Amex points gurus: What's the best way to redeem and transfer points for travel?

[ponyo]

I don't have American Express card but my business partner does. He has offered to transfer some of his Amex points to me. He says he can transfer Amex points directly to my airline account if I have something like Delta Skymiles account. I don't have Delta Skymiles account but I can make one. Is Delta Skymiles the best way to transfer Amex points if I intend to use for travel? Or are the points better on some other airline? I'm in Atlanta so I'm thinking Delta would be the best. Thanks for your help.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I'll be honest, I'm a big credit card and miles person - and I have over 330k AMEX points and even I can't find something effective to do with them. Yes, I said 330k.

When traveling for pleasure I tried looking at AMEXTravel, but there is honestly nothing that great there - both in points value or basic cost.

What I've actually heard that I would be very interested in - is if you are able to get a Charles Schwab AMEX Platinum, you can then transfer AMEX points at a rate of 1.25c each to your Charles Schwab investment account.


So obviously it would have to work something like this:
1) Open a Charles Schwab account of some sort
2) This will enable you to apply for the AMEX Platinum from Schwab
3) Transfer to Schwab for cash equivalent.
4) ???
5) Profit!

I mean hell - for me that 330k points would convert to $4,125.00. I'll take that over some free nights in a hotel or a couple airfares.


That's just my personal use of AMEX points though, as far as how your friend should transfer them to you? I guess that's up to you. They have some other miles transfers, I would maybe shoot for those. Delta Skymiles are commonly referred to as "Sky Pesos" in the churning community based on how worthless they are.

 

[ponyo]

I'll be honest, I'm a big credit card and miles person - and I have over 330k AMEX points and even I can't find something effective to do with them. Yes, I said 330k.

When traveling for pleasure I tried looking at AMEXTravel, but there is honestly nothing that great there - both in points value or basic cost.

What I've actually heard that I would be very interested in - is if you are able to get a Charles Schwab AMEX Platinum, you can then transfer AMEX points at a rate of 1.25c each to your Charles Schwab investment account.


So obviously it would have to work something like this:
1) Open a Charles Schwab account of some sort
2) This will enable you to apply for the AMEX Platinum from Schwab
3) Transfer to Schwab for cash equivalent.
4) ???
5) Profit!

I mean hell - for me that 330k points would convert to $4,125.00. I'll take that over some free nights in a hotel or a couple airfares.


That's just my personal use of AMEX points though, as far as how your friend should transfer them to you? I guess that's up to you. They have some other miles transfers, I would maybe shoot for those. Delta Skymiles are commonly referred to as "Sky Pesos" in the churning community based on how worthless they are.

Well, these are not my Amex points so I don't think I can transfer his Amex points to me even if I open new Amex credit card account. I think it has to be something like airline account. He says he can easily transfer his Amex points directly to my airline rewards account. Something like Delta Skymiles account.

He's giving me decent amount of his Amex points so I want to make sure I maximize and don't screw it up. So if Delta Skymiles are not that good, then which airline should I get him to transfer the points to? He has about 3.5 million Amex points and he's giving me 1 million Amex points. I also have about half million Chase Ultimate Rewards points but I like using that at Chase travel portal since I get 1.5X redemption rates for any travel with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Well, these are not my Amex points so I don't think I can transfer his Amex points to me even if I open new Amex credit card account. I think it has to be something like airline account. He says he can easily transfer his Amex points directly to my airline rewards account. Something like Delta Skymiles account.

He's giving me decent amount of his Amex points so I want to make sure I maximize and don't screw it up. So if Delta Skymiles are not that good, then which airline should I get him to transfer the points to? He has about 3.5 million Amex points and he's giving me 1 million Amex points. I also have about half million Chase Ultimate Rewards points but I like using that at Chase travel portal since I get 1.5X redemption rates for any travel with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.

At the end of the day, regardless of which one he transfers to... The best one is the one that you will actually use. For example, AMEX Points can also transfer to British Airways, AeroMexico, ANA, Air Canada, JetBlue, and more.... But if you aren't going to use them within a certain amount of time, then they might expire.

But actually, now that I think about it - the one airline whose miles that don't expire is Delta SkyPesos. So I guess they have that going for them.

 

[ponyo]

At the end of the day, regardless of which one he transfers to... The best one is the one that you will actually use. For example, AMEX Points can also transfer to British Airways, AeroMexico, ANA, Air Canada, JetBlue, and more.... But if you aren't going to use them within a certain amount of time, then they might expire.

