@Berk wrote:
@xgac12x wrote:I am looking to take a couple flights here in the near future, and I know that redeeming these points for cash back definitely isnt a good idea. Everyone is saying that transferring them to a partner airline is the way to go, but what would be the best bang for my buck on the points? And I use my AMEX now for everything, is that advised? Or should I go back to using my DC and Discover, etc. I really want to save up points to travel. Im trying to stay away from the cash back.. But I am just curious to if I am doing it correctly or not.
Best bang for your buck is about 100 points on airlines. I think you get about 3/4 of a cent per point for car rentals, hotels, and cruises.
The only domestic airline that Amex deals with is Delta. I only fly Delta so I am more than pleased with the points I get from Amex on the PRG - especially since they have improved the rewards program.
You can do BA-american/us airways, which i think they are nerfing quite soon. Also you can do aeroplan or something like that to United if you want to fly domestically.
Internationally i am not quite sure what i would use my MR points for , i am probably going to transfer to SQ since i have UR also that i can transfer to SQ. I am thinking of taking a trip to Europe on SQ business. Those may not be the best use of points but good enough for what I want to do.
@elim wrote:Save them for a Europe trip while looking for 40% or 50% transfer to AVIOS that MR has had the past years. 2 persons round trip to Dublin (from Boston) for 50k Avios on Aer Lingus. From there it's 100 euro to Paris, London, etc on any airline you like or Sail-Rail (after enjoying Ireland of course).
If you're on the west coast i hear you can do the same to Hawaii. (basically anywhere under 3000 miles away)
I think airfare is the way to go here. They are changing things with BA so it won't be a good transfer rate after October I think. BA can have good value on short hops. I was just trying to use some avios on a flight in china but the award seats are all gone, otherwise it would have been a nice grab 4500 avios for a flight that goes for like $160 or something.
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@elim wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@elim wrote:Save them for a Europe trip while looking for 40% or 50% transfer to AVIOS that MR has had the past years. 2 persons round trip to Dublin (from Boston) for 50k Avios on Aer Lingus. From there it's 100 euro to Paris, London, etc on any airline you like or Sail-Rail (after enjoying Ireland of course).
If you're on the west coast i hear you can do the same to Hawaii. (basically anywhere under 3000 miles away)
I think airfare is the way to go here. They are changing things with BA so it won't be a good transfer rate after October I think. BA can have good value on short hops. I was just trying to use some avios on a flight in china but the award seats are all gone, otherwise it would have been a nice grab 4500 avios for a flight that goes for like $160 or something.
Bummer about BA nerf. I have been planning a Beijing trip all morning and plan to pay for the flight ($1200 U.S. from DTW round trip / nonstop). The thing i did notice is the super deals with Marriott Rewards at Marriott and Ritz in Beijing. I can stay for a week for 60k Marriott at a Courtyard or 150k at Ritz Carlton.
When are you headed to china? I'm leaving in about a week and a half and am still in the process of making bookings. Right now its a rather slow travel season due to the constant rains etc and the prices on hotels are very reasonable. I'm using points at most places (most heavily hyatt but one or two spg properties and two free hilton nights).I'm staying mostly high end places but I am also checking the reviews first and asking around. I suggest strongly that you do the same. Yes the Ritz has cache but check the reviews to see just how much of an upgrade it is from the courtyard (I'm sure the Ritz is nice but for over double the price in points it may not be that much of an upgrade- your marriott status could factor in here as well). Keep in mind the courtyard could very well be a higher quality than in other parts of the world. Also, check the locations of the hotels vs where you want to visit.
I was going to redeem mine for McDonald's gift cards, but I just checked and they're gone. 
Just avoid the chinese new year in February. It will be complete chaos. Once I get everything all booked in place I will do a thread about how I leveraged different card offers etc for this trip to China. What I can definetly say at this point (after a lot of hassle) I locked in two round trip first class tickets on CX for a total of 135k AA miles. Value of the seats one way can be up to 17k so potential value of $34k all covered by the AA exec offer which resulted in 110k miles and then topped off account with an additional 20k transfer from my amex spg (got the 5k transfer bonus so transfer ended up being 25k miles). Then I downgraded my Citi AA exec to an AA plat and got the 10% return on flight redemptions so I ended up getting my round trip first class flight for 125k AA miles total. So getting roughly .27 per AA mile on the redemption in best case scenario. Not bad at all.