Award Travel Vacations

travel the world with points and miles

Best Use of Points and Miles to Bali, Indonesia

Bali at Sunset

By on January 19, 2022

Award Travel Vacations is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation when you use these links through MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on the site. This site does not include all financial offers. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired.

Bali, Indonesia is a bucket list destination for many people. Made famous by the movie Eat, Pray, Love, the island typically hosts over six million tourists a year. Known as the Land of the Gods, Bali has tons to offer. Surfers will enjoy the waves. Nature lovers will spend their days hiking and exploring volcanic peaks and waterfalls. There are also tons of ancient templates dotting the island.

Leaving from the United States, you can expect at least one or two stops on your way to Bali. With more and more airlines moving to dynamic pricing, it’s getting harder to tell if a redemption is a good use of miles. Let’s look at six best uses of points and miles to Bali, Indonesia.

Ways to book:
Air Canada Aeroplan
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
All Nippon Airlines Mileage Club
American Airlines AAdvantage
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
United Airlines MileagePlus
How to Earn these Points and Miles

Best Use of Points and Miles to Bali, Indonesia

Air Canada Aeroplan

The Canadian airline, Air Canada Aeroplan has many different sweet spots for international travel. Point redemptions to Bali is no different. Air Canada uses a distance-based award chart. Final total is determined by the total distance travel including connections.

Dynamic pricing is also used. You can expect prices to be different between flight options. This can also make things a tad bit difficult to find good redemptions. Focus on the lower side on these redemptions for Air Canada flights.

DistanceEconomyPremium EconomyBusinessFirst
7,501 – 11,00050,000 – 90,00070,000 – 160,00085,000 – 200,000130,000 – 300,000
11,001+65,000 – 110,00080,000 – 180,000105,000 – 250,000140,000 – 350,000
One-Way Redemptions using Air Canada Aeroplan on Air Canada flights

While Air Canada is a solid option in any class of service, you can also redeem Aeroplan points for flights on their partner airlines. These include ANA, EVA, Singapore (if they release award space) and Asiana. Partner flights have their own chart.

DistanceEconomyBusinessFirst
7,501 – 11,00060,00085,000130,000
11,001+75,000105,000140,000
One-Way Redemptions using Air Canada Aeroplan on Partner Awards

Asiana flies from these airports through Seoul-Incheon (ICN):

HNLLAX
JFKSFO
SEA

Air Canada doesn’t fly all the way to Bali. You’ll need to connect with another airline. You can find routings through Japan, South Korea, Taipei and Australia on their partners. Spend 5,000 more miles and you can book a stopover in those destinations.

To book Air Canada Aeroplan using points, you can transfer from Chase, American Express and Capital One. All transfer 1:1. Occasionally, you can find transfer bonuses.

Air Canada Business Class | Courtesy: Air Canada
Air Canada Business Class | Courtesy: Air Canada

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

While Alaska Airlines currently only flies to a handful of international destinations, none are to Asia. Prior to joining oneworld, Alaska partnered with airlines from all different airline alliance. Those partnerships continue today. Alaska does have some excellent partners to Bali from the Star Alliance and SkyTeam.

To make things confusing, Alaska uses a different award chart per airline. First up is Cathay Pacific.

EconomyPremium EconomyBusinessFirst
30,00035,00050,00070,000
One-Way Redemptions using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan on Cathay Pacific

To book Cathay Pacific flights, you will need to call Alaska.

Korean Air is up next.

EconomyBusiness
85,000120,000
One-Way Redemptions using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan on Korean Air

There are several US airports Korean Air departs from:

BOSIADSFO
ORDATLLAX
DFWLASSEA

Singapore Airlines has a different award chart.

EconomyBusinessFirst
47,500100,000130,000
One-Way Redemptions using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan on Singapore Airlines

You can enjoy Singapore Airlines from:

SEAIAH
SFOJFK
LAXEWR

Alaska also offers a free stopover on point redemptions. Strategically book your flights to another destination to explore another destination.

Sadly, Alaska Airlines doesn’t partner with any transferrable currency.

All Nippon Airlines Mileage Club

ANA is known for its incredible first class offering. While that award is hard to find, economy and business class offerings are easy to find.

ANA uses a zone-based award chart. No matter the departure city or connecting city, you can expect the above points needed for redemptions to Bali.

EconomyBusinessFirst
80,000136,000240,000
Round-trip Redemptions using ANA Mileage Club

ANA departs from the US to Japan in the below cities.

LAXSFOIADJFK
IAHORDHNL

While ANA doesn’t fly to Bali, there are several excellent partners to finally get there including Eva Air, Asiana, Singapore, and Turkish.  

