With all the discussions about inflation/devaluations of miles I have a related question. What are some of the strategies to convert "cheap" miles to "valuable" miles? What do folks here see as "cheap" vs. "valuable" miles, with conversion possibilites?

A few years ago, I found BA awards to India in F/J much better value than AA awards on the same route (AA to LHR and BA onwards). I used Diners double promo and other techniques to convert. Alas, this is no longer a true with "inflation" on this route for BA awards. (sidenote: Now AA awards on Swiss to India have much better availability in J at a slightly appreciated value for AA miles).

CO --> Amtrak --> UA seems to be another example of a lot of "cheap" to "valuable" miles conversion exercise. UA has such great awards to Australia and seems to have much better availability than CO for saver/standard awards.

I for one am now interested in conversion from any airlines to Asia Miles as I see a lot more value for International F/J on the routes I'd like to fly using CX. I have not found easy ways to go from AA/BA/Diners to Asia Miles. I am checking on that in the CX forum.