brp,

Thanks for your input. I agree - there is no need to overpay to get to 1MM. With regards to SPG points, you are right in that they have a lot of value; however, I am keen on staying in boutique properties, and generally exchanging 60k SPG points for 75k AA points which = a BA J ticket to CPT or NBO or JNB is better VFM IMHO.

Back to the original quesiton though, I think there are two things here: getting to 1MM, but also 'buying' miles to use for award travel which would cost the same in Y, but you get to fly in J.

Here is a scenario: My wife (to be) and I are planning on going to Asia on honeymoon; tickets cost about £725 each (approximately $2900 total) in Y. If I was to use 105k miles for a J ticket, plus exchange the 4 eVIPs for another J ticket, I would still have 70k miles left for another BA J award to say BOM or DXB, or with a slight top-off, NBO or CPT.

Given that for £500/$1000 more than if we just bought the tickets on BA/CX and flew cheap Y (earning no points/mile either) we could travel in BA/CX J to our honeymoon destination, have some miles left over for another award seat, and have the minor benefits of being a 1MM, I think that it might be a good proposition. However, I truly do respect your opinion, and would welcome any further thoughts you might have.

Thanks,
AAmerican_in_London