Award ticket redemption

[Shadowfactor]

It would either be Bali, Indonesia with maybe a stop over in Singapore or Bankok
Or
The Greek islands

[wasCB14]

One risk with Bali is that DPS shuts down occasionally due to volcanic activity.

For Ohio-DPS, ANA may be your best option. The cheaper awards are with SPG-only partners.

For Ohio-Heraklion, ANA or Korean Air...though Korean Air is about to end its relationship with Chase, so you'd have no time to earn a bunch of URs.

[Shadowfactor]

I was looking at that awardhacker site. It was definitely helpful.

According to that flying from DTW or JFK it’s going to run me around 135K each business class ticket for round trip.

What if we end up going to the Greek Islands ? Any advice on what programs to use for that.

I keep telling my fiancé she needs to decide what she would like to do and where she wants to go for our honeymoon so we can try to accurately plan out the costs involved.

I think she’s overwhelmed, she’s never been out of the country before last year and she’s only been overseas to visit me while I was working.

[wasCB14]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
I was looking at that awardhacker site. It was definitely helpful.

According to that flying from DTW or JFK it’s going to run me around 135K each business class ticket for round trip.

What if we end up going to the Greek Islands ? Any advice on what programs to use for that.

I keep telling my fiancé she needs to decide what she would like to do and where she wants to go for our honeymoon so we can try to accurately plan out the costs involved.

I think she’s overwhelmed, she’s never been out of the country before last year and she’s only been overseas to visit me while I was working.

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See Heraklion above (ANA).

[Anonymous]

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I’m trying to figure out what credit card miles I need to be focusing on. We are still 2 years away but we would like to focusing on which credit cards to use to accumulate the most miles for a picticular airline if necessary.

I have Amex MR, Chase UR and Citi TY points and cards that earn those reward currencies

Points already accumulated
Amex : 150K
Chase : 64K
Citi : 66K
Delta : 65K
USB : 110K

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Wherever you decide to go, you have more than enough points for biz/first class tickets already.  With what you have both of you can fly next week, around the world, not just Asia/Europe.    But nobody can predict the value of what you have in two years.  If I were you, I would research how to maximize what I have for a while; there are many blog sites...Omaat, Godsavethepoints, Monkeymiles, Flytalk...too many to get ideas. 

Join each airline alliance and play with phantom booking to figure out each airlines routes and sweat spots.   And, for ANA/Skyteam, there is an unusual rule that you must prove family relationship to book for someone else, although I heard it has been somewhat relaxed.   For Virgin Atlantic, the chance of finding biz/first award flight to Australia will be equal to winning a lottery.   And you cannot find Delta award to Greece through Virgin Atlantic.

I dont think this forum is designed to give you real real ideas.     I also want to advise you to look at discount fare sites...sometimes it is better to pay cash.   I just booked non stop Oslo-Lisbon-Newark biz tickets sub 700.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Wherever you decide to go, you have more than enough points for biz/first class tickets already.  With what you have both of you can fly next week, around the world, not just Asia/Europe.    But nobody can predict the value of what you have in two years.  If I were you, I would research how to maximize what I have for a while; there are many blog sites...Omaat, Godsavethepoints, Monkeymiles, Flytalk...too many to get ideas. 

Join each airline alliance and play with phantom booking to figure out each airlines routes and sweat spots.   And, for ANA/Skyteam, there is an unusual rule that you must prove family relationship to book for someone else, although I heard it has been somewhat relaxed.   For Virgin Atlantic, the chance of finding biz/first award flight to Australia will be equal to winning a lottery.   And you cannot find Delta award to Greece through Virgin Atlantic.

I dont think this forum is designed to give you real real ideas.     I also want to advise you to look at discount fare sites...sometimes it is better to pay cash.   I just booked non stop Oslo-Lisbon-Newark biz tickets sub 700.

---

Such a rule may exist (I don't know), but ANA is Star Alliance.

Or you mean ANA as well as all Skyteam carriers?

FT would certainly be a good place to learn more.

[Shadowfactor]

I appreciate all the help.

I’m a member of FT. I just don’t really post there as it seems everything is a megathread that spans hundreds of pages.
I have been reading a lot of the threads/messages

It can be really hard to understand the lingo though sometimes. I don’t really understand the J, CX etc when it comes to airline fare classes.

I will have to check out those other blog sites you have.

At this point, I was trying to figure out what airlines would be the best so I could then focus on what cards I needed to spend money on in order to accumulate points in the right airline programs.

I’d love to fly in those new Singapore suites but I doubt I would ever find availability with having non flexible dates. We haven’t exactly planned out the wedding yet but we have a general plan and timeframe.

Wedding planning is coming up in the next couple months.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Wherever you decide to go, you have more than enough points for biz/first class tickets already.  With what you have both of you can fly next week, around the world, not just Asia/Europe.    But nobody can predict the value of what you have in two years.  If I were you, I would research how to maximize what I have for a while; there are many blog sites...Omaat, Godsavethepoints, Monkeymiles, Flytalk...too many to get ideas. 

Join each airline alliance and play with phantom booking to figure out each airlines routes and sweat spots.   And, for ANA/Skyteam, there is an unusual rule that you must prove family relationship to book for someone else, although I heard it has been somewhat relaxed.   For Virgin Atlantic, the chance of finding biz/first award flight to Australia will be equal to winning a lottery.   And you cannot find Delta award to Greece through Virgin Atlantic.

I dont think this forum is designed to give you real real ideas.     I also want to advise you to look at discount fare sites...sometimes it is better to pay cash.   I just booked non stop Oslo-Lisbon-Newark biz tickets sub 700.

---

Such a rule may exist (I don't know), but ANA is Star Alliance.

Or you mean ANA as well as all Skyteam carriers?

FT would certainly be a good place to learn more.

---

Basically all Japan / Korean airlines, except OZ, require to register family members first before booking.

[Anonymous]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
I appreciate all the help.

I’m a member of FT. I just don’t really post there as it seems everything is a megathread that spans hundreds of pages.
I have been reading a lot of the threads/messages

It can be really hard to understand the lingo though sometimes. I don’t really understand the J, CX etc when it comes to airline fare classes.

I will have to check out those other blog sites you have.

At this point, I was trying to figure out what airlines would be the best so I could then focus on what cards I needed to spend money on in order to accumulate points in the right airline programs.

I’d love to fly in those new Singapore suites but I doubt I would ever find availability with having non flexible dates. We haven’t exactly planned out the wedding yet but we have a general plan and timeframe.

Wedding planning is coming up in the next couple months.

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Not airlines...  You need to figure out airline alliances first.   CX/Singapore is oneworld.  VS/Delta is star.  You cannot book Cathay Pacific with Delta points, but you will be able to book Delta with Virgin Atlantic pints.  Your MR/UR points are more valuable than Delta points, since you can transfer to any airlines.

[K-in-Boston]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not airlines...  You need to figure out airline alliances first.   CX/Singapore is oneworld.  VS/Delta is star.  You cannot book Cathay Pacific with Delta points, but you will be able to book Delta with Virgin Atlantic pints.  Your MR/UR points are more valuable than Delta points, since you can transfer to any airlines.

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VS (Virgin Atlantic) is not a member of any alliance, but is a very close partner of Delta (Delta actually owns 49% of the company!) and is a partner of other airlines, including some Star Alliance members (Singapore, South African, Air China).  VA (Virgin Australia) shares many of those partners but also includes others, most notably Etihad.  Delta is a founding member of Sky Team (along with Aeromexico, Air France, and Korean Air) and has no Star Alliance partners.