I earn and burn miles within a 2 year period but at the current moment I'd say pay cash for the cheap tickets and hold on to your miles. In my opinion airlines will survive and redemptions will either be very good values with lots of availability or will take some time but will return to value in the long run.

It is almost always better to spend miles first and then worry about buying flights later. There are obvious exceptions, such as 25,000 miles vs. a $50 fare, but in general "earn and burn" is a phrase that exists simply because it really is the way to go... And unless you have a really safe and secure job, saving $$$ is never a bad idea. Yes we expect to travel again, but you never know what life will throw at you. (such as a pandemic)

Don't worry too much about devaluation. Airlines can only get away with that when the going is good. When travel gets going, there will be a lot more empty seats available as saver awards. Airlines won't really want to leave airplanes parked in the desert for long... if they can cover their fuel costs for flying it...

I redeemed 180,000 miles for 3 people to go to Europe in Polaris in August (using Avios on the way back). However at this point I would say it�s 30/70 if we can go. However if there is no travel restriction and it is back to a small sense of normalcy we will definitely be going. 🤞

there are some great redemption options right now. I would buy now ,,, I am certainly using miles a lot these days for 2021 travel bookings.

The question remaining: Would a former (foreign) partner of UA/*A honor an UA award ticket, if UA would not exist anymore?

Earn and burn is the way to go, but if flights are cheaper than the miles pay cash. Value is almost always better in the premium cabin(s).

I think you're probably right, but there is nothing to loose. Now, if the foreign carrier were to go belly up, would UA refund your miles?

I've never done an award trip involving a partner nor a segment with only partner carriers. The only Partner travel I've ever done was CAN-NRT-EWR, with CAN-NRT being on NH, but I'm assuming that a ticket booked through United for any carrier is a United ticket. if UA goes under, the ticket would probably be worthless. If the foreign carrier goes under, it would just be a route no-longer served.

UA would re-route you to a different carrier first, assuming the option exists.

I held an AC award with UA nonstop flight ex-AMS (no other carriers involved). After flight cancellation, AC auto rebooked me on LO (+ another airline), LO sent me cancellation emails (UA didn't) almost immediately; AC then re-booked me on LH (+ another airline), and I ended the game playing...

I have a little over 3M UA miles, but zero desire to get on any airline's bird soon. The only destination I might be comfortable traveling to is Taiwan to see friends in a safe environment. What would be the best carrier in today's environment to get to Taipei on in business on miles? Any other suggestions for burning miles? I also have about 350K Chase Ultimate Rewards with no current purpose.

BR or UA

While I have miles in most programs, my going forward strategy is cash back - 2c each or 2.62 w BofA premier rewards (+ Platinum Honors)
All it takes is moving your IRA to Merrill - no additional cost - extra 1.125c on everything (2.625c instead of 1.5c)

Even if I compare getting 1.5 miles on Chase unlimited cards vs 2.625 = it still comes to buying miles ar 1.75c each in lost cash
I can always buy miles on sale at that price and keep my cash in the meantime.

Going forward I only see devaluations of awards with inflation. If you can get a 2c redemption today take it. You may likely only get 1c value in future.
Yes, go for bonuses - I am sure they will fall - and credit will be harder to get but nothing beats cash in a crisis
Charles Munger (Berkshire Hathaway) said when asked what he was going to invest in now with free cash "let me get out of this typhoon with my life and boat first, then we will pick up others)

Hands down BR. We did BR ORD-TPE last May in J, the service was great. Champagne was Veuve Clicquot la Grande Dame Rose, better than Dom Perignon served in UA F back in the 90's.

I only travel with family so it’s impossible to get 3 upgrades on domestic sfo flights. So I’ll use my final miles for flight awards (75k each way per pax in F). I’m tempted to just get merchandise instead but I know that’s a worse deal.

My philosophy is similar to this. pretty much all my travel is for leisure. Like a dollar, the value of a point is always higher today than tomorrow. I will pay for cheaper flights to reposition myself to cities where I can get business/first class reward flights to my final destination. I'll usually arrive in the "repositioning" city a day or two beforehand, to preclude any unforeseen delays that might prevent me from boarding my reward flight. It also give me a mini-vacation in that city, and ensures I'm well rested so I can enjoy all the perks of the premium flight.

That makes perfect sense.