Questions and Answers

Hi all!

I’m fully recovered from my last trip (thanks to points pro’s!) and am ready for my next outing. I WAS supposed to go to Italy, but work…

So now, I’m looking into Sri Lanka over the holidays. I have roughly 70k AA points and 70k TY points at the moment. I’m sure I’ll rack up more between now and December though as for how many is up in the air. I’d prefer to fly out of LAX but am flexible from pretty much anywhere in the US. I also don’t mind paying for a few of the shorter legs of the trip. What airlines are my options? Business or above is preferred, but I don’t think I have enough points for that. At least not round trip. If I have to do business/first one way and economy in the other I’d be ok with that, depending on the airline.

Thanks!

AA charges exactly 70k for business class one way US-Indian Subcontinent and both TPAC(via HKG only) and TATL routing is allowed. You can book flights on AA,CX,QR,EY,BA,AY,AB and IB. You can also book connecting legs on KA, UL and 9W so you have quite a bit if flexibility.

Economy is 40k and First is 115k one way.

That’s fantastic to hear!

So that gets me there, what about on the way back? I’m thinking I can probably transfer my citi points to my krissflyer account and fly back from Singapore. I can probably concentrate on the citi card for the point difference, or just top off by buying the points.
I tried pricing a flight in suites class from Colombo, but it looks like they don’t fly a suite to Singapore. It prices just fine in business. I REALLY would like to try suitre class though. Maybe that’s one of the cash legs I’ll have to pay.

They might be able to manually put together CMB-SIN-FRA-JFK where the first leg is in business and the other legs are in Suites. Not sure if they’ll consider that backtracking though.

Or maybe CMB-SIN-NRT/ICN-LAX. last 2 legs is First not Suites though.

Does Singapore fly a suites class to LA from Singapore? Or SF even? I thought they did via Tokyo

Not any more. SIN-FRA-JFK is their only US route served with an A380 and therefore the only one with a Suites cabin.

SIN-MAN-IAH and SIN-SFO both use their A350s without a First Class.

SIN-LAX/SFO via ICN, HKG, or NRT are with their 77Ws

Re: backtracking, SQ should allow that because I was able to book SQ-FRA-SIN-MLE. You’ll have to call since the business leg will be an add on to the suites redemption.

Cool cool. Hmmm, may be worth doing a stopover in Frankfurt then. Haven’t been to Germany in the winter before.

@ Gaurav I don’t think I’ll have enough points for the business add on on SQ. I can pay cash to singapore from colombo and suck it up in economy for a few hours. 😀

One last thing, I’m assuming the HKG stopover would by thru CX but booked thru AA right? I wouldn’t mind a day or two in HK. AA only allows 24 hours for transit on partners though right?

If you want to stop in HKG for more than 24 hours, you have to book 2 separate AA award tickets for travel on CX/KA. Alaska’s program allows stopovers on awards but they do not partner with KA – you’re only limited to CX operated flights.

Thought so. That’s actually fine as I’d only want to visit friends for dinner. I swear I visit that city often enough I should live there.

Hmmm, looking at SQ availability saver award for that route doesn’t open up until the 17th of Jan. I need to do more research on the other airlines.

Thanks for all your help guys!

Bringing this back from the dead…

I’m looking at award space but AA’s site isn’t showing anything available at all. Do I have to search segment by segment on the airlines I’m trying to fly, then call AA to use the points?

I don’t mind paying for puddle jumpers while I’m there. It’s just the long legs I’d like to use points for.

Singapore air seems to have a decent amount of wait listed space coming back from SIN to LAX via Tokyo or Seoul. It’s [I]getting[/I] to that side of the world I’m having issues with.

Another option is to use a one-way miles ticket on Cathay using AA miles to CMB. And return there are some very cheap fares from CMB on business and first

Well, AA’s site is basically crap for searching partner award space for flights to Asia. Use BA, JL or QFs site to search for space on CX and JL. Additionally, Alaska’s website will also show space for JL. And it’s always good to search by segment.

Gotcha. I’ll look on BA’s site tonight.