Trying to decide whether this is one of the rare situations where a speculative transfer actually makes sense.

I have ~215k Capital One miles and currently don’t have any particularly compelling use for them. For context, I’m sitting on roughly ~1.7M Amex MR, ~1.3M Chase UR, and ~250k Bilt, so I already have pretty substantial coverage of most of C1’s overlapping transfer partners. I’m also continuing to earn MR through SUBs.

With the current 30% C1 → JAL bonus, the normal 1,000 C1 → 750 JAL becomes 1,000 C1 → 975 JAL. Transferring my entire ~215k balance would therefore give me roughly 209.6k JAL miles, versus only ~161.3k at the normal ratio.
I do want to take my parents to Japan in the future, likely in JAL business class. I’ve been seeing JAL’s own-metal saver pricing around 55k for the first couple of J seats, with subsequent seats sometimes around 80–85k, so ~210k JAL could potentially cover a one-way for all 3 of us depending on availability/pricing.

I also have ~250k Bilt, which transfers 1:1 to JAL. So between Bilt + transferring C1 during this bonus, I’d effectively have access to roughly 460k JAL miles.

The obvious catch: I’m not planning to book Japan anytime soon. It could easily be 2027/2028, so I’d be locking ~215k transferable points into JAL, starting the 36-month expiration clock, and taking on the risk of award-chart/availability changes.

Normally I’d never speculatively transfer ~200k points, but my thinking is:

C1 doesn’t currently have another unique/compelling use for me. I don’t fly EVA/TK.

~1.7M MR + ~1.3M UR already cover most of the partners I’d otherwise use C1 for.

0.975 JAL per C1 is dramatically better than the normal 0.75.

Japan/JAL is a redemption I genuinely expect to make within the next few years.

I have another ~250k Bilt available for JAL.

I can also acquire additional C1 miles at around 1.2cpp if I unexpectedly need C1 later.

Would you dump the ~215k C1 into JAL now and lock in ~210k miles, or keep the C1 flexible despite having ~3M+ points across other transferable currencies?

Where would you draw the line between reasonable positioning for a likely future redemption and speculative-transfer stupidity?

I am trying to sign up for the JAL JMB, but the phone number portion is driving me crazy. I have tried different formats and keep getting an error message. what do I do?

Error message:

• Please enter "Phone number" in the correct format within 14 numeric characters.

Trying to use Chase Edit credit for a 2 night stay:

Same room is:
Hotel website $800
Chase Travel: $1000 (or $500+ 25K UR)

A lesser room on hotel website is $700 and this room
Is fine for my needs but not available on Chase travel

Is the “true” cost of the Chase travel room really: ($800-$500)/25K or 1.2cpp? Or am I missing something?

What is the best value here: cash for lesser room?

I have no other uses for this Edit credit so it’s use it on this hotel or forfeit it.

For some reason, my brain is not getting this.

For context, I have tried using a few. Though not for very long.

My questions:

1. Is there a clear go-to tool (or combo of tools) that covers most use cases well, or does everyone end up juggling 2-3 of these?
2. For those who have a paid version, which one(s) do you think are actually worth the money vs. just using the free version?
3. Any deal breakers I should know about before picking one as my "primary" tool?

Appreciate any input from people who've actually used these day-to-day or plan trips in advance.

I have done a decent amount of research into the awards/flight redemption world and am now trying to actually execute so any help/guidance would be appreciated!

I am trying to find PE or business flights for my family of 4 from JFK to LIS next April (but open to other European destinations too like Brussels, AMS, MAD). I keep seeing/hearing about good availability and deals on TAP in general but have no been able to find anything. I have been searching Aeroplan for TAP flights and Air France for delta flights but the flights that exist don't even show up when I search those partner sites - am I doing something wrong that I don't even see the flights there? Or is there just no availability? Is my timing off?

Trying to understand if I am doing something wrong or if I am doing it right and there is just no availability.

we are doing the safari/seychelles combo in april, and getting to the seychelles from south africa is weirdly hard.

inital plan had been to skip our last game drive (so get 7 of 8 available) and catch one of the three weekly directs that night between JNB and SEZ after a safari camp hopper flight. problem is to get to the island in seychelles we want to stay at anyway, would need to stay a night on main island and fly out to other in the morning as we'd miss the last island hopper. The direct is air Seychelles and I’d book with some 1.5x value UR.

other idea i had was a later connecting redeye through nairobi. would allow us to see last game drive, but JNB-NBO-SEZ getting in at like 4am would obviously suck. but we would get to our destination at the same time if not earlier since we have to stay that positioning night in the other plan anyway. Would book this same way or via a VS transfer.

flights to the seychelles are weirdly limited from south africa/kenya so option two scares be a bit due to more connections/room for error. crappy sleep/lack of sleep we'll get over.

anyone have thoughts, tips, or experience here? I realize this is pretty niche/might just be strictly personal preference.

