How to Book Europe AND Asia on ONE US Airways Award Ticket
I’ve been to Europe and I’ve been to Asia. The Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace, the Colosseum, the French Riviera… all among my favorite tourist attractions. And as of last December, I have the beaches of Thailand, Tokyo and Singapore to add to my list. Many of us want to travel to Europe and many of us want to travel to Asia, but how about hitting both in one trip? It turns out that with US Airways, you can do both for the price of one!
US Airways has extremely generous routing rules and allows a stopover along the way, even on a different continent. So if you are flying to Asia with miles, you can actually stop along the way in Europe without paying any extra miles. This stop can be a few days, a week, a month, however long you want. It’s basically getting two vacations for the price of one. You just have to make sure you complete your entire trip within a year.
The easiest way to rack up a quick number of US Airways miles right now is with the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® . The current offer is 40,000 miles immediately with the first purchase and after paying the $89 annual fee.
Application Link: US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®
You can use US Airways miles for awards on flights across the network of oneworld airlines. That means you can construct your itinerary and choose among partners like American Airlines, air berlin, FinnAir, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and so on.
Here’s what the whole thing will cost (plus $50 award processing fee and taxes) according to the US Airways oneworld award chart.
- 60,000 miles for Economy to North Asia
- 110,000 miles for Business Class to North Asia
- 120,000 miles for First Class to North Asia
- 80,000 miles for Economy to South & Central Asia
- 120,000 miles for Business Class to South & Central Asia
- 160,000 miles for First Class to South & Central Asia
The cool part is that the above miles prices are prices for the whole trip, stopover in Europe included. Stopping in Europe will not cost you any extra miles at all. As an example, you can fly
- New York to Paris on American Airlines
- Paris to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific
- Hong Kong to New York on Cathay Pacific
all for 110,000 miles in business class!
How to Book the Tickets
The US Airways website will only show award availability on US Airways and American Airlines. If you want to be able to see award availability on airlines like air berlin, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and others, it is best to search on the British Airways website one leg at a time.
For example, if I were planning a trip to Hong Kong with a stopover in Paris, then I would search separately:
- New York to Paris
- Paris to Hong Kong
- Hong Kong to New York
I would piece together the full itinerary by searching for availability on the British Airways website. Don’t pay attention to how many miles they cost on the British Airways website as the whole itinerary will price at the US Airways price.
After finding all your flights, you can now call customer service to book the ticket. When I call, I simply tell the agent I’d like to book a round-trip itinerary to Asia with a stopover and I’ve already found all the flights so, hopefully, this will go smoothly. I then read off my flights one by one and have the agent pull up the space.
Earning US Airways Miles
The easiest way to rack up a quick number of US Airways miles right now is with the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® . The current offer is 40,000 miles immediately with the first purchase and after paying the $89 annual fee.
New applications for the card will stop being accepted as the two airlines US Airways and American Airlines come closer to completing the merger. With that in mind, it’s probably a good idea to get the card if you don’t already have one as there aren’t very many opportunities to pick up that many miles without a spending requirement.
The card also currently comes with a Companion Certificate where you can fly two additional passengers for $99 each on tickets booked on US Airways. We’ve definitely gotten some great value from the companion certificate when tickets during holiday travel periods were very expensive.
More posts you may like about US Airways miles:
- How to Book a Winter Round-Trip to Europe for 30,000 US Airways Miles
- US Airways MasterCard: 40,000 Miles with NO Spending Requirement
- Using the US Airways Companion Certificate to Fly Two Additional Passengers for $99 Each!
- The US Airways Dividend Miles Off-Peak Award Chart
- Visiting the Caribbean with a Free Stopover with US Airways Dividend Miles
- A Round-Trip to the Caribbean Plus a Free One-Way from 30,000 US Airways Miles Total
- How to Fly to Easter Island with US Airways Miles
- What Will Happen to US Airways Miles and Credit Card with the Merger?
Doesnt the stop-over need to be at a one-world hub? In your example, Paris does not appear to be a one-world hub??
That’s technically true, but as a customer service agent manually validates the ticket, this is rarely enforced as they don’t know where the oneworld hubs are. If there is trouble, one can simply hang up and call back to try again.
