Hello,

I need to get from LAX to Tokyo (either airport) for Labor Day (Aug 31/Sep 2) and could use some expert FlyerTalk advice.

I have 40K Delta miles, 30K AA miles and 30K US Air miles (all the CC sign-up bonuses), but it seems like I need 60K minimum to get to Tokyo.

Is there any way I can combine these miles, or any one credit card offer that could put me over the top?

Thanks in advance!

You should be able to get from the US to Japan with 40k Delta miles. Are you saying that there is no availability on the chosen dates?

One way or return? Easiest way would be get the AA biz card (use 50k link) or another US card (use 40k link) and you can get a round trip in economy.

Welcome to posting, starlite1000. I just looked at award availability using your AA miles. There is availability at 32.5K miles for the outbound on Sat, Aug 31, but not Friday, Aug 30. There is no availability any time surrounding your desired return. The first 32.5K award is available is Sept 9. I also looked out of San Diego since we have the nonstop JAL flight now that can be booked with AA miles. There was no better story with SAN as the originating airport. Should AA have been available, you would have needed 65K miles RT.

AA miles can be used for one way awards. Unfortunately, both Delta and US require RT redemptions. Thus, you can't grab that AA seat (after getting 2.5K more miles) and then find a return using your DL or US miles.

Grab the AA seat! Can pay for return or apply for a card and get pts for a return! I've learned to get what I can while available!!

I don't think SkyMiles allow one way awards yet?

How?

According to the chart, a minimum of 70K (35K each way) is required to book RT on Skymiles to Northern Asia (including Japan). OP only has 40K.

You're right, I forgot about that.

I meant that the OP had enough miles to go one-way (the OP's initial post only said that she/he wanted to go to TYO at the end of August, there was no mention of a return). But this is irrelevant now (see above).

Thank you so much for your response, everyone.

Silly me (rookie) - I forgot to note that I need a round-trip flight.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to bump my 40K/30K/30K Delta/AA/US Air miles quickly to reach any of the 3 airlines' round-trip minimum to Japan? I recently got the initial sign-up bonuses for all three airlines using credit cards, so I'd need to go another route. (Chase Ultimate Rewards points, or something like that?)

thanks in advance.

Not quickly as in days - would take about 2 months or so for another card to kick in sign on bonus miles. PinDebit magic card tricks would take a similiar amount of time. You could try USAir miles gifting to bulk miles but kinda pricey even with the 50% bonus....

If shut down on the return flying East, you could look into a return flying West.

Even if you had the points today, you'd have a tough time finding a return flight. And it will likely be two to three months before you could earn the points.

I just looked at Star Alliance award space, that for which you should be able to use US miles.

I found outbound availability on Aug 31. It's a 1am flight from LAX on ANA, flying nonstop to Tokyo.

But there is nothing available on any Star carrier for the return between Sept 1 and Sept 7, at least Transpacific. This is the time when there is a massive influx of foreign students returning to their US universities.

AlohaDaveKennedy gives a good suggestion about searching for award space via Europe. I believe that US will allow you to redeem that direction, effectively having a RTW ticket on what is priced as RT. I've no idea if award space is available that direction. You seem to want to do a relatively brief trip. If you fly via Europe, it will take you at least 2x the time as flying a nonstop to the west coast.

Award space is very transient. What isn't available today could be tomorrow and vice versa. Still, I'm pessimistic about your ability to earn and then redeem those points between now and your desired date of travel. You might need to be looking at a goal of further in the future.

Book a HNL-NRT/KIX/NGO r/t on DL for 40k in Y and buy an LAX-HNL ticket when you see a sale happen for +/- $300-350.

Seems pretty easy to me - did it last yr and was a great combo to earn miles and save redemption points at the same time.

thanks so much for all the responses. You guys are very helpful.