Which airlines can I transfer AmEx points to?
 

Does anyone have a page link to a list? I prefer Skyteam since I live in a Delta hub, but they've upped their ff points for Europe.

Thanks! I must be "search challenged" because I couldn't locate that.

A link I read about Northwest says you can use AmEx with them, but I don't see them listed. Anyway to use NWA?

You used to be able to convert to NWA miles, but not for some time. You can, however, transfer to Continental, Delta, or Air France and use those miles to redeem for a NWA flight (availability willing, of course).

Yet another option is to go to AmEx travel and book your trip. You can then "pay" all or part of the price using AmEx points. I just recently did this for a very expensive Swiss flight from ZRH to BKK.
Carol

<i>You can then &quot;pay&quot; all or part of the price using AmEx points.</i>

Bear in mind that this will usually get you significantly less value per point than a redemption via miles.

I have ff miles with NWA and Delta. I was trying to figure a way to use my NWA miles for Europe in combo with AmEx since Delta is now 60,000 and NWA is still 50,000 (I'm sure changes will happen soon on NWA too). I think I only have about 35,000 on my NWA account.

I too tried to do the NW thing a few months ago and found out they were not affiliated anymore. So no, you are out of luck doing it that way unfortunately.

Not sure if it would work for you, but we ended up getting our tickets through Continental, but our flight over is on Air France. The fees associated with Continental were really cheap, which was nice. Two tickets cost a total of $169 for June 2009.

Was that through a Continental FF account? I guess I could start one, but I hear their FF seats are few and far between.

It depends what you're trying to redeem. For example, if booking AF flights, the availability of award seats to CO, NW or DL members should theoretically be the same. AF does make additional seats available to its own Flying Blue (FF program of AF/KL) elite members. The difference would be the amount of miles needed and whether there are any fuel surcharges added. I believe neither CO nor NW currently levies fuel surcharge on award tickets. DL charges $50 for intl + $25 for a partner award. FB will charge the full fuel surcharge which I believe is currently somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 EUR each way for long haul. This is all on top of any real taxes.

I transferred AMEX points to the Continental FF program and booked through there. Continental was the most user friendly when I did this a few months ago. We tried 2 years ago to do it through AF and just couldn't work it. AF told me their release seats at various times so you pretty much had to check daily. Not sure how it is with Continental, but when I booked there were lots of options and it was easy to get exactly what I wanted.

CO don't release their SaverPass rewards until around 3-4 months before flight time. If you try to book early, like 11 months out, you won't get anything. Partner flights, however, are available.

CO also started to charge a hefty fee ($75) for award booking within 20 days, and an even more incredible redeposit fees of $150. So, keep those in mind if one's considering claiming awards through CO's Onepass program.

Sorry, I was wrong. NW started charging fuel surcharge on award tickets last month http://www.nwa.com/worldperks/travel/options/fuel.html

I can't plan this for a few months at least and there might be more ff program changed by then. My relative that was traveling with me called a few days ago to say he was changing jobs so we will have to wait at least 6 months (maybe longer) for his vacation time to kick-in.

Is the Delta/NW merger going to change any of this?

NW will be folded into DL, and WorldPerks miles will be converted into Skymiles. DL and AMEX are close partners (and AMEX probably plays a significant role in financing DL's purchase of NW).

So, I don't see any downside for those who have AMEX Membership Reward miles and convert them to DL Skymiles to claim tickets.

The downside is Delta ff award to Europe is 60,000 and NW is still 50,000. When is the deal supposed to be completed? What happens with Continental when it combines with United? One less place to use our Sky Team miles? Will we still be able to use AmEx points on CO?

CO is not combining with UA. It is joining Star Alliance. Don't know if they'll still be AMEX partners, but you can already transfer AMEX points to NH, SQ, AC; and you can claim tickets on SA and LX. So, I don't see why CO cannot or will not remain partners with AMEX.

BTW, it's now 60K CO Onepass miles to Europe if you claim a partner reward on DL.

Yeah, that's cause Delta awards are 60,000 which is why I was trying to avoid them. Only problem is I live in a Delta dominated area. I have some ff miles on NWA and on Delta plus my AmEx points. Trying to make the most of them. My cousin only has AmEx. We could both join CO, transfer AmEx points and fly CO.