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Trying to burn some miles on award tickets to Asia? Well, now’s a great time as American has wide-open saver availability for first and business class seats to Hong Kong (HKG) from airports across the US.
Decent availability can be found from Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), Dallas (DFW) and Miami (MIA), and it’s possible other cities are open too. Saver awards are scattered throughout the calendar, but the goldmine of seats appears to be in August and September.
At only 70,000 miles one-way or 140,000 round-trip in business, this is a pretty great deal since cash prices range from $5,000 to $6,500. If you want to fly in first, you’ll be shelling out 110,000 miles one-way or 220,000 round-trip, but a first class round-trip ticket is currently selling for $16,000, meaning you’re getting a fantastic 7.3 cents per point.
This is a great opportunity to try out American’s flagship first product, which TPG himself reviewed last year and enjoyed. If you’re flying from New York, Los Angeles or Miami, you’ll also have the chance to check out American’s fantastic new flagship first lounges, which offer some pretty great dining options.
Business class on the American 777-300ER isn’t too bad either:
Here’s availability for nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Hong Kong in September in business:
And for nonstop flights in first class:
There’s plenty of options from New York too:
Here’s a look at first class flights from Dallas, although you’ll have to make a connection in LAX for this availability.
If you’re lacking American miles, you can transfer points from SPG to your American account — transfers are not instant, but you can put AA awards on hold for up to 5 days while you wait for the points to show up. The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card From American Express is currently offering an increased welcome bonus of 35,000 points after spending $7,000 in the first three months after opening the account.
You can also sign-up for the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard, which is currently offering a 50,000 point sign-up bonus after spending $2,500 in the first three months of account opening. This card also gives you 10% of your miles back every year, up to a maximum of 10,000 miles. So if you booked a round-trip saver flight to Hong Kong in business, you’d have to pay 140,000 miles up front, but you’d get 10,000 back, meaning the effective cost of the award would be just 130,000 miles.
Finally, don’t forget that you can redeem AAdvantage miles to and from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific at the same price (70,000 biz/110,000 first), but Cathay space doesn’t appear on aa.com. So if you’re having trouble finding availability on American for one of your legs, check for Cathay Pacific space separately using another method such as searching with the British Airways website, and then call American to book the Cathay flight.
These seats will likely disappear soon, so even if you’re not 100% sure of your plans, take advantage of American’s 5-day hold policy to book quickly now and figure things out over the next couple of days.
Source: thepointsguy.com