JAL Mileage bank offers some
fantastic award redemption opportunities that other airlines» rewards programs do not (I discussed one such example here) but there are only very limited opportunities to earn JAL Miles if you're based outside of Japan — Starwood's Starpoints come in very useful here.
This guide highlights some of the best
award redemption opportunities with Delta miles.
This guide highlights some of the best
award redemption opportunities with United miles.
This guide highlights some of the best
award redemption opportunities with American Airline miles.
But I think it does pay to be able to jump on
an award redemption opportunity that pops up just a couple weeks before departure.
Now that I have a value for my miles I can use it to decide whether or not
an award redemption opportunity is good value and I can even work out if a «miles sale» is worth pursuing («miles sales» occur when loyalty programs offer to sell you their miles at what is, to them, a discounted rate — these are rarely a good deal).