Past amateur hour, the only limit is only your creativity and momentary loopholes that open and close by the grace of chance. This isn’t a comprehensive list of tips and tricks, just some of my own findings from over the years that can change at a moment's notice. Some have greatly diminished (RIP, reasonable overnight business class awards), but others yet undiscovered could still be waiting out there. 

More Cards! More!

There are numerous other sites out there that will detail each and every last travel rewards card out there. The main thing to remember here is to not overlook the details. Business cards? Time between welcome bonuses? All fair game, and memorialized in the terms and conditions. 

How British Airways Miles Can Actually Not Suck

Among all prominent international carriers, British Airways is the absolute worst when it comes to award flights. On top of the miles you spend, their "fuel surcharges" come out to be hundreds of dollars, easily making miles essentially worthless for British Airways flights. They even charge less egregious, but still exceptionally high fees for award flights booked through partners like American Airlines. 

So it's ironic that there is actually a really valuable use case for British Airways miles, but NOT on British Airways. How? On airlines like Aer Lingus or American that don't charge fuel surcharges. Specifically, New York or Boston to Dublin on Aer Lingus is a fantastic value at only BA 12,000 miles each way.

But the normal fares for these flights have come down a lot thanks to competition from discount airlines like Norwegian and WOW. The real sweet spot? New York or Boston to Shannon airport in the west of Ireland for the exact same price. Flights that can easily cost over $1,000 off season roundtrip. See the Ireland guide for why you want to see the west side of the Emerald Isle instead of just a roundtrip into Dublin. 

But where am I going to get all these British Airways miles???

Lucky for you, Chase issues a British Airways card with frequent 50,000 mile sign up bonuses. Or, transfer a specific amount from your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account. 

United's North Asia to the South Pacific Award Flights on Star Alliance

This is one of those great obscure award chart gems, and likely only still exists due to its sheer obscurity. Award flights using United miles from Japan or North Asia (China, South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia) to anywhere Star Alliance carriers fly in the South Pacific for 17,500 miles each way in economy or 37,500 in business class. 15,000 from Japan in economy. 

You know who flies to the remote islands of the South Pacific in Star Alliance? Air New Zealand. Now, of course you'd ask yourself, when would I ever need to fly from Asia to the South Pacific? Well, that's on you to figure out. 

I've taken the Shanghai to Fiji flight via Auckland NZ on Air New Zealand on Business Class and it was glorious. (And returned on economy to Japan back when it was even cheaper than today.)

Have tips to share? 

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Are there any chances left for Long Haul intercontinental business class awards? 

March 2016 was a sad day. You see, that was the day that American Airlines followed United and (well, Delta was always terrible with premium award flights) in massively increasing the price of international business class award flights. 

Thus came to an end the times when you could spend 50,000 miles for a lie flat seat on a 15+ hour flight to the other side of the Earth on some of the world best carriers like Singapore, Cathay Pacific, JAL, Qatar, Swiss, etc. 

But all is not lost. There are still little pockets of long distance premium cabin availably left in the world if you know where to look. 

1. Cathay Pacific. Recently offered a 50,000 miles signup bonus on their card in the US. Options: One-way flight under 5,000 miles for 45,000 miles on their award winning Business Class. Or, roundtrip under 2,500 miles. Top off with extra miles from Citi for even more. 5K miles is enough for Hong Kong to Sydney, plenty of time to enjoy that lie-flat seat. 

2. Alaska Airlines. You'd have to combo for this. Combine the Alaska Airlines card from Bank of America (60K) + transfer points from Marriott to top it off. You'll only need 50K to fly to Asia one way on airlines like Cathay Pacific or JAL.