But actually, now that I think about it - the one airline whose miles that don't expire is Delta SkyPesos. So I guess they have that going for them.

I just looked this up and you're correct. It seems Delta Skymiles are the only ones who's points don't expire. That's actually useful and important feature since I don't know how fast I will use the airline points. I think all my previous United Airlines points expired unused. I have about 150k Korean Air points I need to use soon as well.

Why are Delta Skymiles called SkyPesos? Do you need more points for the same ticket as other airlines? Or is it really difficult to book seats on Delta using Skymiles? I've booked plenty of free airfare tickets using Chase Travel Portal but never directly with airlines using airline mile points.

I googled Amex points airline transfer partners and it gave me:

• Aeromexico 1:1.6
  
• Air Canada (Aeroplan) 1:1
  
• Air France KLM (Flying Blue) 1:1
  
• Alitalia (Millemiglia) 1:1
  
• All Nippon Airways 1:1
  
• Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles) 1:1
  
• British Airways 250:200
  
• Delta Air Lines (SkyMiles) 1:1
  
• El Al Israel Airlines 1,000: 20
  
• Emirates 1:1
  
• Etihad Airways 1:1
  
• Hawaiian Airlines 1:1
  
• Iberia Plus 250: 200
  
• JetBlue Airways 250: 200
  
• Singapore Airlines 1:1
  
• Virgin America 200: 100
  
• Virgin Atlantic Airways 1:1

I assuming anything not 1:1 transfer ratio is a bad deal.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Yes, it's the value of the skypeso that gives it the overall bad reputation.

Couple quick reading references to help explain:
https://onemileatatime.com/in-case-youre-wondering-why-theyre-called-skypesos/
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1101679-why-delta-s-skymiles-called-skypesos.html

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I assuming anything not 1:1 transfer ratio is a bad deal.

Don't assume that. I say that because 1 mile on 1 airline doesn't equal 1 mile on another airline. A standard 500 mile flight might be 20k miles on one airline but only 15k on another. It just depends.

 

[ponyo]

Man, direct airline rewards booking stuff is so confusing and making my head spin. The more I read, the more I'm confused. All this talk about fuel surcharges if you book using certain airlines for certain routes and all the rules on taxes and fees and when you incur them and when you don't. When you can book on partner airline and when you can't in peak season. It's like there's rules for everything. And saver, normal, and peak fares and all the different classes of seats and all the restrictions. It's like a damn maze. Who has the time to figure out all this stuff? It's crazy how complicated the system is for airline rewards booking. This is why I use the Chase Travel Portal for all my points reward bookings so I don't have to deal with all this direct airline rewards booking crap.

 

[Exterous]

I don't have American Express card but my business partner does. He has offered to transfer some of his Amex points to me. He says he can transfer Amex points directly to my airline account if I have something like Delta Skymiles account. I don't have Delta Skymiles account but I can make one. Is Delta Skymiles the best way to transfer Amex points if I intend to use for travel? Or are the points better on some other airline? I'm in Atlanta so I'm thinking Delta would be the best. Thanks for your help.

Yeah - don't do that. I mean maybe if there was a very specific redemption that actually priced reasonably but the chance for that are low. British airways is generally not a great idea either. You can use them on AA but AA is crazy stingy on award space and is trying to find out how badly they can treat their members before they revolt. (For example, in economy when the release award space its often only for certain seats. "Yay - I found saver award space. WTF. Only the middle seats in a 3-3 configuration are available on an 8 hour flight? Fuck that". But if you live near an AA hub you might be able to find good space on domestic US options or even space on AA planes to Europe (but most likely it will all be on BA planes which charges a crap ton of fees that make it a complete waste of time. Seriously. I can usually buy economy tickets on someone like United, Norwegian etc for less than the fees BA charges on a 'free' economy ticket)

The best uses are going to be for your non-US airline redemptions. They don't have quite the flood of consumer airline miles from credit cards the US airlines do so their redemption options are better although more specific in use.

So try and figure out where you want to go (and what reward options are actually available to book) and transfer to those partners for that. For example ANA offers great redemptions to Japan at 75k-90k RT in business (but you HAVE to book a RT flight). 80k-95k for Korea is pretty good too. They have other decently priced options to SE asia as well.

BA Avios can actually be somewhat useful with-in South America but its hit and miss due to route networks and cost. Flying between some countries is shockingly expensive for the distance involved but may only be 5,000-10,000 avios. Award availability in their South American partners is fantastic IF they fly the route you need.

