We have about 500k Amex points that we would like to use sept/oct 2017 to go to Europe for 3 weeks in 1st. We would be doing open jaw with Paris and Rome as our airports. I will start looking but does anyone have advice on which airlines to look at for good conversion of points to miles? We live in Boston but could depart anywhere on East coast including Montreal. understand cannot use miles until 330 days out.

Thx

I am pretty sure that the participating airlines depends on what country you are in. So go to AMEX's website and see which airlines you can transfer point to, then go to the airline's loyalty program ans see how many miles you need to go where you want, then figure out who has the best points to trip ratio.

You should also ask this question on FlyerTalk.

Have a look here - https://upgradedpoints.com/9-ways-to...Hotel-Partners

One thing to remember is that by transferring your MR points to an airline mileage program you can use all that airline's partners as well as the airline itself. Thus transferring miles to, say, Air Canada Aeroplan means you can use the Aeroplan points for travel on Air Canada, United, Lufthansa, Swiss, or any Star Alliance member. Transferring to Delta opens Skyteam members like Air France or Alitalia; transferring to Iberia gives you American, British, and all the Oneworld airlines.

So it's a two-step process for you. First, look for award availability, which you may need to do by looking at individual airlines' websites, and second, transferring the miles to the relevant airline FFP - or a <i>partner's</i> FFP if the redemption "price" is better.

Note this doesn't happen instantly, and don't expect first class (or business class if the airline doesn't have first class) to appear magically on the first day you can book. Airlines don't want to give away seats that might sell for thousands and thousands of dollars closer to the flight date, thus award seats in premium cabins (in all cabins, actually) are released throughout the 11-month booking window.

Also be mindful that some airlines (British Airways is the most notorious) charge huge fees on top of the miles/points "cost," making the net value of the miles much less than when using airlines that don't charge the same fees. This too will require some homework on your part. Start by doing some "dummy" bookings to see what the fees would be like.

Short answer: Air France (Flying Blue) is your best bet for transfers from Membership Rewards (AmEx).

Long answer: Using Air France miles, you can fly non-stop from Boston to Paris, Paris to Rome, and then Rome to Boston. Availability is very good when booking well out. Note that Air France only lets you book about 10 months out, but they hold some seats for their own Flying Blue members that aren't available to their partners' FF programs. I've gotten award sears from them on many occasions (and I only fly in business or 1st).

Note that you won't find flights with 1st class, only business, from Boston. Air France business is generally good, although many of their flights from Boston have the angled-flat seats (which actually aren't so bad at all, especially for the short BOS-CDG flight). Alitalia flights to Rome have flat beds (and you can use AF miles on Alitalia).