Or just 140,000 for 42 hours of business class…
You’re right – this is totally aspirational, but why not dream a little bit – right? If you pay close attention to the cool travel blogs, you may have heard about some exceptional value out of the AsiaMiles loyalty program, perhaps even a trick to save up to 60,000 points using the program. Asia miles is an amazing program because you can instantly turn Amex Points, Citi Points, SPG points into lucrative AsiaMiles points. Today we’re going to show you how to unlock some obscene, truly opulent value. Cristal, anyone?
AsiaMiles offers a unique, truly delightful opportunity to spend fewer points if you travel on multiple airlines. That’s great news, because we’re trying to see places like Europe, West Coast USA, Japan, Hong Kong or Australia all on one ticket, taking in the best airlines in their very best seats the entire way and back! That’s right, you’re going all over the place and back home, in total style. You can start from just about anywhere a OneWorld airline flies, and the rules are pretty simple. You’ll get to sample Airbus A380, Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 in the very best ways possible. But first things first, ya’ need to get some miles.
AsiaMiles is the offshoot loyalty program of Cathay Pacific. You can create AsiaMiles easily by converting your Amex Membership Rewards Points, Citi ThankYou Points or SPG Points into AsiaMiles points. You can also earn AsiaMiles for virtually all flights on OneWorld airlines. Yep, even if you’re flying American Airlines, you can probably be earning AsiaMiles. Just enter your AsiaMiles frequent flyer number, or create a free account if you don’t already have one. There are even tons more ways to earn AsiaMiles, which you can learn about here. They even have their own credit card.
AsiaMiles offers an extreme discount on the points you’ll need if you fly on multiple OneWorld airlines. This works extremely well if you’re bopping around different continents. Using the Multi Partner OneWorld Chart, you can fly up to 20,000 miles of actual distance (real miles) anywhere in the world for 205,000 points in first class or 140,000 in business class. We used the GCMap tool to make an example departing Los Angeles, where you’d fly to Tokyo, then onto Hong Kong, down to Melbourne and then back to Los Angeles, or any other West Coast city. You could easily do something similar, or completely different so long as you use at least two different airlines if Cathay Pacific isn’t one of them – or three if Cathay Pacific is one.
Sometimes it helps if people just spell things out, right? You can make up to five stopovers, allowing yourself as MUCH time as you like at each destination. How about Zurich to Hong Kong to Sydney to Doha to Athens? Remember – it doesn’t matter where you start, only how far you go. Or how about Melbourne to Bali to Hong Kong to Tokyo to Mumbai to Sydney? So long as your trip is under 20,000 miles of total distance, using GCMap.com, you’ll be good to go. If it’s less than 18,000 actual miles, you’ll require even fewer AsiaMiles points.
Is your mind now spinning with endless possibilities to see the world like a baller, paying just 140,000 or 205,000 points for a $20,000+ ticket? You’re one step away – but it’s a big step. You’ll need to find availability in either first or business class on flights that suit you. The good news is, with up to five free stopovers you have lots of leeway and flexibility on dates. The easiest tools for finding availability will be AsiaMiles.com, BritishAirways.com or Qantas.com. If you know how to find availability, it’s not too hard. If you don’t, since you’re saving about $20,000 on your tickets anyway: consider using a pro to do it. Matthew at AwardExpert or Gary with BookYourAward can do everything for you quite a lot faster and handle the sometimes frustrating process of actually getting things booked. After all, you’re about to enjoy over 40 hours of first and business class.
Will you use the AsiaMiles OneWorld Chart to book amazing flights using points?
I hate CX, can I use this trick to book QR flights connecting to other OW airlines?
Click on the multi partner chart Gilbert has highlighted as a link, many questions are answered there.
The king of the award charts strikes again…..I’m just getting ready to book ANA F to Japan for next year…have enough JAL and UA to go NYC-BKK (Korean F, 95k) and home via HKG on Emirates F (HKG-DXB-MXP-JFK, 115k) for 2019, and now you dangle yet another treasure in front of me…… I just can’t keep up with you!!
How to book it? Phone? Website?
Oooh, nice.
My 70K SPG points plus 130K AMEX MR should do this trick (starting EU).
I’ll take a look.
They’ll soon put this up by 50% though 🙁
Probably the best $ value you can get from those SPG & AMEX MR points – or have people better ideas ????