I've got over 145K delta miles looking to travel from Atlanta to Rome next May. Flights are running 100k plus for the whole month which seems ridiculous. It's been that way since flights opened in June. For those of you frequent flyers, do you think that mileage will drop? Trying to cover both me and my spouse with that mileage.

Hello Everyone,

I am coming across something quite consistently with the AF/KLM flying blue promo flights. The promo fares on the FB website are, from what I’ve seen, always listed lower than what you can book on their sites.

For example, there are a couple of NA flights from Europe listed at 18,750 points. But when you try to book them through the sites, the lowest points for the whole year are 25,000 points. I’m not sure why this is happening and it seems like false advertising.

Can someone shed some light on how to get these deals? I really would like to book one. Also, what do you think is a good deal from Europe to NA? I’m seeing 25k for economy, and 40k for premium business. The premium business seems like the much better deal. The business flight is 140k, which with the cash, works out to be half price. Sadly I don’t have those points quite yet.

Is everything inflated now? I used to hear people getting business class tickets for so much less.

tl;dr: the strategy has changed as I start to value time and flexibility more and there are more viable options out there.

This is not meant to be a flex post or trying to be controversial. I know award travel can still be very valuable.

In fact, I'm someone that's spent years booking award flights, doing the calendar open bookings, setting the alerts, everything in the book, and it's been a great experience. We've been able to experience almost all of the top products out there from JAL/ANA F, BR/CI/JX/QR/KE/CX/SQ J, VS/AF/TK J and many many more.

When I started as a broke college student, the goal for me was to spend at least half, if not 80% or more of the travel costs on points, the big expenses would be the Ubers to the airport or food.

In the past, we were so into it, we would buy a solid chunk of points when the deals are out there like 100% bonus on Aeroplan, etc. since we know how to get good ROI on them.

However, over time, as we've naturally progressed in our careers, I'm starting to book more and more cash flights because it gives us more flexibility. Not necessarily paying dumb amounts for them like corporate travelers, but strategically monitoring the deals like $3k for Europe in J and $5k for Asia in J returns. Doing low $1k for one-way domestic premium transcons. Stuff like that.

I'm still booking a few award flights here and there for us, specifically the rare awards like F, where we're never paying $10k, 15k, 20k for them, but gladly paying up the 80k, 100k points to do so.

In some sense, it feels like a decent combo since flying revenue flights does also help build up more of a points stockpile too, better earnings on airlines like AA, VS, etc.

The same goes for hotels as well, with the Hyatt changes, and just needing credit cards for Hilton/Marriott, etc. We haven't felt the need to earn a ton of points in each program anymore. A lot of the time, we're booking through programs like FHR, Edit, Virtuoso, etc. for the preferred rates and benefits, and those don't really work well with points bookings.

I still find points bookings useful for hedging against dynamic cash prices and inflated rates, but I probably am booking cash stays 90% of the time and doing hotel awards the other 10% of the time now.

And a lot of this isn't necessarily driven by income either, but rather I'm finding the sweet spots and availability worse and worse, and it feels like it's less worth the time to hunt for these awards, especially when the cash alternatives fit my needs and are reasonable deals themselves.

I have the option to either go to Hong Kong for 37.5 miles or go to Singapore for 109k miles. These are just the jump off cities for my 4 week trip to SE Asia. I will only spend a few days in either one before I head to the mainland Thailand/cambodia/etc

The lower miles Hong Kong flight gets me there early on a Tuesday (departing early Sunday from Dallas). Two legs.

The flight to Singapore gets me there late Sunday evening (departing evening on Friday from the US). This flight is four legs.

The cheaper flight gets me 18 hours less in Asia. Is it worth the sacrifice?

United nonstop red-eye from SFO -> MCO on Nov 25 is being sold for $1365 (Economy) because folks prefer non-stop flights around Thanksgiving to avoid long delays due to potential misconnects.

Aeroplan has it for 17.5k miles, so 7.8 cpm.

Upgrade to Economy Plus is available on the United website after booking.

It's not phantom inventory.

