Keystone

Big birthday (a bit too big) in December 2018 and I�m wondering if 350K Avios and an Amex 2-4-1 could get me and Mrs K around the world visiting interesting places. Would start in ABZ, and have to be In DEN for Christmas itself.

Any thoughts from the experts on FT?

Many thanks.

guv1976

Unliklely. See here:

http://www.headforpoints.com/2016/03...s-redemptions/

Your 2-4-1 is only valid on an all-BA-metal itinerary.

EuropeanPete

You could potentially get well on your way. 125K Avios plus a 241 could get you both to Australia, leaving you 225K which could get you each another nearly 9,000 miles.

That would get you to Denver (or at least close - and potentially via the South Pacific if you'd like) and then you'd just need a single flight from DEN back to ABZ.

If you'd like to visit Australia on your way to DEN then great. Honestly though, I think the right answer here is to go ABZ-DEN (or somewhere else in the US) and fly back, then use your remaining 225K miles for a second trip from ABZ another time (either a straight return Avios fare or stopping over 9,000 miles on a multi-carrier award and then buy cheapo singles back).

Edit: Also, J reward availability to Australia over Christmas tends to be the most difficult reward to book.

memesweeper

Open jaw the 2-4-1?

Start with LHR - NRT ... then back to Blighty from LAX?

Not sure how many points are left, but a multi-partner award cross Pacific might stretch them a bit further. cannot think of a sensible route though.

EuropeanPete

Wow. I just did the maths on that suggestion and it could actually work. Your open jaw needs to be a smaller distance than either of the two legs and it does indeed seem to be - by 4 miles.

memesweeper

NRT SFO might work too.

guv1976

But there are no nonstop AA flights between SFO and DEN.

sammyg901

I think an open jaw 2-4-1 out to Asia and back from the US is best bang for your buck

The in between bit - either try stretch your miles to something or one option could be Air Asia flat bed Osaka - Hawaii (no bells and whistles but a very solid flat bed for overnight flight) and then use your left over Avios on AA or Alaska to Denver or thereabouts

pauldb

If you can squeeze yourself up to 400k avios you can do a J multi-partner award up to 20k miles (total flying distance). https://www.britishairways.com/trave...e/public/en_gb . Though it's counter-intuitive your Amex241 may be a red-herring here.

20k miles would get you a very extensive RTW (up to 8 legs), and you may even have a couple of legs left over at the end for a tag-on trip to Europe. But they are tricky to plan and book!

The best RTW with a 241, if you're coming back from the US, would be NRT//LAX or SFO as suggested. But not ideal to backtrack from DEN to LAX, and do you really want to visit Japan in December (albeit TYO isn't freezing)?

On the latter point, if it was me I might ditch the RTW idea and pair DEN with Central/South America, using the remaining avios in between. Unfortunately LIM would have been great for the distance rule, only SJO now looks legal. But you might get away with EZE//DEN or SCL//DEN (some have squeezed past the open-jaw distance rules in the past).

If any of your avios are by any chance Amex MRs there may be better programmes to put them to for non-BA legs.