JFK to PEK A350 economy or 767 DL Comfort?
 

I need to go to Beijing in May for of all things a bachelor party and I'm struggling between a couple flight options. I'm platinum medallion and have the DL platinum amex.

1. $970 economy on the A350 pay with 95k miles to still get MQMs
2. $970 economy on 767 through SEA pay with 95k miles and hopefully get upgraded to DL comfort
3. 65k-70k miles in economy on either of the planes from options 1 & 2 but loose out on MQMs.
4. 116k miles for premium select on an A350

I'm leaning option 2 so I get the MQMs and at least be in DL comfort. But then I got an email from DL yesterday offering a 10% mileage credit for any award tickets bringing option 3 & 4 down 10%.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Well I guess one way to look at is you're burning an additional 30K miles (so $300 worth in this case at the pay with miles rate, about $450-$600 at $0.015-$0.02 per mile valuation) for ~15K MQMs. I have to imagine finding a mileage run for 15K MQMs for $300-$600 would be tough but I'd also evaluate that based on my mileage balance and if I was saving the miles for anything else.

As for the A350 vs 767, I don't have much input there without any insight to seat availability. The A350 in Y is probably more miserable in Y than the 767 is in C+ unless you get row 30 or 41A/J or a seat in Row 40 on the A350. Routing via SEA both ways would about 1400 extra MQMs but on the flip side, that transcon across the US can feel brutal, especially west-bound.

Of those, I'd go with #4 as the relatively small increase in cost results in a relatively large increase in comfort. In regular Y, I'd aim for the 767 option (2 or 3 depending on your MQM needs), which also breaks up the trip more at SEA.

+1.

116K r/t is a decent price for PE (with First for the domestic legs), even better with 10% off.

How badly do you need the MQMs?

I don't fly all that often so I could use the MQMs. I'm at 25k MQMs right now which includes roll over and 10k for hitting 25k on the DL amex. I'll get another 10k for hitting another $25k (paying for things for my company) and then probably a couple flights to Seattle and some work trips. I think it'll be difficult to hit PM again without a mileage run.

ATOBTTR brings up a good point that the 30k miles is a pretty cheap mileage run, plus I actually need to go there.

If I pay with miles, I assume I only have 24 hrs to change it?

That's a long flight, I'd definitely want the PS seats even if it means losing out on MQM. And I know this is FT, land of status, but I did make that exact decision for a trip to Shanghai (on AA, chose to redeem miles in J for the comfort).

4 -> 2 -> 1 -> 3 would be my recommendation.