Originally Posted by Thunderroad

OP, when you say you're flying to HKG-HKT, I assume it's from SFO, correct?



At least in my limited experience, I was able to book two seats on F awards RT using AA miles for two separate trans-Pacific trips over the past year. It helps to book as far in advance, which for AA is a 330-day window (that you can and probably should book separately for the outbound and return). But availability seems to come and go over the course of the year, so keep trying if at first you can't find what you want. It could even be that sometimes F availability is better than J or Y.

Anyway, the suggestion about looking via the KVS tool sounds like a good one. I use the AwardNexus service, myself. You of course can call whatever airline you bank miles on to find out award availability, but sometimes these sites are useful and identify options that a lazy or less-than-competent airline CSR might not. Also, be aware that even if you can't find availability from SFO, you might be able to do so via LA or Vancouver.

Regardless, I can't be sure which airline makes the most sense to accumulate miles on, in view of the good MR to BA transfer. But I believe that AA might charge you fewer miles for redeeming CX F than BA does--135K RT (or perhaps even less???) on AA from SFO across the Pacific, if I recall correctly. Also, if you look in the Miles Buzz and/or AA forums, you'll see discussion of and links to the great AA Citibank credit card deals offering 75K miles per card for some initial spending. Many folks have been able to sign up for two or even three such cards.



This is exactly how we flew to CMB on CX earlier this year, then on to MLE on Sri Lankan. Since these are two separate tickets, especially on your way back give yourself an overnight or at least a day in or near Colombo just in case your Sri Lankan flight gets delayed or due to a mechanical you have to take a later flight. (Perhaps better to find a beach to hang out at near the airport, rather than going into Colombo itself, which is an hour away and doesn't have very much to see.) CMB-MLE is just a short hop, but FWIW the J ticket is not that much more than Y. Then of course you'll have to pay more than that to fly within the country from MLE to most hotels.