You Can Now Redeem American Airlines Miles to Indian Subcontinent via Asia! Woo-Hoo!

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You can now redeem American Airlines miles to the Indian Subcontinent via Cathay Pacific or American Airlines flights that connect in Hong Kong.

Until today, you could only connect in Europe or the Middle East. Routing via Asia would break your trip into two awards–USA to East Asia + East Asia to Indian Subcontinent. This additional routing option is very welcome, especially for folks who live on the West Coast, for whom routing via Hong Kong is faster than routing via Europe or the Middle East.

The change appears on American Airlines’ award chart.

The new tilde on the chart is explained in the footnotes.

The wording makes it clear that the routing via Hong Kong is only allowed to the Indian Subcontinent and not to the Middle East. Unfortunately, the AA award chart doesn’t separate those two regions.

However, The Points Guy has confirmed with an AAgent that the following countries are considered to be the Indian Subcontinent:

• Bangladesh
• India
• Kazakhstan
• Maldives
• Nepal
• Pakistan
• Sri Lanka
• Turkmenistan
• Uzbekistan

Unfortunately since the March 22 devaluation, awards to the Indian Subcontinent in First Class are insanely expensive:

• 40,000 American Airlines miles one way in economy
• 70,000 in Business
• 115,000 in First

Economy and Business are decent values, though Alaska charges only 62,500 miles one way in Cathay Pacific Business to India and 70,000 miles in First.

Bottom Line

To get the Middle East on a single American Airlines award, you need to:

1. Fly directly there
2. Connect in Europe

To get to the Indian Subcontinent on a single American Airlines award, you need to:

1. Fly directly there
2. Connect in Europe
3. Connect in the Middle East
4. New Option: Connect in Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific or American Airlines flights

All other one way trips to the Middle East or Indian Subcontinent–like Los Angeles to Tokyo to Mumbai on Japan Airlines or Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Dubai on Cathay Pacific–will require at least two awards.

For more information on American Airlines’ award routing rules, see “AA Award Rules & How Many Miles Do You Need.”