Originally Posted by Shareholder
For AA members, the big problem, as aluded to by the OP, is the need to transfer to another ONEWORLD carrier that does not provide full points/miles on discounted fares for part of the routing given AA's still limited access to Asian cities.
It is a GREAT way to nail a whole bunch o' miles in one big ol' haul, esp. if any Japan/Asia bonuses are avail, elite/status bonuses, etc.
The nice thing about finding another oneworld carrier is that said carrier will likely be CX, and will likely route thru HKG, allowing a Plat or higher or bus./first. class traveller access to their Wing/Pier lounges there. But, yeah, as I've been looking up fares, it seems the CX option keeps coming up much more expensive then on an AA code-share.
It was (and still may be) do-able for me w/ AA with two things: 1), had to catch a sale fare to Japan (currently NRT or KIX) on the days the sale fares are valid (currently M-Th, w/ 4-day min stay), and 2) onward flight to SIN on an AA Codeshare, w/ an AA flight number on JAL metal. I'd also suggest creative routings across the US, adding a connection or two, to maximize the miles on this. Example, why go ORD/NRT when one could do ORD/DFW/LAX/NRT, etc. The fares onward to SIN were not, and may still not be, THAT much more expensive than a sale fare to NRT/KIX. Might take some real date-scrounging to find them, 'tho. The JAL metal flight won't allow an eVIP or mileage + co-pay upgrade (the CX option won't either), but coach on JAL just isn't that horrible.
I found a long enough connection between the AA & AA-Codeshare flight at NRT to be a really nice chance to get off the plane & grab a shower at the NRT A/C.
You can try ___ - SIN on AA.com's "dates flexible", or with farecompare, or your favorite low-fare-finding tool of choice.