I would like to book tickets to Italy for May 2011 using Amex reward points. I have enough for Business class. It seems that Delta looks at the return date to determine how early you can book the flight. Doesn't that mean that by that time the reward seats TO Italy may already be gone? It seems the longer the trip one is planning, the greater the disadvantage in trying to use points. Delta will not let you book one way at a time. I can't figure out how to do this. I was planning on 5/13 departure and 5/29 return.

Has anyone had this difficulty? I would really appreciate some help with navigating this system. I would use another airline if I could do the transfer from Amex. Thank you.

There are several airlines that participate in the Amex Membership Rewards programs and serve Italy. Alitalia and Continental both fly non-stop from NYC (JFK and EWR, respectively). You could also transfer to Air Canada, British Airways, or Iberia, all of which have service to Italy from JFK with 1 plane change.

If you transfer your miles to CO or AC, you can use those miles on Lufthansa and SWISS, both of which tend to have much less restrictive award seat availability than does Delta. BA does offer one-way award tickets for half the price of RT, though their availability has been limited recently since they began giving away lots and lots of miles.

This is a common problem; you want to book outbound tickets for the earliest possible date, ideally at 330 days out (which is the earliest you can with most airlines) but can't hold the tickets long enough to get to the return date -330 days.

First, it's worth noting that while seats <i>can</i> be released into award inventory at D-330, most airlines <i>don't</i> release seats on that calendar. Instead, they will release them in dribs and drabs over the entire 11 month period, holding many - maybe most - "potential" award seats while they see how sales are going. They'd much prefer to sell an empty seat rather than give it up for mileage redemption, although they know they <i>have</i> to release some seats, since the unredeemed miles are on their books as liabilities just like the empty seats.

For example, American Airlines award inventory for this August (2010) came open last September/October. Many seats were snapped up.

However, if you go to AA today, almost June, and look at, say, Chicago - London in mid-August, you'll see anywhere from 7 to 21 seats available for redemption every day of the week. Somewhere in the bowels of AA's revenue management offices (or at Hogwarts where they all train) someone has decided that sales of those seats for those days (for cash) are lagging, hence let's release more to award inventory. Those seats were NOT available last autumn; hope springs eternal in airline accountants' hearts.

So my advice is not to sweat it. Be patient. If possible look for one-way redemptions (AA, United, BA, and probably more airlines are moving in that direction) so you can grab seats when you see them. Or, mentally add $100 or $150 to your budget - the amount needed to do a date change with award trips - so that if a better schedule appears after you've pulled the trigger, you can change everything. Make hotel reservations last.

Waiting until your return is bookable doesn't necessarily mean that outbound seats won't be available. Award availability changes constantly. Also just because XXX days (exact date varies by program) is the earliest you can book, doesn't mean award seats have been added to inventory at that time.

You <i>can</i> book just an outbound on Delta and add a return later but this requires a reissue fee of $100 and I'm not sure it's worth paying rather than just waiting to book all at once.

As mentioned, BA offers one way awards but levies fuel surcharges on award bookings.

Also the amount of miles required varies widely by program so you may want to investigate that too.

Here are a few recent Membership Rewards transfer threads that you might find helpful:

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...e-from-fla.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...-lufthansa.cfm

Good luck!

And for that matter, even the magic number of 330 is a misconception, as it doesn't apply to all airlines. Lufthansa begins releasing award seats 354 days before flight date, and American does not begin to release first/business seats to Asia and Europe until ~318 days before flight date.

Some examples of mileage required through different programs for a business class redemption from NY to Italy:

ANA 68,000 (if you can keep the total distance to 9,000 miles or less)
Air Canada 80,000
Alitalia 80,000
Delta 100,000
Continental 105,000
British Airways 120,000

Keep in mind that mileage in each program can be redeemed on a number of airlines and most non-US programs levy fuel surcharges on award bookings (Air Canada does on their own flights but not if you redeem on a partner like Lufthansa). As far as I know transfers to Air Canada, Alitalia, Delta, Continental and BA are instant. ANA takes a couple of days and doesn't hold awards so there is some degree of risk.

Thanks for the enlightening facts. So, it's more hit and miss than I hoped for. It sounds like hotel prices (that can vary from week to week), but there's more at stake here pricewise (or pointwise).

I can't use American because my points to cover Business class are in Amex. I find it strange that Alitalia is less than Delta since they codeshare.

Do any of you find a difference in security between US and foreign airlines or does it really not matter?

The only difference I've noticed is that some European airports have an extra security "interview" for passengers traveling to the US on US carriers but not on foreign carriers.

To Gardyloo: Hogwarts? Lol! (although I'm sure you're being too generous.)

If you do plan to transfer Amex to Delta, register first on the Delta website as they are offering a 25% bonus for Amex transfers by June 30, but you must be registered.
https://www.delta.com/marketing/summerpromo/index.jsp

FWIW, the general consensus right now is that redemptions with Continental are easier than with Delta. Well, more accurately, redemptions with Continental's partners are generally considered easier than with Delta and her partners. Continental's availability on their own planes remains poor, and Delta is not that much better.

Personally, I would probably transfer to Continental, if you have specific dates in mind. In all likelihood, it will mean flying with Lufthansa or Swiss and connecting for at least some of the journey. Swiss offers new flat beds on their A330-300 and this would be an especially good choice. You might also see about a Virgin Atlantic flight hooking up with Lufthansa Italia out of Heathrow.

If you do go with Delta, bear in mind that Alitalia pretty much stinks and so you should seek to redeem with Delta, Air France, or KLM.

Just note that the Delta bonus won't post immediately so you'll need to transfer the full amount but will have an extra 25% for later use.

Personally, I'd wait until your return is bookable, find availability, then transfer since most are instant. The exception is if you want the Delta transfer bonus in which case, the deadline is just shy of your return being bookable.

kyb- thanks for that tip about the Delta bonus. I hadn't seen it anywhere.

I really would prefer a non-stop flight so I'll probably end up on Delta. None of the airlines make it easy, that's for sure.

And gardyloo - hogwarts - lol!

This article in today's business section of the NY Times is very discouraging with Delta having the next to worse record (after US Air) in making FF seats available. My only hope is that trying to get business class seats for a gazillion miles (from a gazillion dollars spent on Amex) will not be as difficult to obtain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/bu...oad.html?fta=y

You didn't mention your destination in Italy, but Delta has a non-stop flight JFK/Pisa which is a seasonal flight. You might find seats there when they first add that schedule.

I would like to fly to Milan and return from Pisa, but I think the fact that Pisa isn't listed until much later on makes the whole thing even more difficult.

Do you have enough Amex points to just book the flights you want with Amex travel and then use the points to pay the fare ?

The Pisa flight is only on certain days depending on time of year so be sure you are trying to check a date that this flight exists. What is your first destination in Italy (assuming Milan is not your focus)?

I'm not sure how many pts you need to buy the tix. I have enough points for business award tix.

I'm thinking of Cinque Terre, Parma, Bologna, Lucca, southern Tuscany plus Orvieto - all places I've never been to in many previous trips to Italy. About 15 nights excluding overseas travel. (ky - are you the one who gave advice about grad pgms in engineering a long time ago?)

If booking through Amex Travel, points are valued at $0.01 each.