Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky,
Thanks for your tips, I managed to book an award on Emirates F with Alaska Miles for Thanksgiving. I fly SFO-Dubai, stop in Dubai for 2 days, then head to Hong Kong.
I’m trying to figure out the return though. My original plan was to fly Korean Air to take advantage of their stopover rules so I can stop in Seoul on the way back from Hong Kong to SF. However, doing so would effectively drain my my Chase UR points (I have 30k Korean miles and would need to transfer the rest).

I’m all for the earning and burning, but I’m also sitting on a lot of other “less valuable” currencies including 60k Amex Points, 100k TY points, 180k AA points and 90k United Miles, so I’m starting to wonder if I should use a different currency instead and perhaps book two award segments, even if it costs me a bit more points. I’m kind of worried about AA miles devaluing soon and with Chase tightening up recently, it will be more of a challenge to refill my UR stash.

Obviously availability is a factor, but in general, which of these currencies would you be most inclined to use in this situation to return from HK to the West Coast (preferably with a stop over somewhere like Seoul)?

@Sagar — If the stopover isn’t important to you, I would look at flying Cathay Pacific First from Hong Kong to San Francisco. That’s an incredible value on the AA chart, and one of the most likely to disappear soon.