American Airlines Miles Now More Useful to Asia! Book Award Flights on This Gigantic New Partner Airline

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More ways to use miles & points is always a good thing!  Especially American Airlines miles, which can often have a limited number of available award seats.

Booking awards to China will now be less of a trial thanks to American Airlines’ partnership with China Southern.  You can now use American Airlines miles to fly across the Pacific in coach and Business Class to 3 locations in China (First Class coming soon).

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You Can Now Redeem American Airlines Miles for China Southern Flights

China Southern is the 6th largest airline (by passengers carried) in the world.  So the ability to redeem American Airlines miles for a flight is a nice perk!

The airline’s hub is in Guangzhou, China, though if you’re flying from the West Coast, you have a couple other options, too.  China Southern serves:

• Los Angeles
• Toronto
• New York (JFK)
• San Francisco
• Vancouver

How Much Are Awards Seats?

Between the US and China, awards cost:

• 37,500 American Airlines miles in coach
• 70,000 American Airlines miles in Business Class
• 110,000 American Airlines miles in First Class (not currently an option with American Airlines miles, but coming soon!)

The taxes & fees for these flights are a little high, though usually topping out at ~$150 each way in coach.  So if you’re flying from New York to China, you’ll pay 75,000 miles and $300 in fees.  Nothing too dreadful.

If you’re flying through Guangzhou, you’ll have a TON of options to connect to just about anywhere in Asia with China Southern.  Flights within Asia Region 2 (China, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, etc.) cost:

• 17,500 American Airlines miles in coach
• 22,500 American Airlines miles in Business Class
• 32,500 American Airlines miles in First Class

How to Search for Award Seats

China Southern flights don’t appear on the American Airlines website.  You’ll have to call American Airlines to book your reservation.

China Southern is transitioning out of the SkyTeam alliance, so you can currently find their flights on the Delta website.

This isn’t a long-term solution, so if you have other ideas, drop them in the comments.

Earn American Airlines Miles Quickly

You can earn lots of American Airlines miles in a hurry, simply by opening a credit card or two:

• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard® – 60,000 American Airlines miles after making $3,000 in purchases in first 3 months.
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® – 50,000 American Airlines miles after $2,500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® – 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening

The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum and CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

You can also check out our post on all the ways to earn American Airlines miles in 2019!

Let us know what you think about this new use for American Airlines miles!  And subscribe to our newsletter for more posts like this:

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