I have an American Express Explorer credit card with about 260,000 points and I also have the $400 Travel credit. I’m currently in the US and planning a trip to Japan from Seattle. I wanted to get your thoughts n what’s the best way to use these points and my travel credit is. Last year when I tried to book a flight from the states there was a surcharge of $400 which ended up being more expensive than booking directly from other travel websites or airline websites. It felt like I was wasting my travel credit if I booked through AE. I also wanted to travel from SEA to TOKYO using Japan Airlines but there’s no option of transferring points from AE Explorer to JAL.
What would be the best use of my points and travel credit. Also, if it’s possible it would be great to travel in Premium Economy of FC (not sure how many points I’d need for that though ) I’ll be flying with my wife and my infant.
P.S I’ve never booked using points before so I’m a noob when it comes to using points for travel!
Definitely the best way to get value-for-money out of your $400 credit is to use it for things that don’t cost more (or much more) when you buy them from AmEx Travel! So unless your $400 credit is close to expiring, I’d hold onto it and use it for accommodation or flights with an airline that doesn’t have a surcharge.
If you want to travel from Seattle to Tokyo on JAL using points, you should know that JAL is a Oneworld airline and so you can transfer to any of AmEx’s Oneworld transfer partners (Cathay Pacific, Malaysian, Qatar). So you should check whether those airlines have award availability, and transfer to them, and then book the flights, if they do.
My guess is that Cathay Pacific will be your best bet, but it’s important that you don’t transfer the AmEx points over until you’re sure that there’s flight availability.
If there’s no availability via any of those programmes, you could consider transferring to Virgin Atlantic and flying on Delta, or to Singapore Airlines or Velocity and flying on ANA.
Hi @anooplokkur,
Another option you could look at is flying Seattle to Honolulu on Alaska Airlines, and then Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu - Tokyo. The Alaska/Hawaiian merger has been finalised now I believe so that opens up options. Also, as @sixtyeight mentioned, the Japan Airlines (JAL) option could be an alternate carrier to look at as they fly direct to Honolulu, if you can’t find something direct from Seattle to Tokyo.
Best of luck!
@sixtyeight Thanks for your reply! I didn’t know we could use the $400 credit for hotel accomodation as well. My credit expires in the first week of May and I want to use it before that so I’ll look into accomodation for that travel credit. I also saw that I can transfer points from amex to Marriott and then to JAL, would you recommend this? It seems complicated to me but then again feels like anything to do with points feel complicated lol
I’ll check out Cathay Pacific and see if they have any flights from SEA to TOKYO.
I do like the thought of flying Delta or ANA as well as they are good airlines too!
@sixtyeight I was able to check on Cathay Pacific and it looks like there’s options for JAL on there. Do you know what happens if I need to cancel my flights having booked using the points in the off chance we need to cancel it for some reason? Thanks
If you book using Cathay points (Asia Miles) and you subsequently have to cancel, you’ll receive a refund of your points and carrier charges, minus a cancellation fee which I think is currently either 17,000 points or USD $120.
Also you can most definitely use your AmEx travel credit for accommodation after the credit has expired (eg. book in March 2025 for accommodation in December 2025): I have done this myself.
If you’ve found availability on Cathay, it’s not worth transferring to JAL via Marriott.
Yes, you can book flights for your wife. You’ll need to add her to your “Redemption Group” first. Log in to your Asia Miles account and then select “Change Redemption Group” from the “Membership” menu.
@sixtyeight I just transferred my points to Asia miles and I tried booking but I can’t It says:
There are no redemption seats available for this flight.
It’s got this message for all the flights no matter which date I choose! Any idea why? I feel like I wasted my points now coz I don’t know what to do if they expire in Asia miles. Help please!
Oh dear, that’s really bad news. It’s a point hacker’s nightmare scenario: there’s availability before you transfer the points but the reward flights then disappear after you’ve moved the points over!
Let us know which dates you’re wanting to fly and we’ll do our very best to help you out. @jenart has a couple of good suggestions above if there are no direct flights.
Yep! Nightmare indeed couldn’t sleep coz of it haha
Looking to fly on the May 16th from Seattle but flexible on dates. We have an infant so no long layovers if possible. Thanks so much!!
First, I owe you a huge apology: I didn’t register from your first post that you’re travelling with an infant. That does change things because some frequent flyer programmes are better for travelling with infants than others (see below). As it is, Cathay is one of the worst and I wouldn’t have recommended them if I’d registered that you have an infant with you. I’m so sorry.
Having said that, you have transferred your points to Asia Miles. If you want to go ahead, the best itinerary I can see is SEA to HNL on May 14 on AS823 (arriving 11:56pm), followed by a JAL flight to Tokyo departing either 1:10pm or 4:05pm the next day. I know you don’t want a long layover but at least you’ll be able to hopefully sleep in a bed in Honolulu before your flight to Tokyo?
Sorry I can’t do better at this point and sorry again for missing that you’re flying witn an infant.
@sixtyeight Not your fault! Thanks for this. You actually gave me another great idea and I was hoping to get your help. So From Tokyo I’ll need to head to Bangalore, India. So I could use the points to 1. Fly direct from Tokyo to Bangalore (either JAL or ANA or anyone as long as it’s BC) or 2. Go to HK for 3 nights 4 days and then from HK to BLR or 3. Go to Seoul for 3 nights 4 days and then go to BLR
This will be in June first week. Do you think it’ll be better if I try to do one of the above options since it’s around Asia might have more reward flights on Asia Miles to choose?
When you’re using points to fly Business Class (especially when the flights are only 10 weeks away!), you need to be flexible and you need to be content with what’s available. So the first question to ask when you’re thinking about flying to Bangalore: which Frequent Flyer programmes have availability, and on which routes?
If you find that you have options, then I would think that the direct route would be better, but it’s up to you – if you have points in Cathay which you want to use up, for example, and there’s availability via Hong Kong, then you might want to consider flying via HKG.
But the bottom line is that you should check what’s available first. Then, and only then, is it time to start considering what option is best!
Thanks @sixtyeight Looks like there is availability from TOKYO to HK in Business class! I haven’t yet booked my ticket to Tokyo yet since I’m waiting on a new cc so I can get points there. How long do these tickets stay on there or is it worth booking them now even if it means cancelling later on?
It depends on how much risk you’re willing to take. If it were me, I’d book the flights now and risk paying a cancellation fee if things don’t work out.
) I’ll be flying with my wife and my infant.
