Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA, BOS, SFO, DFW, ATL, DCA
Programs: DL DM 1MM, Bonvoy LT Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, UA PS, VX, Natl EE, Hertz PC
Posts: 117
I would begin by checking award charts for the full 11 months out- to the end of the schedule. The people who complain about J awards being insanely overpriced are just too lazy to plan ahead. I'm SEA based and heading out on a trip for 4 to Japan in J....booked as one ways, 70-80k each. That's 8 one way tickets, all in D1 suites.
There are plenty of good deals out there if you can spend 3 minutes checking award charts every 2-3 days. I've booked trips in J to South Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, China/Hong Kong, Europe....all for less than 200k RT, so you have plenty of options.
The other thing that helps is knowing the route map. For example, there are flights to CDG from just about every single DL hub and a few focus cities. If SEA-CDG is outrageous, I know that I can find a better deal by searching out of each other hub individually (sometimes for half the price).
I realize the question was more about destinations than how-to, but my point is that you can go just about anywhere five times over with that balance and you should make the most of it, instead of settling on the first fare you find.