Redeeming American AAdvantage Miles To The Maldives

I only see CX MLE service for the winter season only... will it be around next summer?

Another option is 67.5k for CX F to CMB via HKG & SIN and then taking a cheap revenue flight for the last 483 miles to MLE.

@ elsie -- Hmm, very odd, this was supposed to be year round service as far as I know. Looking into this now.

This is somewhat helpful in thinking about travel to the Seychelles as well, albeit with only one option that I can see using Etihad, since Qatar no longer flies to SEZ. The mileage is also greater since SEZ is in Africa. We have miles in all the Alliances and Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards and Starwood. Maybe there is a better option than AA/One World?

Being the cheap guy I am, I flew to Maldives in Economy just over a year ago. During the "off-peak" season, this can be done from any city in the US for 80k miles, booked separately as US-Europe and Europe-AUH-Maldives. We chose CDG as our European connection, and spent 10 days driving around the country before heading out to MLE.

Hey Ben, do you think Etihad will ever publish fare between LAX-MLE when the service starts? Now I'm worried it will never since Washington doesn't have a published fare.

@ AC -- That's a great question and one I've wondered myself. Can't for the life of my rationalize why they wouldn't publish a fare for a one stop service operated exclusively by them. Not sure if it's an oversight or what, but it makes no sense.

@ SgFm -- The issue with redeeming American miles is that you can't route from the US to Africa via the Middle East, so it would require two awards. And since Etihad isn't a OneWorld member, you couldn't book a distance based award on them.

One other option using Membership Rewards points would be to book Etihad through ANA, since they have a distance based award. The catch is that they impose fuel surcharges.

Another option would be to redeem for travel on Emirates through Alaska, as they fly to SEZ and allow it as one award.

I'm not sure CX flies from IAD to HKG. Unless by Washington you mean Seattle??

@ Jake E. -- Whoops, typo, fixed. Thanks!

I've done Elizabeth's idea myself. CX F from JFK-YVR-HKG and then HKG-KUL-CMB on MH. Very quick hop to MLE from Colombo, all for 67.5 K.

Thanks for the post. Very helpful info. New Etihad service to LAX in 2014 will fit nicely into my plans.

A really interesting piece; sadly, there are no OneWorld partners that serve much of Canada. However, for those cities that are served, it is worth noting that Etihad publish through fares from Canadian off-line points to Male, usable from Calgary, Montreal and Toronto via the US with AA connections.

For cheapskates like myself, the best option is off-peak routing through Europe in coach. The two awards cost 5k less than one, and you can visit Europe on both legs.

Ben you are the best. Thanks for devoting a whole post to my question. Now I just need to decide if we should slum it in C or fly in F. First world problems I know.

@Ben What do you recommend using to check if a carrier publishes a fare between two cities? I've got KVS, is there a way to do it using KVS?

Ben, you say this: "Malaysia Airlines only flies 737s to Kuala Lumpur with regional business class..."

I think you meant to say "Malaysia Airlines only flies 737s to *MALE* with regional business class..."

Thanks for the summary, very helpful.

What are the best options using BA miles?

That's strange Etihad has stopped publishing fares between IAD-MLE. Just 3 months ago I booked an award for April 2014 MLE-AUH-IAD for 90k First one-way. To get home to DFW I had to book the final IAD-DFW flight with additional miles since there was no MLE-DFW published fare on Etihad.

Hello Lucky - I am looking to fly EY F at some point (once I accrue enough vacation). With Qatar joining One World do you see Etihad leaving at some point since they are direct competitors? If so, any educated guess as to when this might happen?

Thanks
KG

@ John -- I use ExpertFlyer and don't have KVS so am not sure if it'll show you, to be honest. Generally speaking though if you just look up a fare on ITA Matrix (or just about anywhere else), when you look at the fare breakdown look at whether it shows you a fare the whole way through (like IAD-MLE) or whether it shows two different fares for the one way (one for IAD-AUH and one for AUH-MLE). Generally that will tell you if a fare is published in the market or not.

@ TravelinWilly -- Thanks, fixed!

@ KG -- I've asked myself the same question. Etihad isn't part of OneWorld so I don't see why American couldn't continue a partnership with both airlines. At some point Qatar may try to pressure American to discontinue their relationship with Etihad, though I don't think it'll necessarily happen anytime soon.

What I'm doing in February is doing CX F LAX-SIN and then SIN-MLE on SQ using a usair award which is only 30k miles in business class. Besides getting a nice 24 stop in SIN each way (a great place to spend 24 hours, the connections worked out better then going all the way to MLE on CX.

I'm assuming I will love it so much that I'm thinking of booking another trip for Feb 15. What I will do then is probably combine it with a visit to Sri Lanka. With Sri Lankan airlines joining One World, and the CMB-MLE distance being so short, a one way business class ticket on Sri Lankan using BA miles will be a huge bargain.

Then in the other direction, I"ll go MLE-HKG direct on CX.

@ beachfan -- Sounds like a smart decision! Keep in mind that British Airways actually flies from Male to Colombo 4x weekly, so that's a good use of 9,000 Avios in Club World.

