You Can Now Book American's Los Angeles to Hong Kong Flight
Earlier this month, American Airlines announced it would be launching a new route with service to Hong Kong from Los Angeles. American then released details about the service, saying it was set to begin on September 7 and that it would be operated by its three-cabin 777-300ER aircraft with eight seats in first class, 52 seats in business, 30 seats in Main Cabin Extra and 220 seats in economy. As of this week, the new flight is available to book.
Below is the new route's schedule:
- AA193 Los Angeles (LAX) 1:55am Departure ⇒ Hong Kong (HKG) 8:10am (+1) Arrival
- AA192 Hong Kong (HKG) 8:20pm Departure ⇒ Los Angeles (LAX) 6:40pm Arrival
Although the flight is now bookable, there doesn't appear to be any business or first class SAAver award availability as of this writing. Business AAnytime seems to range from 140k to 200k miles, whereas First AAnytime ranges from 180k to 235k — neither option is really that great of a redemption for your AAdvantage miles.
That being said, there is plenty of economy SAAver availability that appears wide open at least until mid-December, starting at just 32.5k AAdvantage miles. Economy SAAver availability seems to be pretty sporadic in early 2017.
The cash price for these tickets seems to be a reasonable deal as well. Round-trip flights between the two cities start at about $734 — including the inaugural flight on September 7.
However, fares dramatically increase for premium cabins, including this example for a business-class seat on the inaugural flight, which will cost about $6,434. First class isn't available on the inaugural flight, but on other dates the round-trip cost comes to roughly $17,000.
Having the option to fly nonstop from Los Angeles to Hong Kong on American is nice — you'll be able to earn Platinum status in a single round-trip flight through its status challenge. Of course, AA doesn't even come close to the quality you'd find on another carrier, specifically AA's Oneworld partner Cathay Pacific, which offers a far superior product that flies four times daily between the two cities.
Are you going to book American's new flight between Los Angeles and Hong Kong?
H/T: One Mile at a Time
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