I have a platinum American Express credit card with "membership
rewards points" of 190,000 miles which can be transfered to several
airlines frequent flyer miles. For example, when I buy a particular
class of coach seat on US Airways (Philadelphia to London,
approximately $400 round trip off season) and move 20,000 miles from
American Express to US Airways I can upgrade one way to business class
(40,000 miles round trip). I want to fly British Airways, which has "a
truly flat bed in business class", but they won't accept American
Express ;miles. Is there any way around this so I could use my
American Express membership reward points to upgrade from coach to
business class on British Airways at the approximate $400 round trip
"out of pocket" cost to fly Philadelphia/London? I believe there are
point/mile sharing/distributing companies/organizations that one could
join.

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Request for Question Clarification by tlspiegel-ga on 23 Jan 2003 20:13 PST

Hi again,

Well, this is getting more and more interesting!  The good news is
yes, you can transfer your American Express membership rewards for
travel on Continental Airlines and Delta.  The unfortunate news is
neither airline has a truly flat bed.  Very exotic seating (more on
that) but nothing where you can be lying down flat.

I called both Continental and Delta.  The lady at Continental told me
to link to: http://www.continental.com/travel/inflight/businessfirst/seat/

From there she said click on the link: "discover the new seat"

which takes you to this page:
http://www.continental.com/travel/inflight/businessfirst/seat/shell.html

Nice, but not what you want!

And the Delta lady told me to link to their page at:
http://www.continental.com/travel/inflight/businessfirst/seat/shell.html

From there I clicked on the picture: "Seat in Recline Position" and
was taken to this page:
http://www.delta.com/prog_serv/biz_elite/tour/virtual_rec.html

I am sorry I don't have more positive information for you.

Best regards,

tlspiegel
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by jran-ga on 24 Jan 2003 07:15 PST

Hi tlspiegel-ga, Thank you again for your efforts. It looks like I
can't fly coach class Philadelphia/London for under $400 and upgrade
with American Express membership rewards points to business class and
be in a truly flat bed/seat. Unless you find a company to trade miles,
we can call my question complete/answered and I very much appreciate
your work. Regards, Jran

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Request for Question Clarification by tlspiegel-ga on 24 Jan 2003 08:04 PST

Hi jran,

I wish I had the answer for you - perhaps another researcher will be
able to find the solution.  :)

Good Luck,

tlspiegel
Google Answers Researcher

Hi jran,

I haven't researched the point/mile sharing/distributing
companies/organizations that you might join.  But I did investigate on
how you might be able to utilize your American Express Reward Points.

My best friend works for American Express and told me to call
Membership Rewards at: 1-800-297-3276.  I spoke to a very nice
Customer Service Rep named Joe G.  Basically he said, "the answer is
unfortunately no, you can't".

However, because you're interest is in a "truly flat bed in business
class" on an International airline he thought you might want to check
out Virgin Atlantic Airlines.  Most every upper echelon airline take
out every other row enabling flat beds in the business class section.

Best regards,

tlspiegel
Google Answers Researcher

Hi... I forgot to add this:

As a Platinum Card holder you are entitled to free International
Companion tickets through the American Express Platinum Travel Service
office.  That might be another option for you to look into.

tlspiegel
Google Answers Researcher

Hi tlspiegel-ga, Thank you for your comments. I know about the option
of a free companion ticket but it is expensive to pay full fare
business class to get a second free ticket. I called the American
Express membership rewards phone number you supplied and they said
their only partners that might fly from Philadelphia to London are
Continental and Delta. If either of these would have "a truly flat bed
in business class" then that answers my question. (Right now I fly US
Airways, but business class seats recline but are not flat beds.) The
other possibility is that there might exist an organization or
business that somehow would "trade" my miles for someone else's (???)
so I could use theirs on British Air and they could use mine somewhere
else. Maybe this doesn't exist however. Jran-ga

Hi tlspiegel, I'm not persuing the question further and am considering
my question answered so you might want to send me an official answer
to complete this transaction. Thanks for your help. Jran