I've accumulate some miles and now I'm looking to cash them in for some vacation travel. Problem is, my head hurts from comparing so many options in order to ensure that I get the most value for my miles. I don't want to book a vacation with airfare and hotel for 150,000 AA miles, only to find out that I could have booked the same trip with 50,000 CO miles and 35,000 Delta miles.

When you are planning a vacation, what's your process? Do you pick your destination & dates and go through each rewards program to find the best airfare, then again for hotel deals, etc? Is there an efficient way to compare?

I have the following to work with:

AA - 250,000 miles
Delta - 75,000 miles
CO - 55,000
CapitalOne - 100,000
Scorecard Rewards - 100,000

Simple - I don't try to optimize. You've already seen the results of that kind of attitude. Is it worth it? Book what seems reasonable, don't worry that you could have done 2% better, and enjoy all the extra time.

I haven't done this personally, but there's someone on the web called "milesguy." You pay him some money (don't know how much) and he optimizes your travel with points. Maybe worth inquiring.

Some fellow FTers have blogs with good information and instruction on your questions. Some examples: a, b, c, d, e, etc.

I use

Scorecard Rewards for hotels

AA for short Caribbean hops (under 25k per hop)

I have a lot of places in mind that I'd like to visit, and like you, also a bunch of miles/points in various programs. Some airlines are a better value in redeeming to certain regions; or they have partner awards that are relatively cheap.

So I kind of look at what program may be best going to certain areas of the world. Then I try to think of which destination I'm interested in next and just use the miles accordingly. To me that helps more than first picking a destination and then trying to back into what program is best - though that would work too, of course. Others may approach it differently...it helps that I am flexible in wanting to hit many places.