How to get the most out of 100k AMEX pts?

Probably ANA business or first class to Japan roundtrip. You're welcome.

The hard part is being allowed in.

Likely Tokyo Haneda as they moved a lot of flights from Narita.

I actually had this booked in 2019 for my wife and myself for November 2020 and well, ya know.

Ended up using the miles with ANA to fly Turkish Business to Croatia. Will try again!

homedepot gift cards, buy a bbq pit, appliance etc...

That’s assuming one has a need for flights

I just hit 1,000,000. Feels good.jpg.

TR, any experience with finding actual award avail on ANA? I can find routes but it always says waitlisted for biz class. Do those usually clear?

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I can find routes but it always says waitlisted for biz class. Do those usually clear?

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They do not and I would recommend against booking those.

I have no idea what the situation is with COVID and Japan still being effectively closed, but when I booked I was able to identify a pattern of availability. For example, outbound to Japan on a certain segment was available on Tues, Friday, Saturday every week. On a different return segment, different days (important when your spouse has specific date demands). A route could have a ton of outbound space but next to none inbound and vice versa, so gateway city flexibility is a must. Wikipedia is perfect for this, got to Tokyo Haneda/Narita page - airlines and destination - find ANA and see what US cities they fly to and work them all.

Also, there are quirks. Always start with the segment that matters, which is Tokyo - US Gateway airport and work from there. Don't try to do Lubbock to Tokyo.

Lastly, when I was booking Turkish Air with ANA after Japan fell through from COVID, Turkish moved my flight and messed up my itinerary so I went back to searching again the way I stated above, JFK-IST and nothing showed up. But when I did JFK-ZAG I got both segments to show.

It can be frustrating but you have to think creatively sometimes. I can only guess the segments were "married."

Lastly there is a new service at the address "point.me" that is aiming to make this easier.

Note: if you book with an ANA account you get access 350 days out vs booking with a partner (United for example) on ANA, which is 330 days out. An extra 20 day advantage can be the difference.

Ya, all the Asian countries went nuts and many have stayed nuts so their airlines are basically unpredictable for the foreseeable future.

Hopefully better situation by then. I suppose you could go across the Atlantic but it won't be the same great deal that direction and it won't be on ANA.

ETA: one more search tip. Don't be afraid of using the multi city search. Can't really explain it but I feel like I was able to get some things to work there/map out what was working when you can see each segment as opposed to that big box that says wait-list when you do a normal search. I think it will force more partner airlines to show up if needed.