Amex points towards US trip

[AnnaB]

I am looking at going to the US next year, flying J class with Amex points. We havent decided if we want to go to LA or New York or do both with internal flights. We will fly out of Perth though and at the moment I am looking at KF.

Question is, would you fly with Singapore Airlines, via Singapore and Japan to LA / Singapore and Frankfurt to New York or would you look at other airlines?
How long does it take for the points to transfer and when would I have to make the booking? I understand these flights sell out pretty quickly if available and not waitlisted, especially with Singapore Airlines.

Do you have any tips or things I should take into consideration? All tips welcome and thank you for your time

 

[Pointcollector]

Great question and looking forward to the responses fro the brains trust . I had the same dilemma; SQ in F to LAX ex MEL with a 30hr 20m duration and then still had to get to LAS or a 20 hour 37 duration all the way through to LAS ex MEL (via SYD) in J on DL. For the record I opted for more time in LAS and chose DL. I was happy with the choice, only issues; an AM departure ex SYD makes it harder to adjust to the time difference upon arrival, my flight arrived 30 mins early (normally a good thing) but US Customs don't open until 6am so they kept us on board until they opened.

 

[Buzzard]

I am looking at going to the US next year, flying J class with Amex points. We havent decided if we want to go to LA or New York or do both with internal flights. We will fly out of Perth though and at the moment I am looking at KF.

Question is, would you fly with Singapore Airlines, via Singapore and Japan to LA / Singapore and Frankfurt to New York or would you look at other airlines?
How long does it take for the points to transfer and when would I have to make the booking? I understand these flights sell out pretty quickly if available and not waitlisted, especially with Singapore Airlines.

Do you have any tips or things I should take into consideration? All tips welcome and thank you for your time

I would take SQ via Frankfurt to New York.

In fact I plan to fly SQ Suites to New York from Adelaide but intend to fly to Auckland first to catch said bird so AKL-SIN-FRA-JFK.
Why go the short way?

 

[TomVexille]

You don't have to book flights as a return. You could always go one way to JFK/LAX, and return from the other.

 

[AnnaB]

You don't have to book flights as a return. You could always go one way to JFK/LAX, and return from the other.

Yes, that one of the ideas. Either flights return PER-LAX or PER-NY, domestic down the east coast, hire a car and drive across then flights LAX-PER. It will be around 5-6 weeks away.