One downside of ANA redemptions is you must fly roundtrip. Luckily that doesn’t have to be the return doesn’t have to be the same as the departure. You could fly LAX-NRT-DPS then DPS-NRT-JFK.

ANA miles can be earned by transferring from Membership Rewards.

All Nippon Airways Business Class | Courtesy: ANA
All Nippon Airways Business Class | Courtesy: ANA

American Airlines AAdvantage

My go to oneworld airline to credit my cash flights is American Airlines. The loyalty program has great international redemptions. AA uses a region-based award chart. Awards can also be dynamically priced.

EconomyBusinessFirst
75,000140,000220,000
Round-trip Redemptions using American Airlines AAdvantage

Cathay Pacific is one of the only one-stop options to Indonesia from the United States for oneworld. You can also find connecting flights through Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines. Unfortunately due to AA’s routing rules, you can’t fly Qantas or Qatar Airways. You’ll need to purchase separate tickets if you want to fly those airlines to Bali.

Cathay Pacific flies from these US airports:

BOSORD
LAXSFO
JFK

Like fellow oneworld alliance member Alaska, American doesn’t accept transfers from major points currency. Maybe Citi will bring it back?

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Another option to Bali with Star Alliance is Singapore Airlines. The airline is known for their incredible first-class options called the Singapore Suites. Flyers in any class of service won’t be disappointed.

Singapore uses a zone-based award chart. And unfortunately, the US is split into two different zones. The west coast zone includes departure cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

EconomyBusinessFirst
76,000176,000236,000
Round-trip Redemptions using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer from the West Coast

East coast cities include Houston and New York City.

EconomyBusinessFirst
80,000184,000240,000
Round-trip Redemptions using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer from the East Coast

If you are looking to snag one of the Suites, you’ll need to book through Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Suites | Courtesy Singapore Airlines
Singapore Suites | Courtesy Singapore Airlines

United Airlines MileagePlus

On the surface, United Airlines might not seem like the best option because of their dynamically priced points redemptions. In fact, United doesn’t publish any award charts. But the airlines often makes my best use of points and miles list. There are still great redemptions to find.

While redemptions for the same class of service can vary on the same date, focus on the below amounts for your redemptions.

EconomyBusinessFirst
88,000198,000306,000
Round-trip Redemptions using United Airlines MileagePlus

United does partner with great Star Alliance airlines like Singapore, Turkish, Eva Air and Asiana. With the United Excursionist Perk, you can visit an extra city within Asia for free.

You can transfer into United from Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Related: Best Points Hotels in Seville

How to Earn These Points and Miles

Air Canada Aeroplan points are easy to earn. You can transfer from three different flexible currencies including Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and Capital One. This means cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and The Platinum Card® from American Express can help you reach your next destination. The new Chase Aeroplan Credit Card recently went live for new applications.

Alaska Airlines miles are one of the hardest to earn on this list. They don’t currently partner with any flexible currency. Aside from shopping and dining portals, there are two credit card options from Bank of America. If you are able to find a cheap fare, a card like the Capital One Venture X would be able to erase the purchase.

If you are looking to redeem on ANA, Membership Rewards points are your friend. There are eight different MR earning cards. One of my favorite cards is the American Express® Gold Card. But any MR earning card can help earn miles on ANA. The Japanese airline does have a cobranded card for US residents, but the welcome offer is a pitiful 10,000 miles.

American Airlines doesn’t partner with any flexible currencies. Citi did have a limited time transfer. Hopefully we will see that come back soon. In the meantime, the airline partners with both Citi and Barclays for cobranded credit cards. You can get the welcome offer on each personal and business card.

There are several ways to transfer into Singapore Airlines. Chase, American Express, Capital One, and Citi are all travel partners. Cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Premier, American Express Green Card can all work towards a Singapore redemption.

United can only accept redemptions from Chase Ultimate Rewards. In addition to the other cards, the Chase Freedom Unlimited is an excellent card to add to your wallet. The CFU will help you maximize all your purchases. You should also consider adding a few of United cobranded cards including the United Quest and United Business.

Best Use of Points and Miles to Bali, Indonesia Bottom Line

These six options for using points and miles represent the best ways to use points to get to Bali, Indonesia. But they aren’t the only options. SkyTeam isn’t really represented here. This is due to their overall less favorable redemptions.

If you see a cheap airfare, you should also check bank portals. You could end up saving some points. Especially if an economy ticket. If looking to fly business or first class, you are better off transferring to an airline. For any class of service, always confirm award availability before transferring points. Once you transfer from your flexible currency, you can’t transfer them back.

Focus on the flexible points redemption options in this best points list before Alaska or American. My favorite redemption on this list is United. Followed closely by Singapore.

Have you used points and miles to get to Bali? Let me know in the comments.

These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.