What are the best point redemptions to get to Manila from West Coast USA?

I have alot of points with SPG, MR (Amex), Alaska Airlines, and about 45k with AAdvantage.

I want to visit the Philippines, I live in San Diego so I can fly out of San Diego, Tijuana, or Los Angeles. Hoping to go soon, possibly this week.

Many thanks for any input!

The best bet is to go to the AMEX booking website and start plugging in dates. You can book Asiana via SPG for 95k points, which is a very good airline and a good route. Asiana connections usually require ~12 hours layovers in ICN. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it gives you plenty of time to take a tour of the city and/or get some sleep in a hotel. Asiana usually covers one stay in a hotel per booking on these if the shortest layover is 8+ hours. You can use AA miles to book a flight from SAN via Tokyo on JAL, which would probably be one of the most pleasant options. There are many more options from LAX, but award availability at such a short notice is usually very poor. Going via TIJ would probably require a trip to MEX, which is way out of the way.

TPAC flights are incredibly dirt cheap right now, so it is not a great use of miles unless you are going for J/F. However, since you are in a hurry, the last minute airfares are 3x as much as the deals. I would definitely avoid PAL if possible unless you get a good deal on J.

Thanks Downinit, much appreciated for your reply.

Just curious, what does J/F and J mean?

PS - for booking AAdvantage rewards, I gotta call in to try to find something that's Japan Airlines no, to get that flight from SAN to Manila via Tokyo?

J = business class
F = first class

For AAdvantage awards flights, you can check for availability on the aa.com website (or you can call). If you can't find availability to Manila, you might consider just trying to get from SAN/LAX to Tokyo on miles/points and then paying for a ticket from Tokyo to Manila.

(Also, awardhacker.com will give you some ideas as to who flies the routes and from which points/miles programs you can redeem on those routes.)

Wow that is a great website, thank you for that. I found a 80k redemption using Alaska Miles, I feel those are alot easier to earn than other programs, gonna probably use one of those redemptions.

Thank you!