Unique Points And Miles Booking To Asia
I am known among my ToP teammates as the last-minute traveler. I'm always ready to snatch award space at the last possible moment. I have even scored tickets to Asia the day of departure. When planning my trips, I grab multiple flights and often hedge my bookings. I've confirmed and then canceled more itineraries than I can count. I also don't mind taking the long road to my destination. This level of flexibility is sometimes not for the faint of heart! But it is getting to me to Asia for just 55,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles in business class. I'd pay that price for a unique points and miles booking to Asia any day of the week. Literally.
What Is Repositioning? The Key To A “Rick Route”
First, I'll acknowledge this unique points and miles booking to Asia is a bit crazy. It does require repositioning. But when it comes to traveling, I love a little wackiness and fun.
We talk often about the “rule of four” in award bookings. These include dates of travel, routing, class of service and price. You usually will not get all of them, but having some flexibility in at least one of these categories can help you to fly anywhere in the world on points and in business class. Repositioning, or positioning, is a foreign concept to most regular travelers, but extremely useful for award travelers. A repositioning flight is one you book out of your home airport for the sole purpose of getting you to the airport from where you will take an award flight. You can also position to another city near your intended destination. Why would you do this? For many, the lure of a long-haul business class flight that is at a saver availability rate is the goal for points and miles. Repositioning can help tremendously on either or both ends of your trip, depending how the award availability shakes out. Plus, having an opportunity to explore a city for a few extra hours or overnight can be a nice bonus.
The Sweet Spot: Don't Overlook Hawaii
Whether it's Asia, Fiji, or Australia and New Zealand, Hawaii provides some underrated routes to Asia—and potentially less competition for award space. For my next trip, I booked HNL-NGO-HND-BKK for just 55,000 AA miles—and all in business class. This will take me from Honolulu to Japan (with an overnight stop in Nagoya and then onto a Haneda connection) before heading straight to Bangkok, Thailand. To reposition, I didn't have any trouble finding some cheap cash (under $300) and award flights (as low as 16,000 points). I locked in a flight and have a backup option, so I know that if anything goes south, I could potentially book day-of to get myself to Hawaii quickly.
While it's three flights, plus a repositioning flight to Hawaii, it's not that much different than what I would typically require traveling from Seattle anyway. Usually I need two flights, at a minimum, to get to Bangkok. Had I gone direct to the airline I might have even come out better, but I am pretty happy with this.
ToP TiP: Always look at the checkout screen! Some of these bookings look like all business at initial screen, but the checkout screen might show the second two legs in economy. Some also have a switch between Haneda (HND) and Narita (NRT) airports.
How I Run My Award Searches To Asia: Other Routes + Tips
I am Seattle (SEA) based, and my recent trips have been to Vietnam and Thailand. When running award booking searches, my goal is always to get to Asia in business class. Once I find suitable space in business, I can figure out the rest later, which can include a shorter low-cost cash flight if needed. It's worth noting I'm not one to wait for a transfer bonus, but those can help with a booking like this. While many in the Facebook group have heard about my favorite airline and route to Asia, booking Starlux Airlines is not always my ToP priority. I usually start my planning by searching in the following order:
- West Coast to any point in Asia (Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam)
- Hawaii to any point in Asia (Japan, South Korea)
- Other locations to any point in Asia (Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong)
These locations service direct flights from a variety of cities. For example, from the West Coast, there is a Vietnam route from SFO-SGN on Vietnam Airlines (VN) that can be booked via Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic.
Other Options
Here's where things get really interesting. If space does not appear in the three above options, I then pivot to search:
- West Coast to any point in Europe
- Midwest to Asia
Wait, Europe? And the Midwest? To get to Asia?! Yes, because I am willing to reposition for business class. And as a travel nerd, there are some excellent airline products to try. Plus, in my most recent search, I based it on what I have at my disposal. I happen to have some AA systemwide upgrade awards, so a cheap cash flight to Europe and a SWU, plus some AA miles to get from Europe to Asia in business class or first is possible.
At one point while researching this trip, I had a $600 cash flight to Barcelona that had systemwide upgrade space available. I had Qatar (QR) booked for 90,000 AA miles that included a leg in QR first class. I have found lots of QR space from European cities to Asia. One reservation I grabbed even meant a visit to the famous Al Safwa Lounge. As I often do change my plans, I canceled this as I continued to build my trip. This ended up working out well for me, given the current situation in the Middle East. I am always ready to pivot and continue to search even after booking—and this serves me well when things go wrong.
Unique Points And Miles Booking To Asia: ToP Thoughts
This kind of routing and travel is not for everyone. Yes, I travel solo, and oftentimes at the very last minute, but it's not unheard of to find many seats available at the final moment. Overall, I am very pleased with my Seattle-Hawaii-Nagoya-Tokyo-Bangkok unique points and miles booking to Asia. It cost me only 55,000 American Airlines miles, plus a cheap positioning flight to Hawaii.
Is this just a crazy “Rick Route,” or would you try this? Come over to our Facebook group and share your thoughts.
