American Express Membership Rewards - MR for asia trip

Hi , I am new to this forum and I have done some research about my trip to Taiwan using my Amex Platinum card or my MR points. need some advise on how to maximize my return.

Case : From New York to Taiwan , flexible schedule between Feb. -Mar. 2010,
would prefer any airline with in-fight wifi and power outlet seat, have about 100k MR points for upgrade, not willing to pay like $4000 for biz class....

ANA might be a good choice , transferring at Tokyo.
Or I should get on Virgin America from JFK to LAX , and start from there ??

please help :confused::confused::confused::confused:

China Air has some some good prices that may come in on your budget, and they are a Taiwan based carrier. I've flown on them to Europe and business was very good. If the power socket is an issue for you, I would look to finding out what airlines/aircraft are configured for power outlets. I have been able to get a flight attendant to 'recharge' my lap top on an international flight using the galley power.

A second battery is also an option....

Check the 100k BA deal on the mileage run forum - mightl get you to TPE in C r/t - adding 50K in MR points will make it F.

MR miles transfer to Aeroplan while you wait, after you find a suitable award itinerary. Can get a C award JFK-TPE on multiple carriers for 100K, F for 120K. Possibilities include NH, OZ or mix and match.

MR miles transfer to Aeroplan while you wait, after you find a suitable award itinerary. Can get a C award JFK-TPE on multiple carriers for 100K, F for 120K. Possibilities include NH, OZ or mix and match.

I highly recommend Aeroplan. I got SFO-BKK Business class for 100K miles. Thinking of flying my best man out first for 120K out of BOS. Easy process. I had to pay $90 in taxes per person.

...SFO-BKK Business class for 100K miles. .

I think those of us who seldom fly Star Alliance would benefit if posters would mention the name of the carrier operating the flights.

I believe aeroplan also allows rtw for 120k in F - so you can make a stopover in Asia and Europe along the way.

I believe aeroplan also allows rtw for 120k in F - so you can make a stopover in Asia and Europe along the way.

They do. We recently did EWR-FRA-MAD-ZRH-BKK-SIN-BKK-MUC-FRA-EWR in July. This was all done in F. The 2 flights (BKK-SIN and SIN-BKK) done in J. 120K each. This included various flights on Lufthansa, Thai, and Swiss

Id say just being able to spend time in the FRA F terminal as well as the F lounge in BKK was worth the miles.

I believe aeroplan also allows rtw for 120k in F - so you can make a stopover in Asia and Europe along the way.

There are stopover restrictions, but they have been greatly liberalized at Aeroplan. Used to be you could only fly tpac with one stopover for an entire Asia trip. Now you can fly either tatl or tpac, your choice, mix and match, to include RTW with one stop in each direction.

I have an F award upcoming next year that routes IAD-ORD-NRT-SIN-FRA-IAD on ANA, SQ and LH costing 120K miles total through Aeroplan. No issues.

For the OP, the trick is to first use the "Flight Search" feature on the ANA award tool to check out your desired itinerary segment by segment. Then call Aeroplan with known availability in hand and direct the agent accordingly. Years ago, setting up an award trip could take an hour or even longer with a rep who might or might not accommodate your search requests if they took too long. I especially recall nightmarish calls with cranky US Scare agents when they were an Amex MR partner outlet.

Now, if you do your homework first, you can call, book, transfer miles and have an e-ticket issued in under thirty minutes. Some things--by no means all things--are working better in FT World!