Hello all! First time Award travel-er here.

I’ve been doing research for a couple of weeks but wanted advice on how to best maximize our chase points for my wife and I trip to Tokyo and Kyoto next spring in hopes to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. This is our last international trip for a while with a kiddo on the horizon.

Budget: we have 188k chase points to work with, plus roughly $1000 cash to help with hotels/flights. We’re comfortable with the normal day to day spending of entertainment, food, trains, etc.

Flights: Ideally round trip from Seattle to Tokyo. Needs to be non-stop and 2 seats, ideally sitting together.

Dates: March 15-> April 15. We are flexible within this timeframe. We’re open to staying any 5-7 day span. Would like to stay in either Shibuya or Shinjuku.

The biggest advice I am seeking is how to maximize the chase points with either Flights or Hotels. Right now I have seats.aero alerts set for any good deals that pop up but from what I’ve gathered it’s only getting harder to make the trip due to world events, devaluation of CC awards, and competition with it being so popular.

I know this is a lengthy post, but I sure would appreciate any help anyone has to offer. Am I fighting and uphill battle being about 6 months out?Whether it be AI, other websites to utilize, tips/trips or advice from someone who has done this before I sure would appreciate any input. I have some basic knowledge but it’s a little overwhelming.

TIA!!

Question about upgrading to Business Class with Avios points on Qatar. From what I’ve researched, there’s an option to pay cash for economy then upgrade with Avios points to  Business Class, and Qatar provides a calculator by routing on their website.
 
Where there seems to be conflicting information is the following:
 
-is there an ability to immediately upgrade, or only to book now and wait to see if upgrade availability becomes available at a later date
-is this pulling from the same inventory as booking Saver/Flexi fares directly for Business Class? Or is it a separate inventory?
 
I’ve already booked two flexi seats but since we’re a family of 4 we’re hoping to have everyone travel in Business. Flight is almost 12 months away but I’m not optimistic that more Flexi fares will become available, even though we are fine with paying that rate
 
Somewhat related question, does anyone know if when Saver/Flexi award space is added later (after calendar open when most seats are booked), does this still happen at the 3am Doha time, or is it more random?
 

Looking for practical advice on resolving an involuntary schedule change to a SAS partner award ticket.

Booking: Two passengers, economy, booked through SAS EuroBonus to Buenos Aires in December 2026. Our return trip is EZE–MIA–LHR on 1 January 2027, operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR) and Virgin Atlantic (VS).

On 19 October, we were notified that AR had changed its schedule:

• AR1304 EZE–MIA: now arrives at 21:55, instead of 15:15.
• VS006 MIA–LHR: still departs at 16:50 that day.

The connection is now impossible.

I’ve called SAS Gold support several times. They say that advance schedule changes to partner awards can only be accommodated using available award seats. According to the agents, there is no availability on our original date, nearby dates, or alternative routes from Buenos Aires to Europe. They offered waiting for availability or cancelling the entire booking, including our unaffected outbound. I also emailed Gold support over a week ago but have received only an automated acknowledgement.

Has anyone successfully resolved something similar, particularly with SAS?

I’m trying to book this trip using Bilt points:

• JFK → TPE: December 10, 2026, ideally an evening departure after work
• HKG → JFK: January 2 or 3, 2027

I’m looking at Cathay Pacific and EVA Air, preferably economy or premium economy. I have around 293k Bilt points, plus 103k Amex MR and 114k Delta miles.

I’m confused about how to check award availability and pricing before transferring points:

• Cathay: I created a Cathay/Asia Miles account and can see flights when searching cash fares, but those flights don’t appear when I search to redeem miles.
• EVA: I haven’t been able to get a mileage quote. It seems like I need miles in my account before I can search or proceed, unless I’m missing something.

I don’t want to transfer points speculatively without knowing whether a flight is available or how many miles it requires.

Bilt Travel shows an EVA HKG–TPE–JFK itinerary for $2,307 or 184,567 Bilt points, but I’d like to compare that with transferring to an airline program.

What’s the best way to search these awards with a zero-mile balance? Should I search Cathay/EVA directly or through another Bilt transfer partner? And is Cathay showing cash flights but no redemption options simply a sign that there’s no award availability?

