Did you ever convert 20,000 *points to 25,000 airline miles?

I used my old Diners Club (years ago) like the OP intended for the SPG card. That card, in its heyday was great - the points transferred into almost any other program out there at attractive rates, and no fees. Ironically, my big "blow out" transfer was at the end of the Westin Gold / start of SPG, when I needed the remaining DC points for the best award that Westin program ever had - the 500,000 point (equiv. to 100,000 Starpoints) trip for 2 - UA Business + 4 nights hotel in London or Paris - no taxes, fees, nothing. Just the points. Those were the days.

Yes, to top off account. However, I think that the nights & flights is a better deal. If you stay 5 night at a cat 4 the 50K airline miles cost you only 30K *Pts

Twice. Once for the AA 20 for 20 (20th anniversary Promo) and once for another promotion. I like to use my Starwood points for hotels. Starwood seems to like to treat Award Stays better than other chains.

Just once so far: Right before BA switched to Avios, we wanted to book a trip to South America (just returned last month.) We householded our British Air accounts, and so we would need 160,000 (80K each) for our business class tickets, including Machu Picchu and Easter Island. DH had 100K from the credit card, plus about 10K from spend, so I converted 40K SPG into 50K BA miles in order to get the trip booked before BA changed the program. It hurt to do it, but it was really worth it. We also used SPG points (all as Points + Cash) in Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, Urubamba (Peru) and Lima on that trip. Burned a lot of SPG points, but we feel we got great value.

Not since I've had the United 3x credit card; did it a few times before that.
I like 25% bonus miles, but the delay unnerved me.

Nights & Flights II: 40K points for a Fifth Night Free Award at the Sheraton Davos Seehof during ski season + 30K for 50K airline miles (+ bonus promo miles).

I wish that SPG would add a N&F option for Cat5 properties, though.

Many times to AA miles very easy process on SPG.com

Yep, a fews before 11/30/11 to make sure I crossed the 2MM threshold.

I wish I did that last year to cross the 1MM threshold

I ended up over by 28,000 miles as some miles I had been waiting for finally posted. But it was worth it to be safe.

You live and learn. But with all those DEQM/TEQM you should be pretty close, right?

Couple hundred thousand short! But what kills me is I have like over 150000 spg point. Ack!

Yes getting to 1MM on AA has a value, but I think that in the long run 150K SPG are worth more than 185K AA even if you consider the 185K would have counted for 1MM. So, if you list this in the top 10 traveling mistakes you have made, you are doing great.

I know but I will have to get a Butt replacement or implants after doing the rest of the BIS miles to get my LT Gold! And another replacement at 2MM. I wonder if Randy will offer insurance as part of the new MP paid subscription?

At the 1MM level, definitely debatable. But at 2MM? I get double miles now for every flight.

As much as I'd rather have the SPG points now, I think it was worthwhile.

I did it twice in the early days,
but for many years now just save them for C+P use.

With SPG I've never done it. I love the flexible transfer cards though- I've transferred Amex MR points to BA & Delta when there were promotions, I've never actually used a Chase Ultimate rewards point but will likely end up transferring to United or Hyatt. But with Starwood, its always hotel stays- the Cash and points option has always been the strongest choice for me- or I'll spend points for a stay if cash+points not available....

Anyone wish they could go in reverse? I'd love to swap 25K AA miles to 20K SPG points . . .

Many times. My first big transfer was maybe 9 years ago. Cathay Pacific's reward chart was much more generous than it is today. First Class, NY to Paris, was only 90,000 miles so needed 180,000 total. 140,000 Starwood points gave me 175,000 so I transferred a total of 145,000 - 72,500 points per ticket. We flew First Class on British
Airways. What was most interesting was that if we had transferred those points directly to BA, their own redemption for those same seats was 150,000 per ticket - two-thirds more!

With the recent credit card airline bonuses, we haven't transferred in awhile but would always do it to top off for an award. And up until recently, people transferred a lot to AA in order to get lifetime status.

In the end, it depends on how you like to fly and how many points you are able to generate.

Several times and it was a great boost to get to 2MM lifetime on AA just before they stopped counting all miles

That's exactly why I did it, but since I've overshot the mark by lots of MMs now, I wish I hadn't . . .

Quite a few years ago (when the Concorde was still flying)--Starwood had a promotion which gave a big bonus for transferring points to Qantas. As Qantas was a partner with BA, many at FT participated and then booked F seats on BA, which allowed us to fly the Concorde at a much reduced point level. Anyone else here do this ?

Hi there old friend.

That was a good deal.