I am trying to book FOC->HKG->KUL->MLE in business class.

I thought this would be 30k miles but was told over the phone it would be 22.5k + 30k = 52.5k. They said the FOC->HKG would be extra miles because of AA routing rules.

What are the routing rules the AA agent is referring to? Is this because the flight is on 2 different carriers? (CX and MH). There are no direct flights from HKG->MLE until more than 24 hrs later.