Questions and Answers

Hi All,

I’ve gone down the wormhole of One Mile at a Time and the forums and have a really good grasp on the best way to collect points…but I’m stuck with what I should do with them all. I’d like to to a first class trip on Cathay Pacific from NY to Hong Kong or something similar…I’d also be interested in getting an around the world ticket. Here’s what I have:

263,395 points with AAdvantage
59,000 citi thankyou points
83,435 chase sapphire points

Do I transfer everything to AAdvantage? If not, should I consolidate in some other way? I’m seeing first class cathay pacific trips from NY to Hong Kong for 363,000 points, but have read about 65,000 miles for one way. How do I move forward in the most strategic way?

Thanks for any help, really do appreciate it.

Jon

Your best chance for a saver award on Cathay Pacific is to check either in last 14 days before you want to go or when they open up booking almost a year out.

The 363,000 points is probably something like a anytime award, aka the points version of a full flex ticket.

Good tip, thanks much! Still wondering if I am supposed to transfer all my points to AAdvantage? What is the actual process in booking the trip?

[USER=846]@jmurray20[/USER]

You are probably better off keep the flexible points where they are until you need them, in case of negative changes to AAdvantage.

[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/05/10/is-cathay-pacific-about-to-cut-off-first-class-awards-for-partner-airlines/[/URL]

[USER=846]@jmurray20[/USER]
Tiffany wrote a tutorial on redeeming AA miles a while back, have you read it?
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/12/how-to-redeem-american-aadvantage-miles/[/URL]

Remember that awards on Cathay has to be booked over phone, but they will waive the phone fee as online booking is not possible.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/04/american-aadvantage-now-waiving-phone-ticketing-fees/[/URL]

Also have a look at this post by Tiffany for ideas for you flexible points.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/23/many-miles-needed-award-ticket/[/URL]

[USER=846]@jmurray20[/USER] — Welcome! Keep in mind that none of the other points you have actually transfer to AAdvantage — you can redeem Thank You points towards [I]paid[/I] tickets on American, but they don’t transfer directly.

Thanks! Just found and read the tutorial today, that cleared a lot of things up.

However, Tiffany has just given me new information. So I can’t apply Thank You points toward reward flights at all? Those are totally different?

They transfer to other carriers: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/02/how-to-redeem-citi-thankyou-points/[/URL]

But in terms of American, your best bet is to use them towards purchased tickets: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/06/redeeming-citi-thankyou-points-for-travel-on-american/[/URL]

Sorry for the bad advice on flexible points Jon, mixed up where they could go. Must have been think about SQ Krisflyer.

Still think the flexible points are more worth and you should use up the AAdvantage points first.