Quick trivia question to start off the post: which of the below two routings looks like it wouldn't be permissible as a one-way award reservation with American? Routing 1: Routing 2: Well, I think it's pretty obvious that the answer should be routing 1, though in reality it's routing 2 that isn't allowed with American.…
Continue reading: Why American’s award routing rules drive me nuts (sometimes)…
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Does LAN not advertise a direct 1 stop flight JFK-LIM-SCL like they have LAX-LIM-SCL that is advertised as LAX-SCL so it would theoretically be bookable with AAdvantage?
I am planning a trip to QUI from DFW in May. Mileage tickets are expensive and scarce. Economy tickets are high and i hate to use a systemwide upgrade fir a four- five hour flight. What are some suggestions on maximizing my MPM. This is my first ever S American trip and I'm struggling with it. Any advice is appreciated.
Not allowing US-Asia via Europe is a MAJOR issue for me (since US is my homebase and Asia is where I head to most often).
From the US East Coast, going to Asia via Europe is not that much further than via NRT (JL) or HKG (CX).
But thanks to that restrictive routing policy, for most of my travel, I can't leverage LA/QF/BA/IB/AY/AB/S7/RJ/QR at all.
LOL I noticed this when I flew SCL-LIM-JFK, had to redeem SCL-LIM with Avios. At least I saved on AA miles. And at least OneWorld protects you on separate tickets ... just use AA for LIM and Avios for EZE if you are in a bind.
Same thing with India. Can't even go through Asia. At least I can go to CMB, and with UL joining OneWorld, soon take a cheap Avios hop over to India.
@ Andrew -- They do and that would be allowed, except there's no award space on the "direct" flight, but rather only from LIM to JFK.
@ Peterson -- Totally agree that's frustrating, but then again at least Cathay Pacific is in OneWorld, which has an amazing product and releases a generous amount of award space.
@ Amol -- Have always found it funny they consider CMB to be Asia 2 (which I love, don't get me wrong).
I definitely agree that some of AA's routing rules are extremely illogical.
The one that annoys me most is the inability to use HKG as a connection point to Asia; i.e. JFK-HKG-KIX requires two awards. I could understand it if AA had the lift to Asia, but their own service is quite sparse when compared to UA or DL.
The other one, which I'm hoping AA will see the light soon given their stronger QR relationship, is the inability to fly USA > Australia via Middle East. That's really the beauty of the Middle Eastern carriers -- the ability to go between just about any two points on the globe with a maximum of one stop.
Is there ever a circumstance (perhaps via a direct flight) where you can transit Asia 2 to get to Asia 1?
If not my interpretation of this rationale is that it is impossible to fly JAL as your carrier south of KOJ or anywhere other than Korea/Mongolia...
@ JRL -- You can transit Asia 1 to get to Asia 2, but not Asia 2 to get to Asia 1.
What's the maximum number of segments you can do on an AA-issued ticket? and can you transfer at the same city more than once?
I was wondering if it's possible to do something like TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-TPE-HKG-JFK? (Which I think should be within MPM+25%)
🙂
Sorry should have clarified above, I meant the "all partner awards" tickets, with all the above legs in CX
@ London Tim -- Hah, have never come into a situation where I've reached a segment limit, but you can't transit an airport more than once, which is the main limiting factor.
Quick question - Can you route from west coast (LAX,SFO) to JNB via Asia (SIN,BKK) on UA award?
@ econjon -- United can have a screwy pricing system, but in my experience that's not possible.