More Unique Points And Miles Bookings To Asia & Beyond
If anyone knows me or has read any of my travel reports or articles, I am willing to think a bit outside the box. I recently covered some unique routes to Asia that we often joke and refer to as “Rick” Routes. Yes, the catch to the great redemptions I find is that they usually require some unique repositioning. But you decide whether you want to strictly reposition, or if you want to make the unexpected routing a part of your trip and enjoy an extra day or two somewhere. While I understand not everyone will be willing to do this, I think it can be great for those wanting to fly business class.
Finding These Routes To Asia: What's The Catch?
Well, you need to fly to Hawaii! I mean, many people love Hawaii. While it's not on my list of favorite destinations (yes, I know), I am willing to fly there to get to Japan, Thailand or even the South Pacific. You also need points in a oneworld partner, and for me that is American Airlines. Originally, as I previously covered, one could fly from Honolulu (HNL) to Bangkok (BKK) via Japan (HND/NRT) on Japan Airlines for as low as 55K in business class. You can then book a cheap flight to Hawaii (yes, they exist) for either low cash or points. Now, there is more expanded award availability thanks to a somewhat recent oneworld change. This led me down an even deeper dive.
Expanded Award Availability
With Hawaii and Alaska merging and everything finally fully integrated, one important thing happened recently: Hawaiian Airlines has officially joined the oneworld Alliance. I am now seeing that all of the Hawaiian Airlines Asia routes show availability on the Japan legs. Plus, you still have the possibility to book Japan Airlines (JAL) as well. This is a win for award travelers. But oneworld availability even goes beyond that. Let's break down some of the options.
The Caveats
A few warnings on searches and things to be aware of on this search and the bookings.
- Searching via American Airlines (AA) is the easiest way to check for phantom availability. For the most part, this is because JAL still does have some phantom availability via partners. It has been an issue the last few months, especially. The AA site will error out on you if it's not really available. While this can be a pain, it's also a quick way to check if availability is real.
- Anytime you run searches via AA, you have to go to the checkout screen to truly see if all the legs are in business class. The first screens of your searches can be misleading. AA typically holds awards once you get this far. If you decide against booking, you can just go in and cancel (which is more polite than just leaving it held for the allotted time).
- Hawaiian Airlines operates the A330-200 in a 2-2-2 configuration. This might not be a favorite of some for a number of reasons. My personal thought process remains the same, however: unique routes and award availability. We always recommend checking cabin layouts and video reviews to see if a seat will work for you.
- There is usually only one available seat per route on the Asia routes that Hawaiian Airlines operates. I saw more seat availability on the other routes. However, you might be able to get both on the same day if traveling beyond Japan and splitting up. Again, that's not for everyone. But plenty of travelers do this all the time to secure award space.
- You can search oneworld partners when it comes to these flights, but they may not show for every partner.
Available Asia Routes
HNL-HND-BKK
The OG routing, as I call it. This is all via JAL—and still very much bookable. I booked it fairly recently, in fact. On these, I am testing them by going all the way to the checkout screen. Yes, there is still a mixed cabin that shows up at times, and there is still (at times) phantom availability. I won’t go too much into the JAL routes, but they are there for other cities with more consistency like NGO (Nagaya), which I covered in the first article on this ToPic. The calendar is wide open on many routes, especially when you are looking at the next 30-45 days. I even found some scattered route availability much farther out.
HNL-HND-BKK
This now has the Hawaiian Airlines route as the first leg with lots of availability.
HNL-HND-MNL
Remember, anywhere JAL flies out of Tokyo, you can see this JAL availability. That means I can start picking other destinations that JAL flies to. It will give me the Hawaiian route on the first leg and JAL on that second leg.
HNL-HND or HNL-KIX
You can search just the Japan legs and destinations, as well. Another positive is that the AA search is also excellent at showing nearby cities when that option is checked. It's an easy way to pull up some of these. For example, I search HNL-NGO, but will get HNL-KIX.
I understand that not everyone may have Thailand or other Asian destinations on their mind. Want just Japan? No problem. That you can also just book these routes as individual legs for 52.5K. Remember when I mentioned that caveat about only one award seat? Well, with multiple options and flights, now it is still possible to split up and have close timing on flights beyond Tokyo. Also, more seats may become available later, which I have seen on routes I have booked.
Other Routes Available
It gets better! Fiji Airways is also an oneworld partner. That gives you those, plus the Hawaiian routes. Let's dive into some of those routes.
HNL-NAN-SYD
How about Australia? Just 65,000 AA miles will get you there. Much better than the economy price shown. But now, you can use this to look at other routes.
HNL-SYD-AKL
Want New Zealand? No problem. On this route, the long haul is in business, with the second leg being main cabin on Qantas.
South Pacific
HNL-CXI-NAN
In true AA oneworld fashion, I then see I can fly to NAN, but it will take you via CXI. All kinds of unique routing on some of these.
HNL-PPT
A popular destination, again for 65K. This route may not be a steal of a deal, based on what others can book from the U.S. mainland. However, as I often bring up, this is about the award availability for me. Plus, yes, unique routes or adding onto a vacation.
More Unique Points And Miles Bookings To Asia & Beyond: ToP Thoughts
It is understandable that these routes are not for everyone. But plenty of us in points and miles aspire to find those unique routes or routes with business class availability. For those, these may give you some new ideas. The new availability gives us more unique points and miles bookings to Asia & beyond. Would you book these? Come over to the ToP Facebook Group. and let us know your thoughts.
