FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Best use of miles for various trips? - Advice Needed
Old Jan 10, 2013 | 9:42 am
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hamburglar
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Oakland, CA
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Best use of miles for various trips? - Advice Needed

I consider myself knowledgeable in the miles game, but some of you are probably better at this than me. My wife and I currently have the following balances and would like to go to the following places (in order of priority). My next trip would be starting in 2014 so I know it's early but I would like to accumulate miles earlier if possible.

I know that using AA miles to Europe doesn't get me a flat bed unless I ride BA, which includes large taxes. My thought was to use my UA miles to South Africa and AA Miles to South America and Thailand. Not sure what the best use of my Amex MR points would be? I could also use my SPG points converted to LAN and fly to Lima for only 40k SPG points (due to 1:2 conversion). Are these the best choices? If so, looks like I should be accumulating more UA miles since they have more options to Europe with a flat bed. I appreciate any advice to treat my wife nicely. Thanks!

Destinations from SFO on Business only:

Greece/Turkey
South Africa
South America (Lima, Brazil, or Argentina)
Morocco
Thailand

Miles we have now:

Myself:

AA: 258k
British: 12k
Delta: 12k
United: 122k (soon to be 177k from UA CC I just applied for)
SPG: 39k
Amex MR: 89k


Wife:

AA: 142k
BA: 6k
Delta: 8k
UA: 23k (soon to be 123k from UA CC and fidelity)
SPG: 32k
Amex MR: 88k
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