Using Am Ex points for frequent flyer miles on any airline from USA-Florida into Rome out of Venice April 2005. Want to go first class.Willing to fly out of other US cities. Which airline has best deal re # of ff miles, convenience, service etc.

Not many airlines have true first class service anymore. Only US ones that have them are United and AA, neither of which is a AMEX partner.

Air France still has first class service, but I don't think that's an award available with the AMEX Rewards program. And Alitalia doesn't have 1st class either.

Of all the available airlines in Business Class, the best product is the BusinessFirst from Continental. But that means you need to change planes in Newark.

Air France partners with Delta which participates in Membership Rewards (I'm assuming that's the program you're referring to). 100,000 Delta Skymiles = one Air France F ticket from US to Europe. It will require 2 connections en route though, via ATL and CDG, from Florida to Italy. Contact Delta's partner award desk and make sure ff seats are available on Air France before transferring points. Delta will let you hold the reservation for 14 days. Membership Rewards to Delta transfers are almost instantaneous now.

A business class option is also available on Air France for 90,000 miles. And there are many other business class possibilities on Delta, Continental, and their partners as well.

Good point by Patty about transferring points to DL and then get a reward ticket on AF's F-class.

rkkwan,
I was wondering if this is possible through CO as well, as they're part of Skyteam now. Is AF F class an option using OnePass miles?

Yes, 100K Onepass miles for AF's First Class, same as CO's BusinessFirst. Other business class products are 80K Onepass miles.

using amex miles, my wife and i have traveled from phx-atl-cdg on AF, first class twice now. EXCELLENT service, food, VERY comfortable bed, slept from an hour out of atl and woke up with less than an hour to land at CDG. continental bus. first is only OK, we just did it from phx-houston-ams, just NO WAY for a 6'4 in. guy to sleep in one one those NO WHERE NEAR FLAT BEDS. Lufthansa's, AF's, and swiss has a good fully flat bed and great service in first.if the bed does not fold down fully, keep looking!

I was just on Delta's web site and it looks like you cannot use your Skymiles for a free first class ticket on Air
France. Is this a new change?

The options are listed under the Delta/Skyteam award charts. Just select the area where your flight originates. For US to Europe, first class on Air France (and also Continental BF) is 100,000 miles per person. Business class is 90,000 miles per person.

https://www.delta.com/skymiles/use/s...t_us/index.jsp