I have been stockpiling points for my family's year around the world trip in two years, and I'm trying to figure out which programs I should prioritize. There are 4 in our family, and we're fine in economy except we'd like business for long flights (but we're not above flying business but putting the kids in economy!). We will be staying a couple of months in our main locations--Costa Rica, Thailand, and Spain--with excursions from those home bases as points allow.
The rough itinerary (starting July of 2021)
Indianapolis to Costa Rica
Perhaps some time exploring Central/South America in Oct/Nov? Depends on miles situation
From either SJO or our explorations, going to Chiang Mai in Nov/Dec
We'd definitely like trips around Asia in early spring, esp. Vietnam and China, with perhaps Japan/Fiji/Bora Bora/New Zealand
From there, go to Seville in March/April
We plan on traveling around Europe, perhaps even before settling into Spain. We were going to use Eurail, but could be persuaded to do BA short haul flights insteadReturn to US in July of 2022
Our miles situation
UR (with the CSR): 265k
TY: 135k
AA: 195k
BA: 38k
SW: 31k
Alaska: 9k
Korean: 6k
Cards
Me: CSR, CIBP, Citi TY Premier, CF, Barclay's Aviator Red (I'm at 3/24)
Wife: CSP, Barclay's Aviator Red (2/24)
-I can get the Chase SW cards and CP again. My wife closed her SW cards 6 months ago.
Questions
1) The big question is about where I should be putting miles. I've heard that Alaska miles are great for crossing the Pacific in business class on Cathay, but I worry that I can't stockpile enough of those in time. Even with the 40k bonus points on an Alaska card, we might have a hard time getting the 11k via spending that we'd need for 2 business class tickets to Asia to take advantage of companion fares; we spend about $1800/month in stuff we can put on a card. Any other sweet spots for those expensive long-haul flights that I should be prioritizing?
2) If we use the Eurail to get around Europe, is there any reason I should take advantage of the current 30% bonus to move UR points to BA?
3) Is this complicated enough that we should hire someone to do reward booking? If so, any suggestions?
THANKS IN ADVANCE!