Basically I made the air Canada account about a week ago ago

The two days back I moved 103k points over. Been reading up on it and this appears to be common with new accounts

What I can’t figure out is if the processing time has even started for me yet or not

I’ve done a bit of scouring myself attempting to put my points/miles (420k Chase reserve, 150k BILT, 75k AMEX, 10-20k points across random airlines) to work for a one way business ticket June 2027 from the Americas to Australia, but can’t seem to find anything under 300k. Barring finding a cheaper option flying from mainland to Australia, I may break up the flight with a layover in Hawaii…

Any tips/pointers on how I might find something closer to the 150-200k mark or how I might deploy the points/miles most efficiently?

Before I just assume “it is what it is,” figured I’d make my first time post in the group :)

Appreciate y’all!

Route 1: regional airport - ATL - SFO with DL for 20k skypesos then SFO - HKG - SGN with UA 90k points. Separate tickets, 3 hours layover at SFO to claim bags and re-check. Total travel hours 31 hours.

Pros: 15 mins to airport, DL has very good on-time record. Early morning flight. Transiting in ATL is super easy and short so no waste time.

Cons: no status so no two 70-lb bags, separate ticket so if something happens then P2 is SOL.

Route 2: same ticket, JAX-IAD-SFO-TPE-SGN for 100k with UA. JAX-IAD-SFO 3 hours layover each so very comfortable. Could’ve chosen ORD instead of IAD but prefer to avoid that hectic hub. Total travel hours 34 hours.

Pros: same ticket is a huge win + two 70-lb bags

Cons: 2 hours drive to JAX, somewhat long layover at IAD and SFO (could be a pros in case of delay), noon flight.

What would you choose?

Also, the 2 itineraries are 24 hours apart so would UA cancel one automatically? Will I get a warning email? Already got the email lol

Would you choose ORD or IAD as the first layover? Never had issue with ORD the past 2 times but seems like IAD might be a better airport, never been there tho?

I have had a brief scroll through previous posts, and on google, but cannot find a definitive answer. Does anyone know the exact time of day Finnair release their reward flights? I’ve found it’s 360 days in advance but can’t seem to find the time. Will add I’m by far the most technically literate so apologise if this is a readily available answer, I just cannot find it!

Hi! I’ve tried to do my homework as thoroughly as possible on this subreddit but would love if anyone has any other ideas for how to best use ~450-500k Chase points to book two business class flights from Boston to Athens. Ideally at schedule open since we would go next Sep 2027.

Options I’ve read about or considered extensively so it doesn’t just seem like I’m being lazy here:

- Delta has a nonstop and D1 would be fun with the new lounge but I can never find D1 bookings on Virgin or AF, and have no Delta points. Would this be hard to upgrade with cash if we booked in economy? Would rather use points on flights and splurge cash on hotels.

- Iberia from BOS-MAD.. then can do intra Europe connection to Athens. It seems reliable to book at schedule open for a decent fare but also not a particularly exciting routing.

- UA for LH booking through FRA but this would have to be 2 weeks before departure which seems too risky for a honeymoon

- UA or AC booking on Turkish via Istanbul but again I don’t see this reliably available anymore compared to years ago

- Air France via CDG.. but there’s nothing at schedule open.

- Considered positioning flight to NYC to do Air Canada on Egypt Air with long layover in Cairo but seems a bit fussy and have heard not amazing things with Egypt Air

- Qatar but they seemed to have blocked the 70k saver fares via Doha for Aug/Sep 2027… part of why I strayed from Maldives to Greece

- I don’t think there’s any reasonable way for me to get Emirates points and fly EWR-ATH (I flew this actually 5 years ago hah before Chase lost Emirates)

Snagged JFK to SFO on AA transcon J for 43k avios + $4.50 a month before departure. I transferred 34k Amex MR to BA with the 30% transfer bonus, then forwarded it to Qatar Avios. Absolute no brainer considering how easy it is to accumulate Amex points.

AA J availability wasn't showing up in the Qatar app, so I had to call them to book for me.

Other available Qatar Avios options were AA transcon F for 70k, and Jetblue B6 Mint for 74k (tempting but no throne seats available).

I fly this route very often, so for reference here are other redemptions I've made:

- Delta One 767-300 for 54k Flying Blue points

- AA transcon J for 35k Atmos

- AA transcon F for 42k AA miles

- (from EWR) United 777 J for 27k United miles

My husband and I want to fly business on an A350-900 and would love to sit next to each other but the only seat together availability is row 2 where one seat is the bassinet seat.