FYI, I received a targeted offer from US Airways for 50,000 miles with a spend requirement of $1,000 in 90 days. It does include the companion pass for two at $99 (+ taxes, etc.) each. A friend of mine received the same offer a month after I did. Awesome deal! I’m working it right now. :-)
Awesome! Congratulations on getting the offer :)
Wouldn’t the routig, in the example, be considered as an around-the-world ticket?
It’s just a trip to Asia with a stopover.
Is this doable for F? It is only 10k miles more….
Yes, you can stopover in Europe on any of the miles prices I listed.
Could you please recommend any reward ticket service?
I do partner with an award booking service: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/award-booking/
We are using US Airways miles, do you do award booking? Or, recommend someone good? Thanks!
I do partner with an award booking service: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/award-booking/
can you combine US > Europe > Asia miles with the two companion passes?
Companion Passes will only work on paid tickets of $250 on US AIrways. So you cannot use them on award tickets.
I got this trip planned for next summer for 100k miles! ;) Looks like they goofed up in my benefit. Awesome deal.
Would this work for getting to Thailand. I have a ton of US Airways & American miles to burn.. and would like to use them for Paris & Thailand.
Yes, it would! Thailand is in the South Asia region and you can use oneworld partners such as Cathay Pacific to fly there.
Can you fly open jaw within Europe (into one city and out of another) and still qualify for the free stopover? Also, does this apply to other continents besides Asia?
Unfortunately, US Airways allows a stopover OR an open jaw on a round-trip itinerary so your itinerary only works if it’s a triangle among 3 cities. This also does work with other continents – as an example, you should be able to book a stopover in Europe going to Africa or a stopover in South America going to the South Pacific. Lots of options!
Hello TMP!
Need your help. I am based in SFO so can I do:
SFO to Paris / Barcelona
Paris/Barcelona to Hong kong
Hong Kong to SFO
Is this route doable and would be one award pricing? (60,000 miles for Economy /110,000 miles for Business / 120,000 miles for First Class). And can I use the $99 Companion Pass to bring my mom for this route?
Yes, the route should be fine… and sounds like a great trip! The only thing is if you fly into Paris, you must continue from Paris – that is, no open jaws on the stopover. The companion pass only works for paid fares, not award tickets, of at least $250 on US Airways flights and only within the US and Canada so it can’t be used on this ticket.
Thank you. By the way, from HKG, I am thinking of going to several cities in China like Shanghai and Beijing, then come back to HKG for my return flight to SFO. What airline is the best to travel around to the cities in China (Shanghai/Beijing) from HKG? And what mileage program should I use for this?
How to search for Iberia award availability? Is it by using AA website and call US Air representative to book? Please correct me if I’m wrong. Will there be phone booking fee for this?
I would say the easiest way to find availability from Hong Kong to China and back would be on Cathay Pacific, but use British Airways miles for the flights as Cathay is part of oneworld. Because British Airways is distance based, it charges a smaller amount of miles for short distance flights. As an example, HGK to PVG is 7,500 miles and you can book these right on the British Airways website.
American Airlines does not show Iberia availability, but British Airways does. So you would have to find the flights on the British Airways website and call US Airways customer service to book. They will often quote a phone booking fee initially, but I usually point out that it’s a partner flight and could not be done on the website and they are often nice enough to waive it.
Can you do USA to Asia, then stopover to Maldives before going back to the USA?
Like IAD – SGN, open jaw to Maldives/Sri Lanka, then Maldives/Sri Lanka back to IAD?
You can’t open jaw and stopover. But you can do a stopover in Saigon or Sri Lanka on the way to the Maldives no problem.
The AA website will show Air Berlin usually. Also to add to your response on the companion pass, it’s only good for domestic routes usually.
Yes, it’s only good for the mainland and Canada, thanks! That’s true… AA will show air berlin, but if you’re looking to combine with Asia, finding JAL and Cathay availability is usuall necessary too. So BA site it is :)
Because of your tips I’m heading to Australia with a 20 stop-over in Tokyo all for 120,000 business class!! I love it!! Thank you.
Wow! Great job putting that together :)
**20 day stop-over**
Great blog! Could I do Mia-Bangkok with a free stopover in Auckland? How many USAirways miles would this take in economy in July?
Thanks so much for this pro tip! I’m in the process of choosing my flights. Do you have any tips on minimizing taxes and fees? Do certain airlines/cities charge more? I’m thinking of visiting Beijing/the UK, but I believe Heathrow and British Airways might increase my out of pocket expenses. Any advice?