Originally Posted by Hyakku

Thanks for the input so far and sorry for the delay in responding; I've been on vacation intermittently checking messages. I don't know if I can do Cathay because I don't think I can get enough AA miles for the first class trip from the west coast right now, but Singapore is a chase UR transfer partners and a member on the star alliance correct? From what I've learned, perhaps I could use my United miles and transfer my MR/UR points to use on Singapore.

Since I'm looking for the best experience, maybe instead of booking F out of Syd on UA, I Could book F either from TYO --> SIN/BKK, OR from SIN/BKK --> SYD during my trip, and just fly economy for the LAX --> TYO and SYD --> LAX as a round trip ticket.

Do you all think the duration of the trips on one of those legs would be worth spending what looks to be about 80k vs spending the 80k on UA from SYD --> LAX? I'm still learning about plane configs and who flys where so it's hard for me to judge.