Use for 52k alaskamiles
 

ive been declined for 2 applications for the mbna alaska card and think im blacklisted so im having trouble getting to my goal of 120k points for a round trip redemption to SE Asia. Since i cant get enough points to make the flights im looking at redeeming for hotels but i find the rates are quite poor, are there any other options for alaska points? can they be transferred to another program like amex?

You could always use your Alaska Airline miles to fly on Alaska Airlines.

50K will get you one way on CX to SE Asia in J using AS miles... since it sounds like you're a mileage accumulator via CC bonus, pair it up with a different redemption coming home, and you're good.

Airline mile programs are roach motels, with very rare exceptions (that usually are terrible ideas). Miles go in but never come out to a different program. They're not like changing pesos into Thai baht and being completely interchangeable currency with an exchange rate.

so for 50k alaska i can go YYZ-HKG-SIN? i thought that was 85k like on the asiamiles site. any idea what taxes are on that kind of redemption?

Yes. With stopover.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...019-later.html

CX AM =! Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. Prices in miles are set by the airline running the loyalty program.

No clue on the exact number and it does depend on an HKG stopover I think (HK APD applies on stopovers not connections IIRC). Shouldn't be unreasonable though, on the order of $50-100 CDN.

You can look at the Award chart here to see what different regions/routes cost in miles, though these are subject to availability. Cathay reservations will require a phone booking into Alaska as they are not bookable via the website.
I had a Cathay Business/First redemption (NRT-HKG-LAX) last year. Taxes were roughly $80 on top of the miles.

50k can get you a domestic round trip in F on many routes. Unfortunately, Alaska doesn't have an online shopping portal like the big 3, so you can't cash out and get a new pair of Bose headphones or a Tumi carry on with your miles.

It is usually easier to find F on AA for a 27.5K AS redemption and you can work in a stopover too. At least AS allows an international to international award for the same miles, even on AA metal. Of course there is the non-refundable $12.50 partner booking fee.

James

I've gotten a TCON on AS, with the short leg on AA for 25k so there is definitely a way to get a R/T F for 50k.

Apply for Citi AA cards and use your AS miles to fly to Asia and your AA miles to fly back.

The differential for AS and AA prices for J/F isn't TOO big out of Japan/Asia 1 (like 10k miles or thereabouts), but SE Asia/Asia 2 is pretty brutal for F redemptions (110k on AA vs. 70/75k on AS), though J is only 5-20k miles or so. If OP is getting all their miles with credit card apps, may take a bit longer if they want to live it up with Dom or Krug in a fancy F seat.

The other advantage of AA miles over AS miles is being able to mix partners, like, say, JL on SIN-NRT-ORD and AA ORD-YYZ (which would be two awards on AS- you can only mix AS + one partner on a one way itinerary, and AS doesn't fly to YYZ, so you're stuck with CX or a positioning flight).

In your example, you are using AA + one partner to Canada. ;) I do agree that there is the multi-airline benefit for AA awards (I would take the AS stopover benefit first) but they are pretty restrictive if flying international to international via the USA.

I wasn't able to do YLW-SEA-BOS(AS)-DOH-EBB-KGL(QR) on one AA award, nor was I able to do KGL-DOH-ATL(QR)-SEA-YLW(AS) on one AA award. Both required a US origin or stop. Beyond that required a second award. In both circumstances, I had to reposition.

It appears that AA is certainly more restrictive with routing and won't fly you internationally to/from an international starting/ending point to the US on a Partner Airline. If you look at SIN-EAT you can book JL to the West coast and then AS West Coast-SEA-EAT but you can't book JL to ORD and then AS ORD-SEA-EAT. (backtracking) AA will quote an award KGL-HNL but KGL-YVR isn't permissible. ???? AA will price a revenue YLW-SEA-PHX-GDL itinerary but it is not available as an award, on AS, it is available as an award and a stopover is permitted in SEA or PHX. AA also charges more miles for awards to/from Canada.

Definitely a nice benefit for AA awards but restrictive from a Canadian Perspective.

James

My point is that AS miles can be problematic if your city isn't served by AS- you're stuck with availability on whichever international partners serve your city, no mixing in AA to get to a different gateway.

AA has a published fare restriction on awards that you may have been hitting (and it can't be a constructed fare- which might be what was happening on your AA/AS example to GDL), which is a restriction that AS awards don't have. I can't imagine that Kelowna has a ton of published fares to Kigali on QR. ;) I wouldn't expect that to be a problem on Toronto-Singapore.

It just seemed like the OP specifically wanted to go to SE Asia, so I noted that there's no need to buy a RT -- the AS miles will get him there, and AA miles can get him back on the same partner. Of course you can also collect Amex or Chase or whatever pts and transfer to a different airline to get back. The real point here is that not having enough for a RT is not a deal-breaker -- just use two different programs for two 1-ways.

I'm also not sure where the 120k number comes from for the round trip.

Personally I'd suggest that the OP use 50k miles one-way on CX J (not that I'm a huge fan of CX but he has 52k miles so it seems like the obvious choice) and collect AA miles (or some other type of miles/points) for the other 1-way.

Another option, if collecting AA (or other) miles is not easy, and the OP is short of miles in general, is to just buy the remaining 48k miles for $960-ish during a 40% bonus mile sale, and spend 100k on the round trip in CX J. It's really not a bad deal at all. Don't forget the free stopover(s) in HKG if those interest you.

All this assumes that there is CX J availability, of course.