As a points and miles enthusiast, I immediately began planning and researching the best flight options to Asia<\/a> for our trip. Since there are six of us, I knew we'd need a lot of points. Ideally, we wouldn't also have to pay a lot in taxes, because everything times six can add up quickly!<\/p>\n Thankfully, I found a great option for us. I was able to book six tickets from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) through American Airlines for a total of 210,000 miles and just $33.60.<\/p>\n Page Contents<\/p> As I was doing my flight research, I kept seeing American Airlines listed as a good option for flights to Asia. As I continued to explore options, I quickly decided that it would be the best choice for us. Here's why.<\/p>\n One of the biggest motivating factors was that American Airlines tends to have a solid amount of award availability. Since we needed six seats, I wanted to ensure we wouldn't have any issues booking our whole family. American usually has 9+ economy award seats available, as you can see in this screenshot from PointsYeah, one of the award search tools<\/a> I used to find the best flights.<\/p>\n Based on prior experience, I knew that American Airlines generally does not pass on fuel surcharges<\/a> for most of its flights. As a result, many award flights cost just $5.60 per ticket, as was the case with our flights.<\/p>\n The only exception occurs when booking partner flights through American Airlines that are operated by British Airways<\/a> or Iberia<\/a>. Since our flight was both booked through and operated by American Airlines, our total taxes came out to just $33.60 for all six of us.<\/p>\n There are many complicated ways to book award flights. You can earn points through a card, transfer those points to a bank partner<\/a>, then book an alliance partner flight<\/a> with the points. However, if you want to keep things simple, you can earn airline points directly with an airline, then use them to book flights on that same airline. This is exactly what I did for our trip, because it was the easiest way to book our tickets. No transferring points or partner airlines involved.<\/p>\n Part of my research into flights was reading reviews about the most common award flight carriers for trans-Pacific flights<\/a>, including JAL<\/a>, Cathay Pacific<\/a>, ANA<\/a>, American Airlines<\/a>, and United<\/a>. The Asian airlines have the best reviews in terms of comfort and service. However, with the goal of keeping flight taxes low and the ease of using the points I had available, I decided to go with a domestic carrier. American Airlines fit that bill, as it generally has a slightly wider seats and more pitch (legroom) than United.<\/p>\n I had a stash of American Airlines miles on hand, but once I landed (pun intended) on our flight choice, I knew I needed to bump up my stash. There are a variety of ways to earn American Miles<\/a>.<\/p>\n The fastest way to earn a large amount of miles is by opening new credit cards and earning the big welcome offers. American Airlines currently has five co-branded cards, all of which are issued by Citi.<\/p>\n For our trip, my husband and I both opened the Citi AAdvantage Business Card. We earned a total of 130,000 miles between our two welcome offers and the miles earned from required spending.<\/p>\n In addition, I also opened the AAdvantage\u00ae<\/sup> Aviator\u00ae<\/sup> Red World Elite Mastercard\u00ae<\/sup> to help earn the rest of the miles needed for our six tickets. Unfortunately, the Aviator Red closed to new applicants earlier this year, as Citi is in the process of becoming the sole issuer of AA cards.<\/p>\n In prior years, American Airlines was not a transfer partner for any of the major banks' programs. However, in July 2025, Citi added American Airlines<\/a> as a brand new partner. This is exciting news because it opens further opportunities to earn American Airlines miles, as there are several cards that earn ThankYou\u00ae<\/sup> Points<\/a>.<\/p>\n $595Rates & Fees<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/div> $95Rates & Fees<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/div> Excellent, Good<\/p><\/div><\/div> $0Rates & Fees<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/div> Excellent, Good Credit<\/p><\/div><\/div> Once you have a sufficient balance of Citi Points, you can then transfer the points to American Airlines<\/a> to book flights.<\/p>\n Some of Citi's no annual fee cards offer transfers to AA<\/a>, but do keep in mind that the transfer ratio is 1:0.7 \u2014 not 1:1.<\/p>\n Credit cards and transferring are the ways that we earned the miles for our trip. However, there are additional ways to earn American Airlines miles.<\/p>\n Booking award trips for a big family requires extra planning and coordinating. With six years of experience under my belt, I know a thing or two about making it go as smoothly as possible.<\/p>\n First, award search tools are your best friends. These help you find flight options and get ideas about the price of specific routes and times of year.<\/p>\n Some of our favorites are:<\/p>\n Second, booking early is the key. This ensures the most availability for both the flights and the seats. We aim for booking our trips 9-11 months in advance, which means we are earning the points and miles needed well before that.<\/p>\n Lastly, you don't have to book all of your tickets through one account. As I mentioned, both my husband and I earned points for this trip. American Airlines doesn't allow you to combine points with other members<\/a> without paying a fee ($5 per 1,000 miles transferred), so it wasn't an option for us to book all six tickets through either mine or my husband's accounts. Instead, we each booked three tickets, then I contacted American Airlines and asked them to link our reservations so they know we're traveling together.<\/p>\n Related: Which Flight Availability Award Search Tool Is Best?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I've talked about our outgoing flights, but you might be wondering how we plan to get back to the U.S. For our return flight from Hong Kong (HKG) to Los Angeles (LAX), we booked Cathay Pacific flights through British Airways. We used American Express Membership Rewards<\/a> transferred to British Airways and paid 36,250 points plus $170 in taxes and fees per person.<\/p>\nWhy American Airlines AAdvantage Is Great for Families<\/span><\/h2>\n
Good availability<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Low taxes and fees<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Ease of booking<\/span><\/h3>\n
Positive reviews<\/span><\/h3>\n
How to Earn American Airlines Miles<\/span><\/h2>\n
Co-branded cards<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Transfer bank points<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"Citi](\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CardArt-CitiStrataEliteCard.png\")
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![\"Citi](\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CardArt-CitiStrataCard.png\")
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Other ways to earn miles<\/span><\/h3>\n
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![\"Japanese](\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Japan-Pagoda-Featured-SuSanLee-Unsplash-300x240.jpg\")
Booking Tips for Big Families<\/span><\/h2>\n
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How We're Getting Home<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"American](\"https:\/\/cdn.nextinsure.com\/imaging\/opt\/4206696d-827e-44e5-bfc0-d0ce86822875.png\")
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