If you're on the west coast Avios actually works with Alaskan airlines although you may still have to call BA directly to book those awards. But anywhere Alaskan offers their saver award availability you can use Avios. It's typically a great redemption from the west coast to Hawaii and I've used them a few times for that (although you have to get yourself to the west coast for it to be a good value)

If you want to go to SE asia Singapore Airlines can be a great luxury option. More expensive in first than other airlines but you get an entire little suite to yourself (Bed AND chair. Plane depending of course). They only really release space for those to their own program (So you can't book them through partner airlines) so Amex is the only way to book those with points other than actually flying Singapore airlines a lot

There are other very niche routes with fantastic options like Singapore Airlines to Sydney, Iberia Avios from Spain to South Africa, Prague to Seoul via Eithad Guest Partner

I'll be honest, I'm a big credit card and miles person - and I have over 330k AMEX points and even I can't find something effective to do with them. Yes, I said 330k.

When traveling for pleasure I tried looking at AMEXTravel, but there is honestly nothing that great there - both in points value or basic cost.

Yeah - don't use them at AMEXTravel if you can avoid it. If you really can't find a use for them you may be able to find a certain forum member who would be willing to take a donation of points in exchange for some trip pictures when he returns from his awesome trip....

 

[Exterous]

Who has the time to figure out all this stuff?

For some the high barrier to entry is actually a good thing. With economies generally doing well its hard enough to find good award space and redemption options as it is. If it was lower the programs really would be useless. But if you can figure a few of them out you can get some great redemptions. It's unlikely I would have paid the cash to do as much traveling as we have or in the seats we were in. Flexibility in dates helps a ton too.

For simplicity I really like United via Chase point transfers. Best mix of availability and reasonable redemption options IMO and we've done more award flying through them than anyone else. They may not have the best business class seat or the very best pricing for that route but if they are the only ones with award space on the dates you need to fly those other things don't matter that much*. Plus their website is one of the better ones for searching award space, including partners and pricing it correctly - including their excursionist perk.

*People in certain AA hubs may have very different feelings but for many (most?) of us United availability trounces AA. And Delta is just all over the place with pricing. I've done the least reward redemptions on Delta of the big 4 despite living near the Delta fortress hub of DTW.

If it were me in your shoes with Amex points I'd look for what destinations ANA had award space to and pick one of those to go to. We're actually fairly close to the miles necessary to do that to go to Japan

 

[ponyo]

I want to hurry up and have him transfer his Amex points to my airline reward account of choice before he changes his mind or uses them. He generates about 2 million Amex points a year but he uses it too for his family vacation travels so I want to get the points transferred to mine ASAP. Once it's in my airline account, he can't take it back.

It turns out I do have Delta SkyMiles account with 882 miles. I must have made it when I traveled to Cancun on Delta. The reason Delta is so appealing to me is I live in Atlanta and fly out from here. I checked Singapore Airlines and they don't fly out Atlanta so I don't think I can book rewards flights from Atlanta using Sinapore Kris Flyer points. Like I mentioned, I do have Chase Sapphire Reserve card with about half million Chase Ultimate Rewards points which I can use to transfer some points if needed as well. Looking at Amex and Chase airline transfer partners list, it looks like British Airways, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, JetBlue, and Singapore Airlines are on both lists. Since Singapore Airlines doesn't fly out of Atlanta, I don't think I can use them with points. JetBlue is good but I think they mainly fly in the US and to the Caribbean so if I want to fly to Europe and Asia, I'm not sure if that's possible. But I found out JetBlue points don't expire like Delta so that's a big plus. I don't know too much about KLM but I think they fly out of Atlanta. I'm thinking I should stick with Delta since its home hub is Atlanta, they fly everywhere in the world, and their points don't expire. Or stick with airline that's on both Amex and Chase transfer partner list so I can renew the points with my Chase points if the airline miles are about to expire. I should've done that with my United miles. I let the United points expire recently when i could've saved it by transferring some of my Chase points. I didn't know that.

I'm interested in flying to anywhere in the world as long as it's a deal. I'm ok with flying economy since that's what I normally fly and I'm a cheap ass when it comes to paying for airfare. I don't place high value on flying First Class. Not with the high prices airlines typically charge for Business/First Class.

