Saving up enough points and miles to fly lie-flat to Asia can feel impossible if you're staring at fares in the hundreds of thousands of points each, or can't find any award space at all. But it doesn't have to be that way.
In the past few months, we've found several ways to fly lie-flat to Asia under 90,000 points each way!
Whether it's a business class flight to Japan, a nonstop, lie-flat trip to Vietnam, or even booking Delta One Suites to South Korea or Taiwan, there are a few great options for travelers looking to take a big, transpacific trip in 2025. And you can often snag these seats with a stash of American, Alaska, or Delta miles or by transferring credit card points from banks like American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, and more.
Our Thrifty Traveler Premium members know this all too well right now. Here's what they're booking.
Japan Airlines Business Class for 60K Miles
It's an award travel sweet spot unlike any other: Booking Japan Airlines Business Class to Tokyo using American Airlines miles…and only 60,000 of them!
Get more business class award alerts like this with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
When we find award space to book these seats with AA miles (and believe me, we check every single day), we send it to our subscribers immediately. The savings are enormous and the seat is exceptionally comfy, too.
This deal was just using AA miles, but often we find other options, too. Travelers could book these same incredible seats for 75,000 Alaska miles or 78,000 British Airways Avios too, meaning you had a path to book these seats with Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Wells Fargo points, too. In the past, we've seen them available from all the cities below, too if you book with BA or Cathay Pacific miles, too.
But recently, we found an even better way to fly Japan Airlines, and that's onboard its slick new A350-1000 airplanes with new business class seats.
JAL only flies these planes to and from Dallas (DFW) and New York (JFK), and we found great availability to do just that, but only on the way home from Japan. There wasn't any award space flying to Japan with this deal. So you'll have to use one of our other dozens of Japan flight deals we sent this year to get that done.
Vietnam Airlines to Ho Chi Minh City from 81K Points
There's only one nonstop flight to Vietnam from the U.S. and that's aboard Vietnam Airlines flying from San Francisco (SFO) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN).
Onboard those Vietnam Airlines planes are these snazzy business class seats that you can book for just 101,000 Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles each way.
You can transfer points from Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Wells Fargo to Flying Blue to book. You can also book these Vietnam Airlines business class sets through Virgin Atlantic for 140,000 points.
Korean Air to Seoul from 75K Points
If you want to fly lie-flat to Seoul, you won't find anything cheaper than flying Korean Air Business Class.
Thanks to its partnership with Alaska Airlines, you can snag these seats for just 75,000 Alaska miles and $19 in taxes and fees one-way. If you don't have Alaska miles (or a way to earn them), you can also book through Virgin for 85,000 to 100,000 points each way. You can easily transfer points to Virgin from nearly all the major banks: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and Citi.
Korean Air might have more North American gateways than you think, too. Flying from Dallas (DFW), Las Vegas (LAS), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR), we found dozens of available dates to make your trip to Seoul (ICN) the comfiest yet in 2025.
Delta One Suites to Seoul or Taipei from 83K Points
Here's a hard truth: If you want to fly Delta One business class using your Delta SkyMiles, you're going to have to fork over many hundreds of thousands of miles…with two major exceptions.
Delta's SkyMiles prices are the single worst in the world when it comes to redeeming for business class. You can do better earning almost any other points or miles. With one-way flights being almost always worthless (international roundtrips on Delta are typically priced almost the same as one-ways), and with roundtrip flights being prohibitively expensive (think 400,000-plus SkyMiles per ticket), we've declared that SkyMiles are the worst points currency for business class flyers.
But many travelers still have tons of SkyMiles – and they want a way to use them to fly in luxury. So to help out, we check these coveted Delta One seats every single day to alert our Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers to (relatively) cheap availability.
But here's the fun part: If you want to fly to Seoul (ICN) or Taipei (TPE), you can actually get outsized value for your SkyMiles, and book business class flights to Asia under 90,000 SkyMiles each way.
This deal is long gone – join Thrifty Traveler Premium to the next Delta SkyMiles deal in your inbox!
Recently, a rare opportunity to book one-way Delta One flights came about with this deal to Seoul (ICN) and Taipei (TPE). Just 98,000 SkyMiles would be enough to do the trick, and if you have a Delta SkyMiles credit card, that price gets knocked down to just 83,300 miles thanks a 15% discount on SkyMiles bookings.
You won't get many sub-100,000-mile fares to Asia when flying Delta, but you can still save big if you know where to look.
Cathay Pacific Business Class from 84K Points Each Way
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific offers one of the best ways to fly lie-flat to Asia, and from several airports and on several routes, you can secure these seats for just 84,000 Cathay Pacific Asia miles each way.
As you can see, the usual rate is 110,000 Asia miles, but on many Vancouver (YVR) routes, some Los Angeles (LAX) routes, and a few from San Francisco (SFO) as well, you can get sub-90,000 fares.
Here's the San Francisco fare, for example.
But Asia miles aren't the best way to book Cathay Pacific Business Class. It's the easiest way, because Cathay makes more of its seats available when using its own points, but the best way is through American with AA miles.
And Finnair Avios is a close second!
We just flew Cathay Pacific Business Class in November and thought it was tremendous. The service and the experience at Hong Kong (HKG) are unmatched.
Singapore Airlines Business Class from 73K Points Each Way
Singapore Airlines Business Class is almost never cheap – even using points and miles. And this is for good reason. It's an incredibly swanky lie-flat seat flying very, very far to Singapore (SIN) and beyond.
So when we found this chance to book Singapore Airlines business class flights for 87,500 points each way, we sent it to our members in minutes.
If you took advantage of an Air Canada Aeroplan transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards, giving you 20% more points when you transfer. That means this fare is only 73,000 Chase points if you transfer them!
Only Seattle (SEA) benefitted from this availability, but if you live nearby (or can take a separate positioning flight to get there), it's an outstanding redemption.
Hawaiian Airlines First Class from 47K Points Each Way
This kind of feels like cheating…but Hawaiian Airlines First Class should be on your list for your next lie-flat flight to Asia.
Why? Because you can plan a stopover in Hawaii on the way to or from your Asian adventure.
And not just that! You can also save big on award space, too. These flights could be booked for just 53,000 American miles, or 65,000 Virgin miles.
If you took advantage of a 40% transfer bonus from Amex to Virgin that was available at the time, you'd snag these for just 47,000 Virgin miles, too.
Bottom Line
It's been a boom time for business class award flights to Asia, and most travelers won't need more than 90,000 points to book a comfy seat across from the Pacific Ocean this year or next.
From Singapore to Seoul to Japan and back again, these are some of the most available cheap and comfy flights to Asia that we've seen in years.