Q & A
I would like to transfer miles from Amex’s Membership Rewards to AA to upgrade to Business. My husband is short about 25,000 miles, and I am short about 39,000. We just joined this year so we are not elite yet. (We are with Continental.) Is there some way to get those miles from Amex to AA?Isabella Overend, Nassau, Bahamas
I recommend that you get the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card, which enables you to transfer Starpoints to AA. As for your current Amex points, you have three options: You can transfer them to the Starwood program, which enables you to transfer them to American, but by doing so you’ll lose 42% (after the 25% Starwood transfer bonus). An alternative is to transfer the points to Iberia Airlines, a Oneworld member, but you can only request an AA award ticket. The last option, as you mentioned, would be a transfer to Points.com, where conversion rates vary by mileage program and aren’t very good. - mbMy husband passed away a couple of months ago and I don’t want to lose his AAdvantage miles, so I haven’t told American Airlines yet, fearing they may just close his account. I can’t see a way of transferring the points on the AA website, but could I use Points.com to put them into my account? Or do you recommend a different method?
Beryl Urquhart, Eastbourne, UK
I am sorry to hear about your loss. The AAdvantage program will transfer your husband’s miles to your account, but charges $50 to do so. All you have to do is call (800) 882-8880, ask for Customer Service, and request the form needed for the transfer. - mbSuccess Story
This year, it was your posting of US Airways’ transfer bonus on hotel points that made a big difference. Behold the genius of my mileage math, all thanks to your June article. Here’s what I did:• Transfer 45,000 miles from Starwood (which I’ve held for years based on your recommendation), plus
• Earn 10,000 bonus miles from Starwood, plus
• Earn another 25,000 special offer miles from US Airways.
• With this, I was able to book Business Class for a threedestination trip to Europe. All for the price of tax.
As you’ve recommended many times, I took a look at all the partners who served my destinations and figured out a way to do an open jaw to cover the first stop, Zurich on SWISS; then seven days later continuing to Prague on SWISS; and returning to New York on Lufthansa from Prague via Frankfurt.
I feel like I’ve won the lottery.