 

[ponyo]

For some the high barrier to entry is actually a good thing. With economies generally doing well its hard enough to find good award space and redemption options as it is. If it was lower the programs really would be useless. But if you can figure a few of them out you can get some great redemptions. It's unlikely I would have paid the cash to do as much traveling as we have or in the seats we were in. Flexibility in dates helps a ton too.

For simplicity I really like United via Chase point transfers. Best mix of availability and reasonable redemption options IMO and we've done more award flying through them than anyone else. They may not have the best business class seat or the very best pricing for that route but if they are the only ones with award space on the dates you need to fly those other things don't matter that much*. Plus their website is one of the better ones for searching award space, including partners and pricing it correctly - including their excursionist perk.

*People in certain AA hubs may have very different feelings but for many (most?) of us United availability trounces AA. And Delta is just all over the place with pricing. I've done the least reward redemptions on Delta of the big 4 despite living near the Delta fortress hub of DTW.

If it were me in your shoes with Amex points I'd look for what destinations ANA had award space to and pick one of those to go to. We're actually fairly close to the miles necessary to do that to go to Japan

I normally just book flights using the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal and don't transfer the points to the airlines. What I like about the Chase travel site is it's like Kayak site and I can book like regular travel site using UR points. Plus everything is fully included like taxes and fees so I don't have to pay anything. So everything is simple. I know I'm paying little more for the simplicity and having things like taxes and fuel surcharges 100% included but I'm ok with that since the searching and booking process is so simple. And I'm not limited to single airline.

I do like ANA Asia destinations but I'm worried about points expiration with ANA since the points expire in 36 months and I have no way of renewing since I don't have Amex card. Chase points don't transfer to ANA so I would have to use million ANA points in 3 years. That shouldn't be too hard but I already booked travel for the next 12 months so that only gives me 24 months to use. I like hunting for deals so I don't want the pressure of trying to burn points just to use because of expiration date.

EDIT: I checked ANA and it looks like Atlanta is not one of the city of origin destinations for North America. For Zone 6 which is North America, the cities are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Washington, D.C.(IAD), New York, Chicago(ORD), Houston, Vancouver, Mexico City. So it looks like ANA is out unless there's a way to easily start the route from Atlanta.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Yeah - don't use them at AMEXTravel if you can avoid it. If you really can't find a use for them you may be able to find a certain forum member who would be willing to take a donation of points in exchange for some trip pictures when he returns from his awesome trip....

How do you use your AMEX Points? Transferring to partners?

When I was googling best use I thought people were saying AMEXTravel was one of the most effective ones for maximizing points use.

 

[ponyo]

I tried making Flying Blue account to check out Air France/KLM rewards flight and it's complete mess. Flying Blue redirects and makes you log in so many times to their buggy log in system that it's virtually unusable. And when I finally was able to log in to the correct site, there were too many" no available flights" to be useful. And when I did manage to find some flights, it wasn't much better or often times worse than Delta Skymiles prices.

So far, Delta has by far the easiest and the least buggy interface for rewards log in and search. It's absolute pleasure to use compared to that horrible Air France/KLM interface. Yikes!

 

[Exterous]

Since Singapore Airlines doesn't fly out of Atlanta, I don't think I can use them with points. JetBlue is good but I think they mainly fly in the US and to the Caribbean so if I want to fly to Europe and Asia, I'm not sure if that's possible. But I found out JetBlue points don't expire like Delta so that's a big plus. I don't know too much about KLM but I think they fly out of Atlanta. I'm thinking I should stick with Delta since its home hub is Atlanta, they fly everywhere in the world, and their points don't expire. Or stick with airline that's on both Amex and Chase transfer partner list so I can renew the points with my Chase points if the airline miles are about to expire. I should've done that with my United miles. I let the United points expire recently when i could've saved it by transferring some of my Chase points. I didn't know that.

I'm interested in flying to anywhere in the world as long as it's a deal. I'm ok with flying economy since that's what I normally fly and I'm a cheap ass when it comes to paying for airfare. I don't place high value on flying First Class. Not with the high prices airlines typically charge for Business/First Class.

