高档酒店容易弄清楚 飞最好的商务舱需要一些知识 联盟伙伴的概念来了 因为成本通常是相同的，但最终产品的质量可能相差十万八千里 ! 还有一点就是，所有常客计划都是不一样的！ Cherry Picking is a good skill to learn.
Business class long haul flights with flat beds to us are the most important, more so than luxury hotels. The quality of a 10 hours+ flight in business class with flat bed is of much more value of the quantity of how many flights you can redeem.
Very Important - NOT all airlines business class seats are the same. We try to avoid flying US airlines. Used United Miles many times but never have flown a United long haul anywhere - used their miles to fly for example, Singapore airlines, Turkish airlines, TK has one of the top 5 lounges among all top airlines though most Chinese may not ever think it is a good airline. Before Covid, TK flew to the MOST destinations in the world. Who would have thought? On the other hand, even though SQ is always among the top airlines in the world voted by business travelers, SQ actually is a Very Small airline with a Very Limited network.
What are the airlines you used to Maldives? Personal opinion, the best airline to fly this route should be in Qatar's QSuites. I am sure you know QR belongs to OneWorld. AA has the lowest miles requirement but AA does not have transfer partner. QR last year starts use the same Avios as BA, and linked accounts can transfer the Avios seemlessly.
The beauty is, Avios is transfer partner of both Chase and Amex, and often have 20 to 40% transfer bonus, as well as Capital One. Since you spend a lot on business expenses, the CapOne Spark business card might be of interest to you.
You surely know how to maximize the earning of Chase UR points and AMEX membership points.
Last Dec we had a 40 days trip to Middle East, London and a Transatlantic cruise back home. The flights to Middle East were using AA miles to fly Qatar. Qatar's lounges in Doha probably are among the top 3 in the world. The flights among Middle East were usng BA Avios to fly Royal Jordanian, UA miles to fly Egypt Air when it was the Only Choice. Then used BA Avios to fly BA from Middle East to London. Later from London to Rome to board our cruise.
Yeah, you can say for our trip those are all 蹭的. The Qatar tickets if purchased, would be $6 to 7,000 per person. The remaining stuff were really trivial by each one, could add up to another couple thousands.
A good example on cherry picking - the Amman to Cairo Royal Jordanian flight, AA wants 23K miles + Taxes, but BA only wants 6K + same Taxes and another $60 BA surcharge. Look at the difference in mile costs ... If using UA miles to fly Egypt Air, it is 8K + Taxes. Yet Aeroplan, another Star Alliance Partner, also a transfer partner of Chase and AMEX, wants 15K + Taxes + $39 AC partner booking fee...
Hotels on that trip I used Marriott brands as much as possible because I was at the last month to make nights to keep my lowly Plat. Some eye-opening redemption value though. Marriott Mena House in Cairo, a historical establishment, if paid by cash, it was $500+ and a whopping 28% tax! Yet it only costs 28 to 30K pts. St. Regis Cairo, a 2 years old high rise, the cash rate is $650 again + 28% tax. On the night we stayed, the retail rate that night was $800 + 28% tax for an eye-watering well over $1100 price tag... I used a Chase credit card's 35K Free Night Cert topped up with 5K pts. My Suite Night Award request was cleared. They gave us a 1500 sqft 2 bedroom apartment. 
The 3 years Covid has dampened our travel desire A Lot. Somehow I dont have the desire to make trips. In the past I would randomly look up award availability on various programs, and if there were something jumped out at me, we would make a trip out of it. One year we found Qantas First Class, an Unicorn so to speak, were available to book with AS miles on Melbourn to Los Angeles. We jumped on it. Then we found US-HKG-SYD on Cathay Pacific, with AS miles again, to comlete the outbound leg.
Somehow I no longer have the passion to do the hunt. It used to give me a lot of joy doing the hunt.
Yet we need to get to Hong Kong to take care of some personal matters. Was lucky enough to find 2 Cathay Pacific business class seats US-HKG-TYO to and from, using Alaska Airlines miles at 50K per person one way, + taxes + $12.50 partner booking per person per ticket, for travel in Sept. A friend did a trip SFO-HKG-SFO last Sept. He paid $8,200 for the business round trip ticket on Cathay Pacific. So I guess I can say our upcoming trip the air portion alone would be $20K, because it has the portion of HKG-TYO-HKG.
Yup, those were long time ago from Bank of America 蹭的.
Just doing the hotel bookings now, a total of 27 days hotels. 2 stretches in Hong Kong, 21 days in total, all using Marriott points and FN certs. Tokyo portion use IHG pts and FN cert for 6 days. All from Chase, with 1 Marriott FN from AMEX. Hotel portion might worth $7 to $8K I believe. That would be close to $30K worth from points and miles just on this trip.
I dont know between now and Sept where we might go or just stay home. We have done enough traveling around the world. Probably have been in Lisbon 5 or 6 times, all were port visit / overnight visit on Transatlantic cruises. We have been in Hawaii many times decades ago when the islands were not run down as now. Though we never really like Hawaii. Besides, it is TOO LONG A Flight from East Coast. Much nicer to go to Caribbeans if we care for some leisurely sun and sea days. (not our cup of tea though - we dont even get off the ship on a Caribbean cruise, lol.)
Likewise, never understand people's desire to go to Maldives - can't stay more than 2 days on an islet that you only need a few hours to walk around it. And it is such a long way. Even the Polynesia does not appeal to us any more. Still like Australia a lot despite been there and New Zealand many times in the 10 years period between 2000 and 2010. Now we only go to Australia if we happen to go to Asia or a Round the World trip.
A little pro tip - if you like to go to Australia, it is much easier to find award seat from Europe. AA has a great redemption level that is, from Europe to Australia, you are allowed to use Doha to fly Qatar or use Hong Kong to fly Cathay Pacific. You often can find seats from unexpected European cities to Doha, such as Zagreb, Croatia's capital. QR flies Zagreb- Doha.
IF and When, Cathay Pacific resumes services to South Africa, and if anyone wants to do a Safari, AS miles on Cathay Pacific US-HKG-JNB is a great value. Key is of course, many people know this, so finding availability is not easy.
Alaska Airlines program has some gems but they may be gone sometime this year, as they are way too undervalued than other airlines. For example, AA would require 70K on US-Asia 2, UA is 75K on the same if booked with partner flights. AS only requires 50K, plus allowing stopover at HKG. It is a miracle this gem has stayed for so long, might be because AS miles are hard to earn, and not a transfer partner of the "flexible currencies".
Looks like you have a full travel schedule in 2023. Enjoy!
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