My advise is when you get close to retirement keep around 300k then play the cc game. This year we were able to get J seats to NZ and EDI, next going to Japan in April. With Citi/Barclays sign up bonuses (plus spend) for personal and business cards we are able to keep our total near 250k which would allow us to go just about anywhere. I know a lot of members complain about J availability but we always somehow manage.