Airlines are part of alliances so you are not restricted to routes that are only flown by a single airline. Singapore airlines is part of Star Alliance so valid routings can include United as well. Theoretically booking a Singapore airlines award ticket could include United from ATL to LAX or SFO (or wherever) and then onwards on Singapore airlines from there. In this case it would affect the miles required as Singapore has a US zone 1 and 2 and the west coast is zone 2 requiring slightly more miles. This is not always the case though. Going back to United its the same number of miles to Auckland from SFO as it is from DTW or EWR

You could also consider a 'positioning' flight to get to "gateway cities'. So basically if an airline only flies out of LAX then buy your own ticket to LAX. There are risks in terms of connections and the obvious cost and effort associated in doing this but if the difference is an all economy trip to the Maldives vs an economy ticket to LAX and a business class ticket from LAX to the Maldives it can be worth it

ANA does have great economy pricing as well but I guess I was tinting my response with my own opinions. No way I am choosing to spend that long on a flight in economy but I am taller than average with broad shoulders so I can't stand economy on long flights. Besides - it might be worth it just once on a long trip. It makes hitting the ground running so much easier and the jet lag so much less potent.

Jet Blue doesn't fly to Europe by might start in the next year or two. They won't be flying to Asia any time soon.

I normally just book flights using the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal and don't transfer the points to the airlines. What I like about the Chase travel site is it's like Kayak site and I can book like regular travel site using UR points. Plus everything is fully included like taxes and fees so I don't have to pay anything. So everything is simple. I know I'm paying little more for the simplicity and having things like taxes and fuel surcharges 100% included but I'm ok with that since the searching and booking process is so simple. And I'm not limited to single airline.

I do like ANA Asia destinations but I'm worried about points expiration with ANA since the points expire in 36 months and I have no way of renewing since I don't have Amex card. Chase points don't transfer to ANA so I would have to use million ANA points in 3 years. That shouldn't be too hard but I already booked travel for the next 12 months so that only gives me 24 months to use. I like hunting for deals so I don't want the pressure of trying to burn points just to use because of expiration date.

They release dates ~330 days out so that would still give you roughly 3 years. That said the redemptions are constantly changing so parking them anywhere for that long is a risk.

How do you use your AMEX Points? Transferring to partners?

When I was googling best use I thought people were saying AMEXTravel was one of the most effective ones for maximizing points use.

Always partners. If I want money off travel expenses then there are lots of other options like the Barclays Arrival and Bank of America Travel Rewards. I used to use them on BA for the Aer Lingus routes from the US to Ireland but BA modified their rules to change how far Boston was from Dublin:
https://thepointsguy.com/2016/12/boston-dublin-aer-lingus-more-avios/

So I have a couple of plans for Amex points moving forward. Flights within South America for our Peru-Equador trip via Avios. If Southwest keeps delaying their flights to Hawaii then I might use them to get from CA to HI again. But the big use will be to get to Japan, Singapore or Korea in 2020 (Since 2019 is largely booked up already)

 

[Exterous]

I tried making Flying Blue account to check out Air France/KLM rewards flight and it's complete mess. Flying Blue redirects and makes you log in so many times to their buggy log in system that it's virtually unusable. And when I finally was able to log in to the correct site, there were too many" no available flights" to be useful. And when I did manage to find some flights, it wasn't much better or often times worse than Delta Skymiles prices.

So far, Delta has by far the easiest and the least buggy interface for rewards log in and search. It's absolute pleasure to use compared to that horrible Air France/KLM interface. Yikes!

Took me a bit to find it but I think that, overall, this is a pretty good primer with a section for destination areas (right below the disclaimer is a section for "Domestic" "Europe" etc) . It also includes a short blurb on how to actually search and book the points because, as you found out, its not always easy. I don't think they necessarily do a great job calling out the pitfalls though. For example I've never had any luck with reasonable reward redemptions through Flying Blue due to non-existant Delta availability and the high surcharges on non-Delta operated flights. No way I am spending 42,000 miles and $250 on economy tickets to Europe when I can find deals to buy economy tickets outright for $350-400.

https://onemileatatime.com/best-ways-to-use-amex-membership-rewards-points-intro/

 

[ponyo]

Took me a bit to find it but I think that, overall, this is a pretty good primer with a section for destination areas (right below the disclaimer is a section for "Domestic" "Europe" etc) . It also includes a short blurb on how to actually search and book the points because, as you found out, its not always easy. I don't think they necessarily do a great job calling out the pitfalls though. For example I've never had any luck with reasonable reward redemptions through Flying Blue due to non-existant Delta availability and the high surcharges on non-Delta operated flights. No way I am spending 42,000 miles and $250 on economy tickets to Europe when I can find deals to buy economy tickets outright for $350-400.

https://onemileatatime.com/best-ways-to-use-amex-membership-rewards-points-intro/

