i was actually making a decision of i should use either 280k (or 320k) delta skymiles or 220k aa miles (pre devaluation) to book hkg to lhr round trip for 2 in J for my parents. i ended up just sticking with delta miles on Virgin even it costed more but i value delta miles less. and my dad enjoyed the haircut ag Virgin lounge at LHR.
i still keep a stash of currencies in delta, american and united, and chase. over 2M of airmiles and will use when it makes sense. i have no problem paying with cash when.cash makes sense too. i did pay for 5 paid J oneworld explorer ticket since august 2015. the total cost for 5 tickets is a bit over 20k usd. which gives over 300k flown miles in J and earning a lot of miles in JL, AA and As by crediting segments to whichever program that make sense to achieve the best return on my money.