Originally Posted by WilcoRoger

You might want to look at AA - they sell now (August) 100k miles for ca. 2000 USD and you pay about 20 bucks YQ to SYD. I think it's 90k miles to SYD with LOTS of routing options.

I'm in the same shoes as you are (taking the better half down under), so I'm on the brink of pulling the trigger. As an alternative I'm thinking of taking the AA Plat challenge, and credit my upcoming Asian flights to AA (with the 100% elite bonus it's very lucrative)

OK, I see that you are only short 50k AY points, so actually it's less cash going the AY+ route.