Some people have mentioned that you will get removed from the seat if someone requires a bassinet…should we risk it?

Hi everyone, long time lurker.

I have a trip from TPA - CTS (Sapporo) (TPA - SFO, SFO - CTS)that I had booked for late January that I booked for 55K United Miles in Y.

I received notice yesterday that the reservation was cancelled due to my first flight (TPA - SFO) having a schedule change that resulted in me no longer being able to make the connection. I have a total of 75K United Miles to work with and was able to find two alternatives, so I wanted to get a second opinion between the two.

Option 1 - Fly from TPA - SFO the night before, get a hotel around SFO, and fly the next day SFO - CTS. This would be 70K Miles + A cash hotel night. I would leave on a Tuesday and make it to Sapporo on Thursday Afternoon. The entire trip would be in Y.

Option 2 - Fly TPA - ORD - HND - CTS. The domestic legs would be in Y, and the international leg is in United Premium Plus for 71.5K miles. I have this tentatively booked from when United was finding me alternative options on the phone. I would leave on a Tuesday and make it to Sapporo on Wednesday night (9:30PM JST). I would have a 3.5 hr layover in ORD and a 2.5 hour layover in HND, and it’s what my buddies are currently suggesting i go with rather than paying cash for a hotel.

I’ll be meeting up with a friend who is coming in on Thursday night, so just wanted to gather some opinions between the two and see if paying for the hotel instead would be worth it vs just taking the additional layover at Haneda. Would appreciate any opinions on what to pick between the two, as my dates are fixed now for an event I’m attending. Thanks y’all, I really enjoy reading this subreddit for more insight on award travel.

EDIT #1 - Thank you for everyone for the comments so far, I did not realize at all that this actually falls on United to fix, so I will be giving them a call back today since they initially suggested I take a look myself when I spoke on the phone yesterday given that the agents said my options "looked terrible" and that he'd rather I look myself rather than him book me on the trip he was seeing.

EDIT #2 - I was able to speak with United, and they re-booked me onto a TPA-IAH-HND-CTS Route in Y for the original 55K Price. There was no longer a one stop option available unless I stayed overnight at SFO, so I went with stopping at HND. Thank you all for your help today :)

I booked a biz class flight lax to Heathrow using Avios points. Flight is one week out and there are 5 revenue first class seats still avail.

Any chance they will open up to allow me to upgrade using points?

What is best strategy to track and book this?

Or do I need to call British to see if phone rep can upgrade me?

Had an itinerary lined up going from BOS-MUC business class for July, but unexpected work circumstances forced me to cancel it and refund the miles. I’m now sitting in 170k AC miles I’d like to maximize but unsure of the best approach.

Leave windows are looking like Mid October to early November and the last week and a half of December. Located near CLT/RDU but willing to reposition anywhere on the to make the trip happen with the goal of traveling to Asia during those time frames.

Any suggestions would be nice.

So far I’ve found 20DEC YVR-BKK economy for 109k December and CLT-NRT for 55k on 24OCT

Peak holiday travel season will make it harder for December but wanting to avoid paying more than I have to for expensive cash tickets

My biggest issue with AC is showing decent redemptions with layovers in places in YVR or YYZ but unable to find direct or comparable prices when trying to depart from those locations directly. Don’t want the points to go to waste before they’re devalued

Couple days ago AirFrance had a glitch on their website where they were showing 60k for business flights between LAX-AMS for every day. I had alerts set on it and when I saw that I immediately transferred points from AMEX to Flying Blue. I tried to book points and every time got an error. My points are now just stuck there. Is there anything I can do like get a refund in cash, make them discount a flight for points, get extra points or anything else since this is a mistake on their part. I tried calling their customer service, but they are saying they can't do anything about it which pisses me off since this was their mistake.

Has anyone recently found a workable solution to Qatar’s restriction on Burgundy members redeeming Avios for a partner? I have a substantial Avios balance and have found the Business reward availability I need. I can book the seat for myself, but Qatar won’t currently allow me to redeem for my partner. I’ve previously been able to use my Avios for her, so I’m interested in when/how this restriction changed. Options I’m particularly interested in:
• Family/nominee arrangements
• Moving Avios to another Avios program and booking from there
• A practical route to Qatar status that removes the restriction
• Qatar manually approving a partner redemption
• Any other solution that someone has actually used successfully I’m happy to purchase my own Business fare if that allows the reward seat to be used for my partner.

Not looking for opinions on whether I should have credited flights differently in the past — just interested in current, practical solutions from anyone who has dealt with this restriction.