LAX - DXB this summer.
 

Hey everyone, I hope this in the right place. I searched around the website and didn't get much info. Anyways, I am planning on going from LAX to DXB in early June. I don't really know where to start with the whole mileage/points scenarios and what airlines to choose. I'd like to go Emirates and it seems they have a good rewards program but they cost more. This is my first international trip and I plan on traveling more but am pretty unsure of how to go about the whole airline miles scenario. Thanks!^

This I find hard to believe.

Do you know what your credit is like in terms of score, history, etc? You'll need a decent history and 700+ score to really get into the game, but scoring a single return trip LAX-DXB-LAX shouldn't be too hard. Emirates is a bit of a toughie, especially for premium cabins, but as far as I know (and I don't have much EK--Emirates 2 letter code which you'll probably see more of in this thread--experience) you'll probably do better transferring to an Emirates partner like KE (Korean Air) or AS (Alaska). That said, I'm not sure that AS's redemption chart for EK has been published yet, so it may be tough to plan on for now.

The easiest way to get KE miles is via Chase Ultimate Rewards which you can transfer to KE at 1:1. Get both the Sapphire Preferred card and Ink Bold or Plus cards and that's 90k plus spend. And according to this link, you'd need 70,000 KE miles to go in economy or 140,000 in business (or the unreasonable sum of 210k for first class). With a few well done purchases via the UR mall, you could be up to 140k pretty quickly.

So, if you're set on Emirates, I'd go with Chase. If you're open to other airlines, you might check into getting 2 AA 50k cards (two browser trick, check the AA thread) or maybe still the Chase cards and transferring to United. Going on LH (Lufthansa, a United partner) would be a nice way to fly, and business class is cheaper via United.

Welcome to FT!

I mean not much info on this route. They were all mega threads :)

I have excellent credit so getting a card wouldn't be problem. I have a World Points Mastercard but they are generic points or a cash redemption. I think you get a max of 1150$ for 80000 points. I'd say I am more interested in the upgrade aspect of things rather then getting free flights. According to that chart, I'm assuming you'd have to spend $210000 for a free first class flight. But if the cards come with free points when signing up then it'd be much more reasonable. I also have the Chase Rewards card you mentioned, but don't really use it. Thanks for the info!

Yes, I'm talking about the sign up bonuses of 50k and 40k (90k). You'll find most folks here get the majority of their points through signing up for credit cards and getting the sign up bonus and manufacturing "fake" spend to "buy" miles at a low cost. Signing up for just those 2 cards, as I said, would be more than enough for a r/t ticket on EK in coach and about 2/3 of the way there for business.