Amex Points How to Use for Mel-Lax flights..???

[Brett Anderson]

Hey Guys,

I have signed up for Amex Charge card and got 120k points thanks to this forum...

Just wondering if any of you guys could help me out here. I am trying to book Mel-Lax flight, just confused as so many options and routes are possible... with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and SingaPore Airlines KrisFlyer....

With KrisFLyer even with economy it's showing me I need 270k points or something for 2 adults and 1 child....

With Asia Miles the Qantas flights are full apparently but when I go to qantas directly the seats are available...

I am looking to book for Sept - Oct 2016 period....

Cheers....

 

[Brett Anderson]

bump anyone......???

 

[SponsorSFC]

Hey Guys,

I have signed up for Amex Charge card and got 120k points thanks to this forum...

Just wondering if any of you guys could help me out here. I am trying to book Mel-Lax flight, just confused as so many options and routes are possible... with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and SingaPore Airlines KrisFlyer....

With KrisFLyer even with economy it's showing me I need 270k points or something for 2 adults and 1 child....

With Asia Miles the Qantas flights are full apparently but when I go to qantas directly the seats are available...

I am looking to book for Sept - Oct 2016 period....

Cheers....

One Way prices East Coast AUS to West coat US will be:
Y 50,000
J 100,000
F 140,000

You can discount these by 15% if you book online.

Keep in mind though by flying SQ you will be going the long way MEL-SIN-NRT-LAX. If you book as a return you can add a free stopover plus add extra stopovers for $100 US for each stop. You can add stop overs on one way awards for $100 US.

Alternatively you could go MEL-LAX via BNE or SYD on VA for:
Y 47,000
J 94,000

Asia Miles I am not sure what the Y rate is but J is 70,000 and F is 105,000 so this looks to be the lowest points requirement but if you can't get availability then that is a bit of a moot point.

I would however look at searching on AA.com as they may have availability on AA that might not show in Asia Miles but should be bookable as a OW award on with QF or CX.

Not sure if this answers your question but it is really going to depend on how flexible you are and if you can find availability.

 

[AnnaB]

Im sorry for intruding on your thread Brett, but I am curious too as I am looking at booking flights to LA this fall. We have heaps of Amex Black points but the "cheapest" flights I have found so far, flying out of Perth, is costing us 180,000 points pp for Y class and if we want to go F, its quoted us 1,200,000 points!

As far as I understand we have to book through Amex rewards page or can we book somewhere else? How do we go about booking the fares SponsorSFC is mentioning above? Where do we book? I am flexible regarding dates. We are also members of KrisFlyer, but again... those flights arent cheap either. I am kind of getting tired sitting through long haul flights in Y class.
Thank you for all your help.

 

[Brett Anderson]

Hi Rose

No probs about the post, actually the key is to use American Airlines Aadvantage program to book...

The easiest way to do that is to transfer your Amex points to SPG which is a partner of Amex however you do loose half your points. They from there you have the possibility of transferring those points to American Airlines Aadvantage program. You do get a little bonus for doing that, I got extra 15k points per 60k points transfer from SPG....

Return business class fare feom mel to lax was around 100k miles they call it from Aadvnatage program....

So if you have a lot of points then use them to fly through American Airlines which is also Qantas partner through one world....

Hurry though they are changing the points requirement from 22nd of March this year....

Hope this helps...

Brett

 

[AnnaB]

Ah, that makes sense... unfortunately this wont be on the cards for a while and I will not be able to make any plans before the points requirement change on Aadvantage. What is the big difference with before and after?

I have on the other hand been looking at transferring the points to Krisflyer instead as I am already enrolled and use the points there. Sure I only get 1:2 so my mil points will only be 500,000 but I can get J class tickets (PER-LAX return) for 180,000 Krisflyer points (360,000 altitude points). Or at least that is if I have calculated it correctly. At least that would give us value for points as it would be $12,000 plus value for the points.
Does that sound correct, or am I completely wrong? I am still trying to get my head around this.

 

[mew]

Ah, that makes sense... unfortunately this wont be on the cards for a while and I will not be able to make any plans before the points requirement change on Aadvantage. What is the big difference with before and after?

I have on the other hand been looking at transferring the points to Krisflyer instead as I am already enrolled and use the points there. Sure I only get 1:2 so my mil points will only be 500,000 but I can get J class tickets (PER-LAX return) for 180,000 Krisflyer points (360,000 altitude points). Or at least that is if I have calculated it correctly. At least that would give us value for points as it would be $12,000 plus value for the points.
Does that sound correct, or am I completely wrong? I am still trying to get my head around this.

Perth to West Coast USA J return, is 190000 Krisflyer points. Online discount reduces it to 161500.