta about the $100 fare/voucher guarantee.

travelgourmet

<i>What would the Delta ATL/ZRH flight be like? Old planes? Have you flown that leg? I just got an e-mail from Delta about the $100 fare/voucher guarantee.</i>

This looks to be a 767-300ER route. It isn't the most modern plane. It doesn't have AVOD or power ports in coach. But, they are well-kept, in my experience, so they will be clean and pleasant.

Indeed, aside from the low-tech amenities, international flights on Delta are decent. I've found the service to be good, and you do get one free wine or beer with your meal. And the ice cream is nice. All in all, a solid B, in my opinion.

kybourbon

Thanks. My other connection possiblities are Continental's 767 or NWA airbus. Are Continental planes updated with AVOD?

P_M

ky, last year I got that exact offer from AmEx where I got 50K miles for getting a gold card. It took about 14 weeks for the points to post, but once they came through there were no strings attached. I transferred these points to my Continental One Pass account and it happened instantly, while I was still on the phone. This was a great deal for me and I do recommend it.

rkkwan

CO's 767s have personal video with 10 video channels running on a loop, not AVOD. But the planes are newer than DL's 767-300s.

kybourbon

Thanks PM. I'm don't think the points will be in time for this trip (I'll save them for the next one) since I plan on traveling late April or early May. Did you keep the card or cancel it at the end of the free year?

Thanks rkkwan, I knew you would be up to date on CO.

I'm still leaning towards NWA with the 6 hour layover in AMS so my cousin can see a few canals.