shadymg

Hey Gang, here's my situation. I'm looking to fly to Manila, Philippines this december (depart LAX on Dec 14) and then return on Dec 28th.

I have plenty of AA miles and the cost of the flight to book separately is around $1700, so I'm looking to book with miles wherever possible. Since Cathay Pacific & Japan Air is the only (right?) OneWorld partner for Asia, it severely limits my options. I called the ExecPlat help desk to see what availability she could find there, and there was absolutely nothing for the departure date--there's American, but not Cathay. As I'm thinking through my options, I figured the following would be a worthwhile alternative and the lowest overall cost:

• Book to/from LAX-HKG with Award miles (85k there, and 32.5k coming back)
• Then Book with Cebu Pacific (Philippine airline) round trip HKG-Manila (around $200)

My question is: Is it possible to get an award travel all around that maybe the helpdesk person somehow couldn't see on their end?

IF NOT, then is there anything wrong with my bullet plan above? How would that work when connecting through Hong Kong if i have to check bags? I'm guessing i would have to clear customs in Hong Kong and then go and check-in, customs again back again? How long would you buffer on flight times?

You guys are the best, so any/all help/advice would be wonderful!

jmj9905

If your going to fly aa to hkg you should be able to get mileage tickets on cx. They have almost hourly flights hkg/mnl.

shadymg

no1cub17

Sign up for a BA or JL or QF account and search for partner space yourself before calling AA. You may want to read through the "booking oneworld partner award tickets" thread in this forum. December is a long way from now so keep checking.

guv1976

If the 85K miles you are paying for LAX-HKG is for an AAnytime Coach award, you cannot add any non-AA segments to that. Partner carriers can only be included on a MileSAAver award.

shadymg

Bumping this for any new eyes that might have some connecting airlines suggestions that may allow me to use some of my friggin miles. I'm beyond frustrated with American these days. Now that all of their international flights have "Premium Economy" cabin, ExPlat SWU can only be used to move from Basic Economy seat up to "Premium Economy" where as last year it would have moved you straight to Business Class. Yet as you all know, you still cannot book a Premium Economy seat with miles.

So still looking for any workarounds on miles I can book. As far as I can tell from BA and other sites, the only OneWorld segments that would get me there are through Narita (NRT) or through Hong Kong (HKG). I'm okay paying for a non-oneworld airline to get me from XYZ airport over to Manila (MNL) if I can find it.....just can't think of any other airports that American partners fly from LAX into.

Any help would be great. I'm also continuously checking if AA opens up more seats....but trying to avoid flying 17 hours in basic economy if I can help it :-) Thanks!

JJeffrey

Not sure where you're getting your information, but this is wildly incorrect. SWU's still go from coach all the way to business.

If you insist of flying straight from LAX to Asia, your options are LAX-HKG/PVG/PEK/NRT/HND on AA, LAX-HKG on CX, and LAX-NRT/KIX on JL.

If you can leave the night of Dec 13, one day earlier, you should be able to get LAX-HKG on CX in Y for 37.5k miles to avoid paying AAnytime miles for the LAX-HKG segment a day later.

The advice above still stands, December is still a long way off so it's very unlikely you'll see a lot of availability open up anytime soon, especially as you're trying to fly on a busy Friday just before Xmas and return shortly after Xmas. If you're EXP, you can always book something now like the CX award in Y LAX-HKG and then just add the HKG-MNL segment later if it opens up, or switch to First/Business if that opens up. CX still opens up award seats close to the flight date if there's room, but this usually doesn't happen till 1-2 weeks before the flight.

Antarius

What?

SWUs go from Y to J.. not to PE.

shadymg

That's what i Thought, but then i spoke to an executive platinum CSR who insisted to me that if i bought a basic economy ticket, that my SWU would only get me to premium economy.

So....she was way wrong?

Antarius

When you say basic economy.. what do you mean? Like actual Basic Economy (group 9) I don't believe you can upgrade at all.

Economy.. a SWU goes from Y to J not PE/W

arlflyer

Well, this is interesting...

shadymg

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! After seeing your guys' posts, I called back and talked to someone else who was IMMENSELY HELPFUL! Basically what she said, off the record, was that technically they have started training their CSRs to say that Economy seats when using an SWU can only be upgraded to the "next cabin" which would be Premium Economy. HOWEVER, she stressed that up to this day, it doesn't seem like that has taken effect into the system as she has seen it still upgrade to Business.

And the best news, with a bit of flexibility in my dates this awesome CSR was able to get me a round trip ticket all the way to and from, and then CONFIRMED in business....for the price of an economy ticket ($1300). pretty amazing. Best CSR i've ever spoken to, and I wouldn't have thought to call if not for all y'all here. So many many thanks!!