apologies for reviving an old thread but figured it would be better than starting a new one. im looking to book an award trip to thailand from NYC, specifically phuket and ko samoi, i would like to minimize the flight time as much as possible so i would like to avoid flying NYC-HKK-BKK-PHUKET OR KO SMOI. one stop in hkk or bkk would be fine. i dont mind flying coach but if biz or first is not much more than i would definitely consider that. im looking to do this sometime in mid 2016 so i if figured it would give me enough time to open the necessary cards and meet the min spend. im open on to fly basically any airline but looking for the most bang for the buck(or mile in this case).
thanks!