diamondvh

Thanks so much everyone, especially @mia for the great advice and preventing me from doing something stupid! Ironically, the ED is one I'll likely keep in my wallet as every time I whip out my CSP for groceries I think "there's gotta be a better way." Unfortunately, most of my grocery spend happens at Costco.

@philemer
Yes, I came quite close to actually using KF for an award redemption to Hawaii 2 days ago (35k on KF vs. 45k on MP). I ended up wanting an open jaw (coming back from OGG vs. HNL), stopover, and my final destination was different from origin. After a quick glance at the website, redeeming KF seemed like too much brain damage, so ended up going with MP which was 45k r/t. The whole process made me consider speculatively dumping MR.
- I do usually end up needing a domestic short haul to position my family for international travel from MCO. After reading the link @UpgradeMe pasted, I'll probably end up using my 25k MR windfall from the ED to "speculatively" transfer to Avios before the devaluation in October.

@UpgradeMe
Thanks, it seems like the consensus on that is KF or Avios

@garykung
- Infant awards: I had a very bad experience with this as I had to pay ~$800 for my infant as a lap child in a mixed cabin award from MCO-SFO-NRT-CTU/CTU-PEK-IAD-MCO. I spent over 20 hours on the phone (unfortunately not an exaggeration) trying remove my daughter from the SFO-NRT in First on NH. United supervisors were leaving me hanging for 1.5-2 hours at a time. I basically gave up on United after this until my wife and I both got bumped to business from K on a CDG-YYZ leg with AC. It was hilarious, because my wife's TV was broken the entire flight, and the flight attendant was very apologetic and gave us a voucher. My wife has no status at all, and AC ended up letting us trade in the voucher for "5% off next flight booked on Air Canada's website."
- I've had a tough time finding BR Hello Kitty awards from IAH-TPE unless the trip is less than 2 weeks out. I've been scouring the net, but can't find much detailed advice besides "go for the HKG-TPE" route, which is not so appealing to me. Would be very grateful if you can point me in the right direction. Might need to start a new thread..
- Thanks, I will play around with split tickets.
- I never even thought about YQ redemptions on KF, thanks for the heads up. BA YQ seems to be in your face on more of the blogs / forums.

Thanks again everyone!

garykung

I think I know why you can't find any award seats.

BR's B77W-HK (Hello Kitty) was used to position as TPE-LAX. BR has 3 daily TPE-LAX nonstop. Now BR sticks this B77W-HK to a new route, which began 3 months ago.

No wonder there is no award inventory.

KF miles are good if you redeem SQ premium only (given you will get a discount). Otherwise, KF is generally perceived the worst FFQ within *A.

diamondvh

Thanks @garykung. Yes, BR has a Hello Kitty flight from IAH to TPE now. They seem to only show award inventory for close-in flights (Less than 1 week). I'm usually a budget traveler but definitely saving up for a premium SQ award.

j.pak.ksglobal

I have tried to transfer 220K MR points to Asia Miles. However, my first and last name were mixed up. I emailed Asia Miles and told them of the situation and they corrected the order of my name. Now that the error has been corrected Asia Miles asked that I resend the AMEX MR points. However, the MR points are still "pending" and have not returned to my AMEX account or gone through to my Asia Miles account

They have been pending for around 2 months. I have tried calling both Asia Miles and AMEX. Asia Miles says that there is nothing they can do on their side and AMEX is saying the same.

Any ideas on how I can get these miles to go through?

TMM1982

AMEX is bs'ing you. Tell them to get it done ASAP or you will call CFPB.

flyertalk2015

I just checked their website:

https://www.americanexpress.com/nz/c...-partners.html

Looks like 1 MR == 0.5 asia miles only !

not 1:1 anymore?

mia

That is the chart for Membership Rewards New Zealand. If you are looking for the chart for cards issued in the USA, you should click here:

http://www.membershiprewards.com/cat...sTransfer.aspx

flyertalk2015

my Bad! sorry and apologies for wrong info.

Thanks Mia!

Moorea

This is my first attempt at using Membership Rewards so I appreciate your patience. My husband and I are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Lima, Peru (from San Francisco). We'll be doing Macchu Picchu and some other stuff. Any advice on the best place to transfer the points? Should we wait for a bonus?

I have 180k points and my husband has 110k.

Thanks in advance! I have read some blogs and a lot of the threads on the topic but I still feel really stupid in regards to what I should do.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Are you hoping to travel in Coach, or in Business Class?

Moorea

Coach, in June

SanDiego1K

It's a tedious process. I just spent 15 minutes searching in an effort to be helpful and found a possibility using ANA miles. However, it needs more checking to see if it is a cost effective possibility. Here's the process I used;

Start with flights.google.com. Find out what airlines/alliances fly the route. I wasn't really keen on what I found and I know that LAN flies nonstop from LAX-LIM. I then focused on finding award seats using BA Avios. It's one of the few airlines that allow family accounts, thus pooling points. I checked about 14 of the outbound dates in June 2016 and didn't find coach award seats. The Avios program is very different than any other and I would not move MR points there unless you find award seats. It prices its awards by distance of segments.

You could sign up for awardnexus. There is a modest cost for using it. Look at the airlines flying the route and determine what alliance they are in. Then search for awards for those alliances. MR are limited as to where the points can be transferred, and you will need to familiarize yourself with the alliances in which those carriers participate. For the date I checked, it showed 2 coach as well as business seats available on Avianca using ANA miles. Business seats were available on Copa using ANA miles. If you transfer MR points to ANA, they will expire in 3 years. They charge significant fuel surcharges on some routes. I've found their agents very helpful. Before I moved points there, I'd call and ask them how many points/cash they charge to redeem for that specific route. Figure out how much it would cost in cash first to be sure that you are actually saving money by using points.

Edited to add:

I checked on the ANA website for award availabilty in June 2016. I found RT coach available for 50K points and 8270 yen (roughly $70). Business RT is 80K plus 8270 yen. You have to book RT when booking ANA awards. The ANA site notes that the partner awards will change on October 15.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

If you can find availability, SFO/SJC-LAX-LIM on AA/LA would cost 29,500 BA Avios one way if booked as two separate award redemptions. SFO/SJC-DFW-LIM on AA would cost 30,000 Avios. No surcharges on these redemptions. (And ba.com is not always successful at displaying LA award seats.)

Unfortunately, Amex just devalued their MR => BA exchange ratio today. You might want to wait to see if Amex offers a transfer bonus in the next few months, unless you can find a better deal with another transfer partner.

AA only charges 17,500 miles for these same redemptions -- also with no surcharges. So maybe consider getting a Citi/AA credit card with a big sign-up bonus.

Moorea

Thank you, SanDiego1K and guv1976. You both were extremely helpful. I particularly liked how you revealed your search process so that I can replicate it! So nice of you both to take the time to help me out!

bmwclubracer

It seems like the only good use for MR is airline miles but I fly standby so no use for miles. Was going to transfer to SPG but my 60k MR is only worth 20k spg. That would only get me rooms valued at about $400 so I just bought a bunch of gift cards worth $600. Not what I had in mind for the bonus but I wanted to use the MR before I cancel the cards.