Long-time lurker, first time redeemer seeking affirmation. I found a AF Biz Class ticket one way from YYZ to CDG for 2 for 90k miles and $911 CAD via Capital 1 and Virgin 30% transfer bonus. Looking at AF website this looks like it would be $11,600 for the one way ticket for 2. This seems like a no brainer redemption?

A few months ago I came across a promotion post advertising 3,500 free miles for signing up to VN's Lotusmiles program and downloading their app. I did the promotion, mostly for giggles, and kind of forgot about them since that couldn't really buy anything. I thought maybe I could top them up later with Amex points for a discounted J redemption.

Last week on a trip to Vietnam we were scheduled to take a sleeper train between Hanoi(HAN) and Da Nang(DAD). However I discovered I could not get any sleep on trains and decided it wasn't worth the sleepless night, so I would take a short domestic flight instead. Unfortunately, as it was the day before departure(on a weekend), tickets were 3x more expensive than usual.

I then remembered my VN orphan miles and luckily, VN was running a promo for 50% off award tix, meaning Y-class was exactly 3,500 miles+taxes and fees, so I wouldn't even need a top-up. I promptly booked it and off I was to Da Nang.

Total redemption cost: 3,500 Lotusmiles+taxes and fees(~21USD)

Cash value of the ticket: ~90USD

CPP: ~1.9(Yes I know it's inflated due to last-minute cash pricing but in this case I feel it's justified)

TLDR: Get free miles even from niche programs whenever you can, you never know when you might find use for them.

I'm going to Greece from the US late August or early September 2027 and I'm looking at flights from Newark to Athens. Emirates has some business class seats available for 100,000 points plus $435 fees. I know the transfer rate from Capital One to Emirates is 2:1.5 so that will actually be 133,334 points. My dates are flexible and I'm able to see several business class seats available at this rate. Is that a decent rate even though the fees seem high? This is my first awards flight and my first international flight. United has 1:1 but their business class seats from my local airport through Chicago straight to Athens is 200,000 points with lower fees. I know I can get multi stop one way tickets at a lower point value by going through some European transfer cities but I really want to just do a non-stop from a major airport in the US to Athens. I will be able to get myself from my small airport to either Chicago or Newark with just one flight. Thank you!

hi, I have two options here :

1. Beijing to Amman direct flight, takes off at 3am, royal jordanian, 787-8, seats are 222, 10hrs 40k with AA miles
2. Qatar airway direct flight to Doha, biz, possibly Qsuite, then Doha to Amman in economy because the system doesn’t allow me to book them as a whole ticket. Takes off at midnight and has a layover of 5hours in Doha. 65k avios and some $200 fee.

i should add that option 2 has a mixed cabin choice which is biz and first ( to Doha in biz and Doha to Amm in first ) also 65 k plus $200 but there is a long layover at Doha from 5am to 9pm

which one would you choose ? I prefer the QR seat but the direct flight is a real plus. Also option 1 is a new route so I am not sure how It would be.

and there is option 3, Etihad transfer at AUH, both segments are in biz, also 40k by AA. Takes off at 7pm which I think is a better time. have seen it once but there is no availability now.

Was wondering if a kind hearted soul or two with United cards would check to see if United offers expanded award space from EWR to JNB. I am especially interested in anyone who has the capability with the debit card alone. Last minute award fares are good, but hard to plan a trip like that last minute. Thank you.

Located in Cincinnati, so ORD is best, but would take any airport. Unmarried couple. I have 120k Citi TY points. She has 60k Bilt points.

- I use my TY points and book both tickets despite their policy on unmarried couples. Which is so ridiculous as we've been together almost 20 years. Is there really a risk?

- I try to book 1x in each of our JAL accounts with our own points.

Which is better for speed of booking and less risk?

Just wondering if I'm missing something. Leisure traveler here with a business class addiction, doing the credit card churn thing for nearly 20y now. Had a hell of a time using my chase and capital one points recently for decent redemptions to Europe. I've noticed lots of atmos and aadvantage low mileage in business class redemptions to asia and Europe. I don't really care about the high fees as much. Am missing something by switching most of my (unfortunately/fortunately LOL) considerable CC spend to Citibank and focus on AA miles? Thought about Atmos cc spend but that seems less flexible at least with Citi I can transfer to non-AA in case. Thoughts?

Logged into Skiplagged.com and found they redesigned their site and it no longer has the tab to search for award space. That feature was so helpful, esp looking against multiple cities throughout a month. Anyone know what happened and if something like this exists elsewhere?

