Originally Posted by babywong
Currently I have about 90K and I know that it's very limited but ultimately I want a goal I can reach. For example, I'll be flying out of NY and let say I am interested in going to Austrailia and one of the one world partner has a hub in hawaii that also happens to fly to Austrailia then that'll be really great. Or maybe if I fly Cathay and since their hub is in HK, I can visit HK and then to Austrailia?Any advice is greatly appreciated.
In addition to the AA forum, where issues of the new AA award charts (such as stopovers) have been discussed, I'd check out the airline partners page at AA.com:
http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/Vi...artnerType=Air
The ones of most interest (given your query) are:
the all airline award chart:
http://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantage...ne_chart.jhtml
http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/Vi...artnersContent
Those cover most of the basic award options.
If those are too restrictive, you can claim oneworld awards, which are mileage-based:
http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/Vi...artnersContent
I'm not an expert on the new chart and its rules, but from what I understand:
There used to be a Cathay Award that allowed travel from NA to Australia/NZ and South Africa, with stopovers in HKG. However, under the new chart that routing would require two awards- NA to Asia2, Asia2 to South Pacific or a oneworld award.
For a NA to South Pacific award, I believe you're now limited to one stopover- NA to South Pacific might be able to be routed JFK-LAX-HNL(stopover)-SYD-LAX-JFK, but, once again, I don't have any real experience with the new chart. You already have enough miles for a coach ticket to Australia, 35K more to go for a biz ticket!