Part II: Luxurious Ways to Burn 237,000 American Airlines Miles

Right now it’s easy to earn a boatload of American Airlines miles quickly.

False Alarm: Cathay Pacific 1st Still Bookable With Alaska Miles

There was a bit of a scare within the miles community last week that the ability to book First Class awards flying Cathay Pacific, one of the highest value awards you can book with Alaska miles, had evaporated.

@CTravelr tweeted the following to catch bloggers' attention:

Not sure if y’all have heard any official word on this because it pretty much kills CX redemptions @garyleff @OneMileataTime @thepointsguy @FrequentMiler
— Brian (@CTravlr) February 13, 2018

If Alaska blocked mileage redemptions within three days of departure, that would pretty much thwart the

Six Ultra-Luxurious First Classes to Book with American Airlines Miles

“Redeeming American Airlines Miles” Series Index

Part 1 — 5 Ways to Stretch American Airlines Miles on Economy Redemptions
Part 2 — 6 Ultra-Luxurious First Classes to Book with American Airlines Miles (this post)
Part 3 — Where to Search Award Space for All Partners
Part 4 — Award Rules and How Many Miles You Need
Part 5 — Taxes, Fees, and Fuel Surcharges
Part 6 — Redeeming for Domestic Awards
Part 7 — Redeeming for Hawaii
Part 8 — Redeeming for East and Southeast Asia
Part 9 — Redeeming for Middle East and Indian Subcontinent
Part 10 — Redeeming

You Can Now Redeem Alaska Miles on Japan Airlines (For Cheap!)

Alaska Airlines partnered up with Japan Airlines (JAL) back in May of this year. Just last week Alaska published their prices for redeeming Alaska miles on JAL flights between the continental United States and Asia, Southeast Asia, and intra-Asia.

Here are the prices in Alaska miles to fly Japan Airlines from the continental United States:

In this case Alaska defines "Asia" as Japan, South Korea, and India, and "Southeast Asia" as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, China, and Tawain.

JAL obviously flies other places but only those redemption rates for US <>

Redeem American Airlines Miles: Part 8 — East and Southeast Asia

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® 60,000 mile offer has expired. Check out the current best credit card offers here.

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Let’s talk about how to use American Airlines miles for awards to East and Southeast Asia.

Best Way to Book Emirates First Class: Japan Airlines Miles with Cheap Prices, No Fuel Surcharges

There used to be two programs that offered Emirates First Class and Business Class redemptions at reasonable rates:

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Now there is only one.
Current State of Alaska/Emirates Awards
Sadly, Alaska Airlines massively devalued their Emirates chart with no notice.

Tons of Japan Airlines First Class Award Space Open

Japan Airlines has released incredible First Class award space from the United States to Tokyo and beyond that you can book for only 62,500 American Airlines miles.

Between Chicago or New York and Tokyo, two First Class suites are available with miles on most flights for the next six weeks.

How good is Japan Airlines First

Japan Airlines Last Minute Award Space Revisited

A few months ago I was lauding American Airlines award space to Asia because partners Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines were releasing tons of award space in Business and First Class at the last minute. Yesterday I checked in on Cathay Pacific award space and found it greatly diminished at the last minute (though not non-existent.)

Today let's check in on Japan Airlines premium award space at the last minute.
Award Prices
American Airlines awards to Asia are way under-priced compared to United and Delta awards.

Japan Airlines Flat Bed Business Class Wide Open USA to Asia, But You Have to Search a Weird Place

Award space in Japan Airlines' brand new flat bed Business Class on its Dreamliner from Dallas to Tokyo is wide open from November 30, 2015 to August 2016 for two or more passengers.

You can book it for an amazing 50,000 American Airlines miles each way.  For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months. That means you’ll have 82,500 American Airlines miles after meeting the spending requirement.