Hi - new to Flyertalk and looking for some help with a miles redemption.

I am going from NYC to Tokyo next September / October for 2 weeks and would love to fly business.

I have c. 110k Amex points, 120k Chase Rewards, 150k Delta and 220k British Airways points but have never used any of them to book flights.

There seems to be a lot of options (ANA, JAL, United) for airlines but I am not sure on where to prioritize sending my miles to book? I would like to avoid getting stuck on the dreaded waitlist!

Can anyone help? Thanks!

Welcome to FT!

Your first task is to see which carriers actually have low-tier award space on your desired dates. If more than one carrier has the availability you need, the next step is to determine the cost of the redemption -- in both miles and cash "surcharges" -- among the different redemption programs. Some frequent-flyer programs collect surcharges for redemptions on their own airline, and on some partners. Some programs -- like United's -- do not collect surcharges on any redemptions, but UA charges more miles for premium-cabin redemptions on partner carriers than on UA metal.

Also, note that many (though not all) FFPs offer one-way awards for half the cost of a roundtrip. So you might conceivably book the outbound on one airline through a particular FFP, while booking the return portion on another airline through a different FFP.

Report back here after you have determined what's available. Note that different FFPs can charge vastly different amounts of miles and/or cash for a frequent-flyer award on the exact same flights.

Good luck!

And for the credit cards we have dedicated threads:-Credit card transfer links

• Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs forum
• Amex Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program?
• Chase Ultimate Rewards - Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners, Rules, Timeline, etc (2017)

BA thread--->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...8-edition.html

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Awards can be hard to get. Are a long way from being guaranteed. Often/usually need to be flexible on dates & routes & departure/arrival airport.
Depending on the airline and/or ffp awards can start to become available 355/330 days out . Awards can be released any time from the 355/330 days to closer to departure. Availability is from the airline ffp web sites/phone. Some ffp's do not display all partners on line. Need to phone.

If a multi segment award check the rules/cost carefully. With some ffp’s it can be 2 or more awards or cost more ff miles/points than a direct flight.
If the award is on partner airline it may cost more miles/points than an award on the ffp airline.

A guide of ff miles needed. These may not be up to date.
FT thread AwardHacker: a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles points to web site --> AwardHacker