My wife and I are in the process of adopting from China and I'm trying to figure out if there is a strategy moving forward or if we just pay cash for airfare. We're pretty early in our process (past home study) and still have probably 12-18 months before we travel. I've searched the China Adoption threads on FT and it seems the most recent is about 14 months old and relates to DL (of which I have 0 miles).

There will be three of us traveling to China (us and our daughter (8yo)) and four returning (us and our 2 daughters (8yo and ~18 months)). We fly out of SEA. I'm almost positive we'll start in PEK for a few days. After that, we may go to parts unknown (not too worried about that) and then we'll return home from Guangzhao (CAN). There and back have to be relatively straight forward itineraries due to the stress (especially on the return) so I can't really take advantage of stopovers or fun routing. We'll probably have about 5 weeks notice to travel (maybe a week or two more) and I'd like to fly business (even if I have to pay for one).

Here's what I have (to date):

AA 170K
AS 300K
BA 140K
UR 100K

On the way, AA seems pretty straight forward out of ORD to PEK (unless I'm missing something easier/cheaper from SEA).

On the way back from CAN, I'm thinking Cathay (via AS)? We can't transit Canada so YVR is out but could go though SFO (via HG).

I can't see using BA due to YQ, multiple stops, and distance but I may be missing something.

Am I on the right track? I've never traveled internationally and never booked an international award ticket so I'm just trying to figure out where best to accrue (and have a back up plan) or just figure out if it is even worth it (although, I'd really like to us miles for all/some of the airfare).

Thanks in advance for any help.