I’m going to hit diamond organically in a month which will give me 4GUCs. There’s a flight I want to take in April showing upgrades to D1 available now. Would you put 25k from a business to hit diamond now or wait on it? For reference I have a large amount of C1 and Amex points as well as a decent amount of chase. I could book the flights purely on points on other airlines but delta would be more convenient.

Wife and I recently started thinking about a trip next year. We have around ~200k chase points and were hoping to find a redemption somewhere that would be within that range for either the outbound or inbound leg. I’m used to seeing Europe and some Asian legs 60-90k through Air Canada, Air France, Virgin, etc, but some preliminary searching shows nothing under ~300k per person per way for a variety of dates. I know due to demand and the length of the trip deals will be harder to come by, just wondering if there’s some tips to narrow my search without using a 3rd party engine.

Pretty much like Skyscanner where you can enter the city you're flying from, select everywhere for destination, and then be able to filter out continents, stops, etc. but instead of seeing the amount of money you need to spend, you will see the points you need from different airline partners.

Is there any website like that? I have American Membership points that I can use to convert to specific airline partners. However, I need to know the specific destination if I do something like check the Aeroplan points needed for a roundtrip flight. There's no anywhere option on Air Canada for either spending money or points. Those anywhere options are on sites like Google Flights or Skyscanner, but they only state the actual cost and not points.

Found a 37k mile upper class YYZ to LHR in 2027 but obviously the fees are outrageous. With the Cap 1 transfer bonus it seems like a good redemption on paper.

This is my first award redemption and want to fly business class at least one way to Europe (going to Budapest/Prague next year and flexible to do a stopover). Is this worthy of a redemption even with taxes/fees or try and wait for another bonus or good redemption for something with less? It’s still a $4k ticket for $700 out of pocket and minimal miles.

After many days of trying for JFK > HND to try the new equipment, I tried for the first time this morning to go for BOS > NRT and booked the saver redemption no problem. Wish I could have managed JFK but I'm not too upset about it. J is J after all! There's a 0% chance it will happen, but now I will just hope that by next year they'll switch to an A350 for the BOS route.

I used to get value out of the points systems, but now it just feels like a burden. Points get devalued every year, constantly have to be on top of card combos to max redemptions, having to be flexible on airports + time of year just to get a decent deal, etc.

Frankly, decided to just focus on my business and get it to the point of just paying out of pocket for things. I'll just use my regular 2 cards, get points, and when I can use them to book a flight when I want, how I want, I'll use them; don't care if I can't get it past 1c/point anymore. Otherwise, I'll just pay cash.

The travel patterns of our family of three are pretty unpredictable and last-minute. Over the years, we've been lucky to enjoy a variety of premium cabins, but also had to settle for economy on some trips.

So, in August, when P2 proposed visiting France and Netherlands, I started exploring options. We recently moved from the East coast to LA, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to spending 15-or-so hours in economy.

Initially, I settled for:

• Outbound: LAX-LHR-NCE in economy for 30k AA + ~$54. First leg operated by AA, and my Ruby Gold status allowed for extra legroom seats at booking.
• Return: AMS-SFO-LAX in premium economy & economy for 50k UA + ~$115. This appeared after a few days of searching, as before the mixed cabin layovers were on the East coast and I didn't want a multi-hour leg in economy. With this itinerary, at least we'd be in premium economy for the majority of the flight.

From there on, I'd check options multiple times a day, being flexible a day or two on each side. I wasn't too optimistic, given recent changes in Flying Blue availability + taxes, and lack of Lufthansa / Swiss availability via United or Air Canada.

At T-20, suddenly LAX-DFW-LHR-NCE in first/business opened for 57.5k AA + ~$54. I had to blink twice, then immediately booked it. I feel I managed to snag a unicorn, as nothing else would appear until departure, as paying $1k+ on BA metal for the transatlantic leg wasn't an option.

For the return, I pretty much resigned to accepting premium economy. I never really noticed Polaris seats opening up for 80k, let alone for three pax, and being less flexible now that our departure date was fixed. However, on T-27, there it was. Same flight, but AMS-SFO in Polaris for 80k UA + ~$115, with just short SFO-LAX leg in economy.

We returned from the trip earlier this week, and in hindsight, a two-stop overnight itinerary with a toddler is TOUGH, even laying flat. The one-stop return was much easier, but I will (forever?) miss KLM's direct AMS-LAX option.

