I tried for the Chase Ink Preferred and turns out I was at 5/24 so denied.

I should be down to 4/24 in July so I was thinking of re-applying in July if they're still offering 80k.

But I'm thinking of a trip to SIN or some other Asian destination for next year so I'm considering all the different J or F awards which are available. It would be a slam dunk to accumulate more UR points if SQ had reliable award availability 330 days out. Instead all you see are waitlist options which may or may not turn into awards. No way I'm risking transferring points without greater certainty.

There are awards on ANA and BR out of SFO but they're 80k each way.

Turns out CX is another possibility though the Asia Miles (transferring Amex MR points) doesn't seem to be something a lot of US FTers are doing. However, redemptions on AS are pretty reasonable 55k each way for J award on CX.

So I'm thinking of getting either an AS Visa or SPG Amex, to get 30k AS Mileage Plan miles or up to 35k SPG points.

Those point totals seem so paltry compared to 80k Amex. But as long as AS doesn't raise the price on CX J awards -- AA raised it to 70k each way last March.