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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:
- Fly directly there
- Connect in Europe
To get to the Indian Subcontinent on a single American Airlines award, you need to:
- Fly directly there
- Connect in Europe
- Connect in the Middle East
- 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.”
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Does Alaska allow you to route from the US to the Maldives via Cathay (since you can’t search Cathay on Alaska, you can only tell by booking (or calling). Also, confirming that there’s no limitation from the West Coast. The routing can also by from NYC if so desired, correct?
yes, that’s totally legit
Yes, the routing can be from anywhere in the USA to Indian Subcontinent via HKG (subject to the other AA routing rules.) Yes, Alaska allows routing anywhere that Cathay Pacific flies.
[…] Every airline loyalty program has routing rules for award travel. These rules define how you are allowed to travel from A to B. Follow those rules, and you can pay the price listed. If you deviate from those rules, you might need to pay more by piecing together two or more separate awards. New rules from American Airlines that permit travel to the Indian subcontinent via Hong Kong will make things much simpler when redeeming AAdvantage miles. (HT to MileValue) […]
I have an award already booked at predeval rates on Qatar going through Doha from NYC to India – can I change my award to switch to Cathay without needing more miles or fees? I’d still have the same start-end cities and dates.
Yes
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