Thanks for this link. I looked through the destination areas and read through the different airline programs from that link and it doesn't look like Delta is that bad. I'm almost at a point where I'm just going to say screw it and just have him transfer the million points to my Delta Skymiles account. Delta's website and app are just far superior and easier to use than all the others I've tried. It looks like Delta is pretty decent for the Caribbean and SE Asia. And US and Europe doesn't look horrible. It looks like there are cons and weak redemption rates for all airlines for certain routes.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Always partners. If I want money off travel expenses then there are lots of other options like the Barclays Arrival and Bank of America Travel Rewards. I used to use them on BA for the Aer Lingus routes from the US to Ireland but BA modified their rules to change how far Boston was from Dublin:
https://thepointsguy.com/2016/12/boston-dublin-aer-lingus-more-avios/

So I have a couple of plans for Amex points moving forward. Flights within South America for our Peru-Equador trip via Avios. If Southwest keeps delaying their flights to Hawaii then I might use them to get from CA to HI again. But the big use will be to get to Japan, Singapore or Korea in 2020 (Since 2019 is largely booked up already)

Yeah, I guess I don't travel on non-us carriers (which is far more likely on international trips) for me to justify using AMEX Points that way.

I think I'm going to use the Schwab strategy to get 1.25c out of them instead of playing the international aircraft game.

 

[Exterous]

EDIT: I checked ANA and it looks like Atlanta is not one of the city of origin destinations for North America. For Zone 6 which is North America, the cities are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Washington, D.C.(IAD), New York, Chicago(ORD), Houston, Vancouver, Mexico City. So it looks like ANA is out unless there's a way to easily start the route from Atlanta.

Sorry I should have mentioned ANA only lets you book from the cities they serve. Which is really odd because if you go ORD to FRA they'll put you on Lufthansa so it shouldn't matter but it does.

Thanks for this link. I looked through the destination areas and read through the different airline programs from that link and it doesn't look like Delta is that bad. I'm almost at a point where I'm just going to say screw it and just have him transfer the million points to my Delta Skymiles account. Delta's website and app are just far superior and easier to use than all the others I've tried. It looks like Delta is pretty decent for the Caribbean and SE Asia. And US and Europe doesn't look horrible. It looks like there are cons and weak redemption rates for all airlines for certain routes.

Geeze. Just twist the knife in my side a bit more I was trying to see if they were any better lately or better out of ATL but their site has been sucking it up for me in the last 30 min. I keep getting errors on their award search pages. What I did find wasn't great - lots of days of 100k+ economy RT awards to Europe. But a million miles will still get you to a lot of places. Just don't tell me how much you spend in miles to get there

 

[Exterous]

I think I'm going to use the Schwab strategy to get 1.25c out of them instead of playing the international aircraft game.

 

[ponyo]

Sorry I should have mentioned ANA only lets you book from the cities they serve. Which is really odd because if you go ORD to FRA they'll put you on Lufthansa so it shouldn't matter but it does.



Geeze. Just twist the knife in my side a bit more I was trying to see if they were any better lately or better out of ATL but their site has been sucking it up for me in the last 30 min. I keep getting errors on their award search pages. What I did find wasn't great - lots of days of 100k+ economy RT awards to Europe. But a million miles will still get you to a lot of places. Just don't tell me how much you spend in miles to get there

I've been playing around with Delta rewards flights page most of today and I like it a lot. Maybe it's because I don't mind economy seating or maybe it's because I'm in Atlanta where Delta is based but prices don't seem that bad and flight availability to places I want to go are really good. And best of all, Delta has lot of direct nonstop flights for the US, Caribbean, Central and South America, and SE Asia from Atlanta. I value direct nonstop flights way more than multiple transfer flights. Given the choice of nonstop economy vs multiple stops of Business, I'll take the nonstop economy. Based on my searches today, Delta has bunch of nonstop direct flight from Atlanta to Korea and Japan for low as 60k points in main economy. Most of these nonstop flights are on Delta or Korean Air. That is great. Those nonstop direct economy fares are typically around $1,600-2,000 if purchased outright. I know because I bought lot of those direct nonstop tickets in the past and paid as high as $2,400 for single economy seat on Korean Air. Economy flights with 2-3 stops are way cheaper and usually can be bought for 50% of the cost of the nonstop direct flight. So IMO, Delta reward flights to SE Asia are actually more valuable since many are nonstop from Atlanta. It's the same for the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Delta has nonstop flights from Atlanta vs two or more transfers options using United, American, etc.