A week ago I wrote about the changes coming to the American Express Platinum card March 30. It's April 2, so those changes have now taken effect.

Thanks to Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott's merger, SPG members can choose to link their account to either Marriott Rewards or Ritz Carlton Rewards.

Last September when this shift occurred, One Mile at a Time wrote a post about which account to link your SPG account to. It depends on your preferences.

I am planning a trip to Europe that begins in Madrid, departing South America when it starts to grow cold down here and warm up in your hemisphere. I recently booked a British Airways Avios award to get myself there from São Paulo, Brazil flying Iberia Business Class on an A330.
Looking at My Options
A flight from South America to Europe is a long one. If I could help it, I decided I wanted a Business Class flight.

Through April 11, Iberia Avios awards are being priced with a 25% discount in celebration of the company's 25th anniversary. The discounted price applies to travel dates now through June 15, 2017 as well as October 1 through December 15, 2017, flying any routes on Iberia, Iberia Express, and Iberia Regional Air Nostrum planes.

The only points that transfer directly to Iberia are Membership Rewards, but at the crappy rate of 250:200.

You have two more days (including today) to transfer hotel points to Southwest for the purposes of earning a Southwest Companion Pass. Friday, March 31 is the cutoff. After Friday, any points transferred to Southwest will not count as "qualifying" towards the Companion Pass. That includes Marriott Travel Packages.

The Southwest Companion Pass, if you're unaware, is one of the best deals in travel. If you have the Southwest Companion pass, you can designate a companion who flies for just the taxes on every Southwest flight you fly.

In February, my parents flew down to South America to join me for a trip in Rio de Janiero, followed by a week spent in Buenos Aires, the location I call home for at least half the year.

I booked them in United Business between Charleston, SC and Rio de Janiero using United miles, and LATAM Business between Buenos Aires and Miami using American Airlines miles.

lf you aren't already a member of Alaska MileagePlan, Alaska Airline's frequent flyer program, register before April 30, 2017, and take a paid Alaska Airlines or Virgin America flight by September 30, 2017 and you'll earn a bonus of 5,000 Alaska miles.
How to Get 5k Bonus Miles
If you don't have an existing MileagePlan account...

Register here before April 30, 2017.

American Airlines is offering up to 115,000 bonus miles when you purchase American Airlines miles through April 13, 2017. You can now buy 265,000 American Airlines miles including bonus for $4,786.88 or 1.8 cents each.

Bonus miles are tiered based on how many miles you purchase. The best deal is to buy 150,000.

American Airlines miles cost 2.95 cents each plus a 7.5% excise tax, and every purchase has a $30 processing fee.

I tend to toot Alaska MileagePlan's horn quite a bit because I myself am a big fan of Alaska miles. You get free stopovers on one way awards, Alaska has a great mix of partners from multiple alliances, and their award charts are filled with sweetspots. Their miles also aren't the hardest to come by, since Bank of America issues a personal and business co-branded Alaska card and SPG points transfer to Alaska.

One of the perks of the Alaska Airlines credit card (both the personal and business version come with one) is an annual Companion Certificate.

Since award space can be a scarce resource, it is important to note that not all transferrable points transfer to their partners instantaneously.

This is the third post of a four part series going over how long it takes each type of transferrable point to transfer to its partners.