Points Strategy for South Pacific Honeymoon

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Dec 11, 2018, 2:48 pm

carorun

Original Poster

Join Date: Jul 2010

Location: ORD

Programs: UA Gld, Bonvoy Ambassador (LT Gold)

Posts: 24

Points Strategy for South Pacific Honeymoon

Hi everyone. I'm a long time lurker and rare poster. I travel a lot for work and think I've gotten pretty good at the points game, but I could use some help with my points strategy for a honeymoon next winter (Nov/Dec likely). We want to go to Bora Bora (fly into PPT), with Fiji as a distant second (NAN). Want to fly J and we're based in ORD. For PPT, options are Air Tahiti (Oneworld), Air France (Skyteam), or United (Star). For NAN, it looks like we're locked in to Fiji Airways (Oneworld) unless we want to lay over in another country which we don't. Problem is, AA doesn't have good award availability lately.

I am PPro on AA though flying UA quite a bit this year. Plat Premier on Marriott as well, though I don't have a lot of points right now because I keep using them. We're considering just buying a hotel package for the trip (Costco Travel has some good deals) so I'm most concerned about getting an award flight.

Below is my current mileage inventory. I'm thinking about signing up for Chase Sapphire or a personal Amex card for the signup bonuses, but I'm not sure what would be best in this situation or where to start. My work travel must go on the Amex so I rack up some points there which can be transferred to other mile programs.

American Airlines: 260,000
United: 107,000
Amex Membership Rewards: 80,000
Marriott: 78,000

Trying to plan my credit card signup strategy early so I have enough time to get the points and cash them in while seats are available. Thank you!