American Airlines business class level between the U.S. and the Middle East/India has only increased by 2,500 miles, but the first class rate, which wasn’t cheap to begin with, is now a whopping 25,000 miles more. It’s hard to recommend spending 230,000 miles just to get pampered, especially since all airlines flying to India and the Middle East offer lie-flat seats in a business class cabin. 

A direct flight from North America to Asia can take you 12 to 15 hours. Spending that amount of time in a great business or first class seat will not just make you feel pampered — it will help you adjust to the time difference easier. Enjoying a good night sleep in a comfortable 180-degree bed helps your body clock adjust despite crossing a dozen time zones.

Unlike Europe, you don’t have a lot of options for Latin America with AAdvantage miles. Aside from American Airlines, there are only two carriers that can get you there, the Chile-based giant LAN and Brazil-based behemoth TAM. The two carriers merged a few years ago to form an even bigger airline called LATAM, but they are running things separately for now, until at least 2017.

Europe is small and very nicely interconnected. Don’t get bummed if you can’t get a business class award seat to your final destination there. The most important part is to cross the ocean and arrive relaxed and happy in that premium seat. Connecting from one point in Europe to another is a breeze compared to getting your perfect ticket across the pond.