Clearly some awards are better uses of miles than others. Rather than dwell on the generic "upgrades are smarter than free y-tickets," I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts on specific good/bad awards. For me, I'd have to say that 140K AS miles for intra-Europe business class on KL is among the worst. My favorite awards from a value standpoint are intra-Asia on NW or UA (20K/30K/40K) and CX to South Africa in F for 135K AA miles.

My favorite would have to be IAD-SYD r/t on UA (60/90/120K). (Economy fares rarely fall below $1,200.)

I love the UA intra-Asia deals, too. F r/t ICN-BKK (40K) is simply sweet. (In this market, discounted economy costs usually more than $400.)

..

I like the round-trip on Concorde JFK-CDG (160K DL miles), which includes domestic connections in F or BusinessElite to/from JFK from anywhere in the U.S., except Hawaii.

If you ever have the desire or need to visit someplace "different", Alaska Airline's Saver awards are quite a good deal in that they allow travel from anywhere on Alaska's US route network to anywhere else they fly in the US for 20K miles. It's really only 19K miles since they give a 1000 mile bonus for booking the award via their website.

And unlike some airlines, AS includes the state of Alaska in its idea of the US. So you can fly from such places as ORD/BOS/WAS all the way to Barrow or Nome on the award. Anchorage to Barrow (BRW) alone usually costs between $400 and $700.

So if you have 20K Alaska miles and have always wanted to click your heels together three times while saying, "There's no place like Nome" or "Nome is where the heart is" or whatever, you could be on your way.

[Just don't head to Nome during the Iditarod dog sled race as the hotels get booked out.]



[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 02-26-2002).]

Using AA miles for a CX ticket...

140k AA miles for:

JFK-HKG-Istanbul (or Johannseburg, should you so wish) r/t in FC

That's a LOT of hours of flying in FC for 140k miles.

There was someone in the trip reports section who flew from Alaska to Australia (?) on BA via the Atlantic in F. I think it cost around 120,000 miles.

- Pat

AC 15K short haul award

AC Super Elite 'discount award sale in J:
75K US-TLV
75K US-Asia
12K short haul

The Star Alliance Chart's intra-Asia at 50,000 in F is a good deal. PEK-SIN in SQ F - beats a domestic F award (at 40,000) anyday.

By the way, I think that the discounted 12K AC short-haul award is good for all elite members - can someone confirm? It can be a real steal when flying between regional airports (when AC only competes against itself).

I'm doing a P100JJJ award on AA this fall. 2 first-class tickets to Hawaii for 100K, with a stopover allowed and open-jaw in the islands allowed. Because we need do the stopover, it was going to cost us about $3,000 to buy two *coach* tickets for our itinerary. The miles came in very useful here.

The fact that AA had availability on EXACTLY the flights we needed (six segments) made this redemption even more valuable to us.

Even when the 2-ticket discount goes away (it's usually 60K for one F ticket to Hawaii), AA's awards to Hawaii are pretty valuable for the simple reason that, unlike other airlines, they are *usually* available for the dates you want.

Other awards I like(d):
- TW's short haul trip for 15K. In the past few years, I've booked several of these on very full flights, sometimes the day before departure. I almost always got the seats.
- Midwest Express 2-for-25,000 promotions. Destinations come and go and aren't predictable, but it's a fun award for people who have only a few ME miles and want to do something with them.

I hope to use 100K J AAdvantage awards from NAmerica--HKG--Australia or NZ on CX for myself and one friend someday. Maybe my bride on our honeymoon if I ever get married.
Allows stopover in HKG in both directions + one open jaw. Or how about 105K to fly on QF if we don't want to go to HKG?
Also, AA domestic/Caribbean/Mexian awards with a 'stopover' anywhere in the USA + 1 open jaw?

BA North America (LAX in my case) - Europe, First Class, 100,000 miles (More like 50,000 miles when taking advantage of Diners Club regular 2 for 1 promo). Full bed, great service, hotel room due to overnight connection on way back. Did this once with wife to Austria in 1999 and will be doing it to Rome in near future.

can i find more info on that AA deal on their website? are you referring to the standard 30k reward? you get a stopover and and open jaw?

I like Continental's 20K round trip coach award within Latin America. You cannot trnasit the US, but with COPA, you can travel just about among any major cities in the Caribbean, Central and South America via Panama. Service is good and the connections are well coordinated.

COPA has flights to Panama from Cancun and San Juan, so you can find a cheap charter to Cancun or a cheap flight to SJU and use COPA from there.

What airlines provide a hotel if an overnight connection is required. This seems like an excellent perk. What is the quality of the hotel?