Originally Posted by
Brocks
Hoping to get some help with booking last minute First/Business award flights from New York to Southeast Asia (23 Nov to 4th Jan) for two people (our honeymoon trip). We're flexible on what airport we start our trip in (Singapore, Bangkok, Chang Mai etc) and I have miles across AMEX (300K), Chase (450K), BA (120K), Marriott (300K) but trying to find award availability on anything other than some of the lesser recommended airlines has been really tough. I've been accumulating these miles but have never really been able to figure out the best way to use them. Any advice on the the best way to go about this given where my miles are based?
Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials!
Your BA Avios won't really do you much good for your trans-Pacific flights, so I would ignore them. I would start by doing award searches on delta.com and united.com, just to get a sense of what, if anything, is available on Star Alliance or Sky Team carriers. If you find something suitable, you then have to figure out which of the MR and UR transfer partners offers the best deal for your redemption, taking into account both the cost in miles and the carrier surcharges -- if any.
Note that Amex charges a fee for transfers to domestic FFPs, but not to foreign FFPs.
Good luck!