One of the great frustrations of the American Express Membership Rewards program is that American Airlines does not participate as a transfer partner. What’s more, it’s nearly* impossible to use American Express points to claim an award seat on any oneWorld carrier (American, British, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LanChile, Finnair, Aer Lingus). I say nearly because there are ways of working partnerships to get some seats, such as transferring points to Continental or USAirways to claim award seats on Qantas. But there aren’t any oneWorld partners in the Membership Rewards program. Right now there’s a brief window of opportunity, however, created by a confluence of two separate conversion bonuses. As I noted yesterday, transfers from American Express to Starwood earn a 50% bonus through March 31. And until January 31, transfers from hotel program into…
