I've been messing around on ba.com for the past 30 minutes, wondering what to do with the rest of my 63k avios since PEK-HKG-JFK plus an intra-US one way in Y is no longer in the cards.

Ex-PEK, I can go to Japan or HK for 10k in Y (one way) plus around $40 in taxes... not such a bad deal.

Meanwhile, LHR in biz is 50k + $300. While that 50k is the same price as my old JFK award, I: 1) don't get to stop in HK or Tokyo; 2) taxes are an extra $125; and 3) I don't anticipate any burning need to visit London in the near future.

Next, I checked out the pek airport wiki in order to determine exactly what BA partners serve PEK. Apart from the obvious, we have AY, QF, S7. Just for kicks, I checked for flights to Siberia first (that's where S7 flies from here), but I couldn't find anything.

Then, QF. I couldn't get any direct flights to price, so I'm not sure what to conclude, but CX via HK is really raw deal (70k each way in biz).

As for AY, PEK-HEL is 40k + $300 in biz (this used to cost at least 60k each way). I suppose I could live with that. I've never been to Finland, but perhaps I'll try out the trans Siberian RR next summer and fly back. And, I'd still have to 20k left over to use for my last minute PEK-HKG needs (this can be obnoxiously expensive on paid tickets).

In conclusion, I'll figure out a way to burn down my stash in a reasonably intelligent manner before bidding farewell to the program for good. That having been said, when I booked my last ticket about a month ago, I asked the BA phone rep if it was true that the price for JFK-PEK would be increasing on 11/16, and she told me, "no; we're just changing the name of our currency".