what do you mean by that?

Well, I'm just as anoyed at the Europe J increase as the next person, but I should point out (hesitantly, as I don't want to give AE any ideas) that Europe 1 Y redemptions have been at 60,000 for as long as I've been redeaming AE miles, which is since the early '90s. And the realignment of Poland into Europe 2 makes more geographical sense, even though it sucks for LOT redemptions. Actually, these changes will probably inspire me to go for Europe 2 redemptions more, as there's a much less jump from Europe 1 now.

Yes, that is correct. For instance, just this week I booked 2 Europe 1 tickets, at the current 90,000 miles level, for next summer. As long as I do not make any changes after the new mileage levels kick in, I will not have to pay the difference; however, if I make a change after December 15, the mileage will be recalculated and I will have to cover the distance. As I managed to book our perfect flights, that won't be happening... :D

Most people use Singapore or Bangkok as turnaround right now, which is 150k

Since they're moving to Asia 2, they're going up to 155k. Therefore the best major city for an Asia 1 mini rtw will be HKG for location and fuel surcharge purposes

There goes the 15K AE points just given to maintain my AMEX Aeroplan CC . :(

Yeah, wow! What a hit that is.

By coincidence, I have an Intra Asia in J (FUK-SIN-HND) booked for early November nested into a Japan trip. I was thinking over the past few days of cancelling the award part to SIN with the rationale that I could book it some time on a future trip.

So much for that theory..keeping my FUK-SIN-HND trip on SQ and NH and going to enjoy burning those 30k miles. Heck, I might even try and fit something else in now as well!

It was, yes.

Wow - these guys are thieves. Another devaluation in just 4 years. At this rate, the next one will be coming in 2019 before the kettles save up for their next award. With the fuel surcharges, the limitations on MPM routings, it no longer makes any real sense to fund this program with your miles. The could have at least added a stopover to one way awards to appease some of the take aways.

The interesting part is, in the US, there are many credit cards where you can earn 4.5 points per dollar on your spend. It's no where near that level in Canada and the sign up bonuses are not as rich. For those that are earning based on credit cards, the point earning power is much weaker north of the 49th parallel.

Damn this sucks for EU! :(
+20k J and 15k F :( I still have yet to fly F from Canada to Germany.

Looks like AMEX will have an increase of applications lol

Damn greedy .......s! They didn't even wanna start in 2016, they want to start just before the Christmas holidays.

Actually, this is the second devaluation in less than 2 years. A change took place in Jan 2014. That time the Asia J/F rewards were crushed...went from 175k to 210k AP points in F, for example.

North America to Asia business class is double the cost of economy, and just under triple for first.

North America to Australia business class is double the cost of economy, and just under triple for first.

I fully expected North America to Europe to go up to those multiples, which would be 120k for J and around 160-170k for F. So yes, as it stands, the devaluation ex-NA was not as bad as I expected (some of it most likely due to elevated YQ collected to Europe). It's more or less in line with United's current chart too.

BA Avios raised business class to TRIPLE the price of economy and first class QUADRUPLE. Up until this year I had benchmarked Aeroplan against BA charges and thought that would be the upper bound of pricing, but now, I fear for the future.

At 200k for a J ticket to Asia, that would be when I will have to tap out and give up

Thanks. I too am booking Europe 1 for next summer in J but Swiss and Turkish haven't opened up yet for July/August.

Given the prices charged by Asia Miles for their own members (HKG-HND in F is 40k one way and 70k roundtrip), AS and AA's award charts are extremely ripe for a devaluation. I don't expect those to last long either, especially if Asia Miles goes through their own further devaluation as expected.

CX has tons of equipment swaps to BKK and SIN, I would not rely on those seats to stick if you book them far out. The only reliable flight is the 747 to HND parked overnight.

This sucks big time

This is where BA points come in handy (to redeem for CX Asia 1 to Asia 1). Although their long haul first/business class awards are even more expensive compared to Aeroplan, their short haul awards are relatively a better deal.

BA uses a distance based award chart as opposed to zone based.

The strategy for those who have a Canadian AMEX Platinum or Gold Rewards card would be to convert AMEX MR points to Aeroplan for your transpacific first/business class flight. For flights within Asia, convert AMEX MR points to BA Executive Club to get the short haul awards.

I can't believe the Asia 1 business rewards cost is increasing 167% (2.67⨉)! I love the current 30K deal. That has to be the biggest one-time increase we've ever seen! :(