I have never done distance based award with AA, so this is a beginner question. Do you still need to find available award seat like a regular AA zone based award in order to book a distance based award?

@ BTM - That's exactly right!

I believe that Etihad service between AUH-MLE is in a two class Airbus 320 business/economy.

If you're looking for a first award, you'll have to try a different carrier.

What will be the best option from Europe to the Maldives with AA partners ?

@ Romuald -- Etihad and Qatar are generally still the best options from Europe, and they do both publish fares from most European cities to the Maldives. Otherwise for the convenience the British Airways nonstop from London can be worthwhile despite the fuel surcharges, in my opinion.

@Lucky - Thank you !
So the fare is 30k in business and 40k miles in First with Qatar from Europe. Am I right ?

In your experience is the "must have a published fare between origin and destination" rule always enforced? I know AA agents are a bit more on the ball than DL/US agents but that is such a specific and odd rule that it seems like you might be able to sometimes find someone who would unwittingly break it? Or do you find they really do all know that rule?

You're a beast Ben. This is an amazingly detailed walk through of not only his trip plan but also of OneWorld award ticket policies. As I need to help someone with a very similar issue, this has been very helpful. Thank you!

@Lucky, I was looking to book BLR-PDX. They allowed me to book BLR-DOH-ORD-SEA, but did not allow me to extend it until PDX because SEA-PDX route was served by AS, and not AA. Is that right?

The writer said that AA itself lists 90k to MLE on its website.

You respond to him with a bunch of rules (and amazing options, thanks!), yet I cannot find them anywhere on the website.

If AA publicly says it's 90k, and AA does not detail any restrictions, shouldn't he be entitled to get the award for 90k? Wouldn't charging more be an outright fraud?

@ Romuald - That's exactly right!

@ Bgriff - The published fares seem to be programmed into the pricing engine, and non-published fares just won't price. At that point the ticket would go to the rates desk, and at American at least they're extremely savvy.

@ WanderingEntrepreneur - Hah, thanks!

@ Rajnish - It could be that there wasn't saver availability on the Alaska flight, in which case American wouldn't have access to that space.

@ hillrider - Which restrictions are you referring to specifically? The AA award chart notes travel to the Middle East has to be via the Atlantic, and also that "If no participating carrier offers direct service between origin and destination zones, certain awards may be unavailable or multiple awards may be required."

Combined with the footnote providing contact details for those wanting the full Terms and Conditions, it would probably be pretty difficult to argue for fraud, in my opinion.

Ben- In the Cathay example isn't the premium 17,500 for bus cl vs the direct routing? 55,000 + 30,000= 85,000 - 67,500= 17,500 Is that correct?

@ John -- You're absolutely right. Fixed.

@Lucky

Great tip on BA CMB-MLE. Don't need to wait until Sri Lanka joins one world.

@Lucky (or anyone else that may know),

Does AA count as one of the oneworld partners on an explorer award? Could you do NYC to Europe on American Europe to MLE on Qatar and then back on Qatar? Or do you have to fly two oneworld partners other than AA?

@ Paul -- You have to fly two OneWorld partners other than American.

@lucky, I found an even better option to SEZ. Using the JAL mileage based redemption, BOS-SEZ in business is 100K RT (I will transfer 80K from Starwood to JAL). Now I just need to figure out how to work in a stopover somewhere, since I can have two, but the entire itinerary has to be on EK.

Great post!

@lucky @AC Etihad has started to publish fares from LAX- MLE from on June 🙂

http://imgur.com/Xea77dr
http://imgur.com/wecR8AI

Now I'm dreaming of an SFO fare too 🙂

http://www.mightytravels.com/13232755/how_to_get_to_the_maldives_using_aadvantage_miles_using_oneworld_partners.php

@ Torsten Jacobi -- Unfortunately best I can tell they still haven't published a fare. If you look at the screenshots you took you'll notice it lists a difference fare basis between Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi as it does between Abu Dhabi and the Maldives. That means it's two separate fares unfortunately.

@lucky damn - you are right - 2 fares for that trip are combined at ITA. My fault!

@ lucky - Were you able to get to the bottom of the missing availability of CX MLE service next spring (2014)? My sister is planning to honeymoon there in May so sure hope it's not cancelled!

Im booking an F ticket ORD-JFK-AUH-MLE with the last two legs on EY. The last leg is a day later...once UL joins oneworld, can i change AUH-MLE to AUH-CMB-MLE (arrives half a day earlier) and still pay only 90K in F?

@ David -- CMB is in "Asia 2," and you can't route via Asia 2 when flying from the US to the Middle East, so that wouldn't be possible unfortunately.

Ben, JFK-AUH arrives Abu Dhabi at 9:20am while AUH-MLE departs at 9:25am. How can you make that connection if you can't have a stop over 24-hr?

Ahh, never mind, the dates I'm looking for, only EY 102 is available while EY 100 isn't (but would work).

Hi sir, I am wondering how to search for award availability for CX from HKG-MLE? Obviously I didn't plan well and have purchased tickets from US to mainland China but I am heading for MLE directly after that...Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks a trillion.