Originally Posted by
SirWilliam
I have about 500k miles total between British Airways, American Airlines, Cathy Pacific and Alaska Airlines. I never use my miles
Are you sure your Cathay Pacific miles aren't going to expire? I thought they had a "hard" expiration, but I'm not 100% sure.
Why do you have your miles spread across so many different OneWorld programs (BA, AA, CX)? You could put all your flights on the four airlines you just mentioned all into one program (if you chose an airline that partners with AA, which is at least two of those). Then it'd be a lot easier to not worry about expiration.
Anyhow, I don't know what to tell you, the
only two high-value redemptions out of any flexible-points program (such as Diners Club Club Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards) are airline miles used for business/first-class airline rewards (or for domestic awards to low-competition places
sometimes, like when I once got Los Angeles to Jackson Hole WY on 25k UA miles roundtrip even though cash cost was $500++), and hotel points used in situations where the point cost for the stay is low but the cash cost for the stay would be high. That's because airline miles and hotel points are not "fixed value" currencies.
Alll redemptions for pretty much
everything else are done as cash conversion (ie, the credit card pays real money to buy the gift card or gift certificate), and the gift card or gift certificate has a fixed value), so there's no way to get more than about 1% cash back equivalent using those other redemptions (out of DC CR or Amex MR).