I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question... searching past threads didn't seem to come up with any relevant information.

According to the Asia Miles award chart: "Award zones are based on the one-way distance between origin airport and destination airport."

So if I wanted to fly YVR-ARN, that would put the distance (4620 miles) in Award Zone C.

But in the one-way awards description, the site says this: "The sum total of sectors flown are used to calculate one-way awards. Only one en route stopover is allowed."

So flying YVR-ARN involves BA with YVR-LHR-ARN, which the sum of the distance of sectors flown would be at 5634 miles, which would put me in Award Zone D.

Is this right? YVR-ARN roundtrip in Economy class would be 45000 Asia Miles, but YVR-ARN one-way in Economy class is 40000 Asia Miles even though both connect in LHR?

I think you need 60,000 miles for YVR-ARN RT in economy class unless you take direct flight (apperantly not possible with their partner(s)). The calculation of miles is not based on point-to-point like onewold award in AAdvantage (still so?). I have to say their definition is a little ambiguous, but they certainly calculated the total miles for all the flights when I requested the award ticket (it was AA & CX combination award).

Basically, unless Asiamiles has an award partner that flies YVR-ARN nonstop, then you can use that Zone C. But as BA is the only one that can fly YVR-LHR-ARN, you'd have to follow the flight plan and redeem Zone D. Sorry, there's no other way around it.