I have miles in United, U.S. Airways and Delta. Which one would be best to use for the Economy class YVR to HKG for next month?

Also, would I be able to use the award ticket for my sister (same last name)?

YVR to HKG:

1) US Airways would require the least number of miles, ie 60K miles R/T or if you got a little more miles, 90K in Business is a great deal. You can use Air Canada for a direct flight reedeeming it on US Airways. Other partners you could use are UA, ANA, Thai, Asiana and SQ but you need to connect in the US and possibly one more Asian city for these options

2) UA - 65K miles R/T but you can book all the partner airlines on UA website (again try AC first for a direct flight to HK) which you can't do with US Airways, thereby avoiding the reservation fee and Partner award fee charged by US Airways. With UA, you can also reserve one way for 32.5K if you are not sure about the return date. You can use the same partners listed in (1) above since they are all part of Star Alliance.

3) Delta - 70K miles R/T but hard to find seats at this redemption level on Delta. You might have better luck with Korean Airlines which is their Asian partner or you could try China Airlines (another partner) as well as China Eastern and China Southern. But the taxes and fees are generally higher on Delta partners than on Star Alliance airlines.

As for issuing the award ticket for your sister, if you have enough miles in your account, you can issue a ticket in her name as well.

Good luck!

trade with someone a *A booking for a OW booking on CX.

CX has direct flight but CX Y seat would be a back killer.

KE using DL miles needs to via ICN but taxes are very low, no YQ or partner surcharges. Problem is you have to do a lot of legwork and call DL to book.

OP should search UA site to see the availability, picked a few that would work - then call US to book if he wants to save miles because Star A availability should be the same across member airlines. US charges twice as much as UA for ticket change, $150 versus $75. US also charges higher fee on partner flights while UA does not.

Therefore it depends on whether you want to save miles or cold hard cash. It pays to carefully study the various fees on different programs.

AA's program is the most favorable with many changes are free, including routing as long as origin and destination remains the same and the carriers are all OW members. So you could potentially book a YVR-NRT-HKG using JL and CX, and later change to YVR-HKG on CX when availability comes up, no fee using AA program but costs you $150 on US or $75 on UA with similar change.

Keep in mind YVR-HKG is a very popular route that even Y seats are not easy to find on peak periods.

Other than Lunar New Year, I would say May through Aug/Sept another peak period.

The Op didn't mention having AA or BA miles to fly on CX, so I would think something on Star Alliance will be the best option especially with UA mile redemption as you can book oneway. If the Op is solidly sure that there won't be any need to change the itinerary, then US mile redemption is the cheapest. Best option for a direct flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong on *A is with Air Canada. Plus availability with *A will probably be better as they have more Asian partners than anyone else for flying to HK.

No question - the only usable Y product to HKG is Air Canada's 77W. Availability will be spotty, so be flexible with your dates.

You should have no trouble booking an award ticket (assuming otherwise available) for your sister.

thanks all for contributing. I don't have enough air miles for British Airways nor AA.

I think the best , as suggested by others, is U.S airways redemption on Air Canada. I will check United for availability then call U.S. Airways.

Pre X'mas to Post New Year also is peak period.

BA award would cost $400+ YQ.

One more thing, UA award can be booked online therefore no phone fee versus booking a US award (and also the partner fee).

The mile cost difference is only 5K, 60K on US and 65K on United. I am not sure whether it is worth it to use US miles as availability on AC is the same for both UA or US award with UA has the advantage being able to book online and no partner award fee.

US miles are only good value when it comes to the business class due to only 90K needed so worth the risk of change fee.