AM ended up being one of the biggest devals of 2018.

Recently I have been converting points to CASH rather than useless asiamiles.

I've been working out tickets with KE and VA for my tight public holiday routings with the same enthusiasm as revenge sex...

With the past 2 F/J mistake promo fares, this will probably also be unresolved by CX IT :D

In all seriousness, what's everyone doing with their credit card point balances? I have over 1m Asia Miles and a ton of Avios from BIS flying, both pretty useless now post-devaluation. Am thinking outside oneworld is the way to go since CX is going out of its way to reduce redemption of any sort. But which program ex-HKG would be best? Currently trying to figure this out with a ton of HSBC RC expiring in 2 weeks...

u can use hsbc rc as cash to offset your purchases. Highly recommend you to do that rather than to convert to useless ASIAMILES....

I have tried two redemption trips since the devaluation and it was significantly more difficult -- and expensive. I saw no evidence of increased availability; quite the contrary.

I only look for business class roundtrip from North America. So perhaps there is increased availability in coach?

This whole "CHOICE/TAILORED" setup makes it even worse. I tracked this quite extensively the last quarter of 2018. In general seats would not open until T-40. And while some would release as STANDARD, in many cases they would only release as CHOICE, and once opened they would rarely drop to STANDARD.

That said, I'm still moving AMEX MM to AsiaMiles. I think there is more chance that AsiaMiles redemption seats will be available before partner seats are released. However, if I have time and flexibility, then I imagine it might be better (and cheaper) to book through partners.

sq could be an option

CX is not santa claus

More like The Grinch tbh

4 months on waitlist of all possible flights to Europe and nothing is moving. At the same time AM is luring people to convert to Asia Miles with bonus!

Honestly, I have no sympathy on their recent mistake fares.

I called yesterday and they initially told me that they can clear the MNL-HKG-MNL sectors. Then got a follow up call that if I am willing to move my return sector from HND to NRT they may be able to open up a seat for "Diamond Members"
They also asked me to include my friend into my Redemption Group so that it would be easier for them to clear up the waitlist.

I wonder if they just put everyone on waitlist and wait for a DM to call them before they manually clear the redemptions on the system.

DM to call or someone to buy (even if Guangzilv G fare)

Yes, would prefer this as I can get some SQ status quite easily and this is somewhere my family needs to be at least once a year. But are the redemption issues just as bad as CX? It isn't about the cost as long as not too crazy, just availability. (This is what is really disappointing about CX/Asia Miles. I fly a ton, spend a ton and also spend a ton on flying, so earn a lot of points/miles. Shouldn't CX/Asia Miles be incentivizing us to earn more by spending/flying more on CX and its partners by giving us more ways to use the points/miles, rather than shut off avenues to spend and doing the opposite? This is like what happened with MPC a few years ago when I moved over to BAEC and never looked back, flying all sorts of (mainly) Oneworld airlines away from CX, almost always in paid J for work and pleasure. Now I may just dump CX/Oneworld altogether if all the points/miles I earned end up being useless. Status is one thing but the ability to burn what you earn is more important in my book. I don't understand this company.)

I am also exploring Skyteam options ex-HKG but it looks paltry.

Sorry for going OT!

I wonder what's the earn rate for everyone. Clearly if you only earn miles thru flying you're stung big time.