Questions and Answers

I have a good friend who travels LAX-HKG 2-3 times a year. He banks his miles in American and occasionally treats himself to a business class ticket if he knows he’s got to hit the ground working.

I’m trying to teach him to be a little more creative in his miles usage but could use some back up. What are his best options for traveling biz class between LAX-HKG?

Is nesting paid Biz class HKG-LAX wrapped inside award Biz class LAX-HKG advantageous? Are those discounted Biz fares even available on that route?

Is he better off banking miles to Alaska to increase his options?

hi Neil–per wikipedia, the only airlines that fly directly from LAX to HKG are AA and CX and I believe the hard product is pretty comparable between the two. CX is usually better at service.

Nesting is advantageous if you can find cheap fares from HKG. While there are locations in Asia that readily provide cheaper fares, I wouldn’t expect HKG to be one of those given that it is fairly important for commercial traffic. However, it can’t hurt to check on ITA to see what kind of fares you see ex-HKG and decide accordingly.

Crediting to AS depends on what fare class he is flying and so what mileage he would earn and what he hopes to redeem for. If he is buying an economy ticket and using the miles to upgrade, he would need to save miles in the program for the airline whose metal he is flying.

Hey Neil!

Your friend might want to look at buying miles, actually. If he knows he’s going LAX-HKG, and can plan either in advance or at the last minute, it shouldn’t be too tough to get business or first awards on Cathay Pacific. Alaska generally has the best rates for mileage purchases, but American’s are decent as well.

He could/should also look at ways to accelerate his mileage earning — credit cards, shopping portals, etc., so that he has the miles to fly business class more often.

Traveling on a consistent route with predictable award space like this is ideal for getting into the mileage game — he has several options, so it’s more about finding the ways that work best for him!