Questions and Answers

Early stages of trip planning and trying to figure out what the best miles are to use for a one-way from HKG to PDX. Have found a lot of info about first/business class on this route, but not economy!

Hello Ollo.

Let my ask you a question in return, what miles/flexible points if any do you have already?

Or are you asking because you want to pickup a credit card to earn the bonus for this trip?

Currently have ~150k UR, 30k MR and 30K AA miles, but this is going to be a long trip and I have other plans for the UR points. Was thinking of picking up another card for this trip.

Well Alaska miles and flying on Cathay Pacific comes to mind
[URL]https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/award-chart/award-chart-asia.aspx[/URL]
Notice the award cost for Y+, might be an option if you don’t want to fly J.

Cathay is one of the airlines that have not gone to 10 abreast on their B777, which helps a lot
[URL]http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Cathay_Pacific_Airways/Cathay_Pacific_Airways_Boeing_777-300ER_C.php[/URL]

Sign up bonus increasing from May, might be a good thing. Might not.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/02/26/biggest-alaska-visa-bonus[/URL]

Of course if you have a business of some kind you can sign up for both versions of the card for a combined 50K miles after first spend right now.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/best-current-credit-card-offers/airline-credit-cards[/URL]

You can also get the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex card with a bonus 25K points that can be transferred to Alaska.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/best-current-credit-card-offers/hotel-credit-cards/[/URL]

That said Alaska will also sell you as many miles as you want.
[URL]https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/buy-gift-transfer.aspx[/URL]
Often with an bonus as well
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/02/16/buy-most-valuable-miles/[/URL]

On a partner award you can also us a Alaska flight to connect to or from the partner flight for the same award price as long as you can find award space on Alaska of course.