Asia to USA for only $178

Asia Airfare USA 178 –

About a week ago, I stumbled upon a deal for travel from Asia to various smaller airports in the US for as low as $170. The deal was for travel on Japan Airlines and American Airlines from Taipei.

The unique aspect of the fare was that it was pricing in Y class, which is typically full fare coach travel where the ticket generally is changeable and fully refundable.

In addition, with it being Y class, the travel on Japan Airlines earns full elite qualifying miles in American’s program.

Typically cheap flights on One World Airlines (American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Qatar, etc.) typically do not earn full elite qualifying miles on American Airlines.

The deal was available for multiple dates throughout the year and it allowed for stopovers.

In addition, many of the flights were available in April and May prior to American’s program changing to the revenue model, so those flights would be eligible for both full elite qualifying miles as well as redeemable miles.

Throughout the travel blogs and forums, I read stories about people purchasing multiple trips. Some of the people booked them in order to quickly re-qualify for Executive Platinum Status on American. In addition, some people were able to incorporate travel on the Transcon flights from JFK to LAX or SFO as part of the deal.

I read others were also able to lock in a few days in Hawaii during the trip.

The problem with the deal was that it departed from Taipei not from the US so it would require positioning in order to get their.

I attempted some of the more complicated searches but I was unsuccessful in getting it to work with a transcon flight. My biggest problem was time. Because the deal required travel to a smaller airport in the US, it made it difficult finding an option that would not require a lot of time off work.

None the less, I was able to book one trip from Taipei to San Jose, over a weekend.

The itinerary is as follows:

Carrier Flight # Departing Arriving Fare Code Japan Airlines 816 TAIPEI FRI 19AUG 12:15 PM OSAKA KANSAI 4:00 PM Y John the Wanderer Economy FF#: xxxxx Japan Airlines 60 OSAKA KANSAI FRI 19AUG 5:25 PM LOS ANGELES 12:15 PM Y John the Wanderer Economy FF#: xxxxx American 5992 LOS ANGELES FRI 19AUG 5:05 PM SAN JOSE CA 6:14 PM Y OPERATED BY COMPASS AIRLINES AS AMERICAN EAGLE John the Wanderer Seat 8C Economy FF#: xxxxx American 5925 SAN JOSE CA SAT 20AUG 10:04 AM LOS ANGELES 11:28 AM Y OPERATED BY COMPASS AIRLINES AS AMERICAN EAGLE John the Wanderer Seat 9C Economy FF#: xxxxx Japan Airlines 69 LOS ANGELES SAT 20AUG 2:05 PM OSAKA KANSAI 6:15 PM Y John Perri Economy FF#: xxxxx Japan Airlines 815 OSAKA KANSAI SUN 21AUG 7:35 PM TAIPEI 9:35 PM Y John the Wanderer Economy FF#: xxxxxx

All in the flight totaled $177.86 and it was ticketed by American Airlines.

I still need to find a flight to Taipei; however, I am holding off a bit because with the fare on this deal so low, it could be considered a mistake fare so it is not clear if it will end up being cancelled.

Did you get in on the deal last week? What was your routing?