Originally Posted by
ejmmjm
We have hundreds of thousands of points on Chase, Amex Platinum, and Citicard.We can put them and combine to any airline that takes them.
<snip> What would be the MOST ECONOMICAL use of our miles? We want to use as few as possible. Thank you.
I did post similar question yesterday but do not think it was as clear so reposting
Hi ejmmjm, glad to see you back on FT. All jesting aside, the rules here at FT are that duplicate posting is not allowed, and we kindly ask that you don't repost questions simply because the answers to a general question weren't helpful enough. You may find more help will be forthcoming if you ask very specific things- the cumulative body of knowledge here at FT is unmatched.
That said, let's move on... The gist of reward bookings is that there is nearly always a way, but finding the best and most economical use of your miles for "free," and, especially, "free business class" travel, is an art form in and of itself. London Elite gave you some good hints. You can figure out what airline routes are available through Wikipedia by typing in the airport name and looking under "passenger destinations." That will tell you who flies from what destination, and you can piece together your itinerary.
There are multitudes of posts and threads here on FT to assist you in finding/figuring out what best works for you, but you'll have to do the legwork for yourself. The easiest way might be, as suggested, to hire a booking service, who knows the ins and outs of the various airlines and the transfer partners for your nice array of points.
How many people are traveling? Are your cruise dates already booked? Is there flexibility in your dates, routing and schedule? If your main goal is to get from Florida to TYO for your cruise, you might have to be flexible on the other items, especially if your dates are fairly soon. The award tix get released roughly 11 months out, and the biz class/saver fares often get snapped up quickly.
Hope that helps.