Most of our stays were in Airbnbs, boutique hotels, or with family, so we didn't use points for these. Because we booked late, Eurostar from Paris to Amsterdam was quite expensive, so for the first time in my life I settled for paying the $500 international one-way car rental fee.

I did manage to use Hertz Gold points to offset the rental costs (I believe you need less points for a free week in EU vs US). Since we were in the Champagne region anyway, not having to backtrack to Paris for the train was nice.

I'm grateful to the community and the flexibility points provide. Nothing beats seeing your family enjoy flying in comfort. I'm still not sure how I managed to snag these itineraries, since I was expecting having to wait until T-14 or closer. Always keep checking!

How much is Citi's 45k points covered to cash?

Help with cancelled final leg on Flying Blue award ticket (US -> GRU -> Local BR airport)

For context, I booked a flight from the US to a small city in Brazil for the second half of November '26 using Flying Blue points. The full journey was 51k points.

I just received an email saying that my final leg (Sao Paulo to the local BR airport, operated by GOL) has been cancelled. I called Flying Blue and asked for help with rebooking, but they said they don't see any partner flights that would accommodate me, as it's a very small airport with limited flights. I quickly checked and found a replacement flight with LATAM (around $200 cash), but AF is not associated with them.

Customer service gave me two options:

1. Get a full refund and find a flight somewhere else (which I don't want to do, since my points would just be sitting in my AF account).
2. Keep the original flight as-is, fly to Sao Paulo, and request a partial refund for the cancelled leg after my journey is completed.

I did some searching and found a new flight from my origin to Sao Paulo for 39k miles (12k miles cheaper). I'm thinking of calling back, officially changing my destination to Sao Paulo to get 12k miles back now, and just paying the $200 cash for the LATAM flight.

My question: Is it worth calling Flying Blue customer service and switching my flight to only get me to Sao Paulo (securing the 12k points refund upfront)? Or should I complete my journey on the original ticket and 'hope' that the post-travel partial refund for the cancelled leg would be bigger than 12k points?

Thoughts? Am I missing anything here?

Wife and I need to travel to Jeddah on Dec 22nd. Found a decent deal on Flying Blue/KLM for 112K amex points IAD to LHR (Virgin Atlantic) and LHR to JED (Saudia). Both in business class. It only showed 1 seat so I booked that for my wife.

Now the issue is, I need a seat too. I can’t find the same fare anymore, I think the one I booked earlier was the last one (for now maybe).

I have seats.aero pro, set alerts so I am notified if something comes up within same route (IAD to JED or IAD to LHR and LHR to jed seperate)…

I’m hearing that sometimes that more options can open up but idk. Right now, if I book seperate, I’m getting IAD to LHR 90K points economy or 135K in business. LHR to JED only showing economy at 33K points.

Should I go ahead and book now or wait a bit? I prefer to fly business class but I’m open to flying one segment economy/premium.

Those who are experts here, help me suggest what I should do. Should I book rn or wait? Google is saying that sometimes last min deals can show up 14 days before or so.

*** FYI both flights have bunch of Biz class seats available

Thanks in advance

Hey all, curious if anyone else has had this experience -- I transferred ~60k chase points to JetBlue this morning for an Etihad award. Every time I went to checkout it said the seat "changed in price or sold out." Tried different browsers, incognito, agent reset my account, same thing every time.

Chat agent finally checked and said the seat isn't actually available, it's just still showing on the site because partner space takes a while to update. Second agent literally said "we have no way of knowing the exact availability of our partner carriers." Meanwhile it was still showing as bookable on the site.

They escalated to the Loyalty team to see if they'll send the points back to Chase. No case number, no timeline, "check back in 14 days." Told me there's nobody higher to talk to.

Has anyone actually gotten JetBlue / a similar airline or Chase to reverse a transfer in a situation like this? Feels insane they can do this and now a huge chunk of points is stuck in an airline I mostly have no use for.

Also...now that i've checked a couple semi-related threads, if you're booking points get an agent to confirm the space is real before you transfer. Learning this the hard way.

Hey, so as above. I know how rare it is to be ablet to get 4 business availability when not booking 1 year out so don't want to risk messing with a 1.5 hour flight if it will touch the business seats at all. So anyone know if this is possible? Can provide more details if needed, thanks!

Edit: Sorry meant IN in title.