Cathay Pacific $889 round trip for Los Angeles to Male MLE is the lowest fare I have seen to the Maldives in past year without flying China Eastern ($598 round trip last August for October 2015 travel). Cathay Pacific is a one-stop itinerary via Hong Kong with no overnight layover, but I also saw some itineraries with a long overnight layover possible. Low fare departure dates are all Tuesdays with Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday return. Cathay Pacific ticket price rises to $1,800 in June. For summer travel there are Emirates tickets as low as $1,044 for some July dates.
Cathay Pacific
Los Angeles LAX – Hong Kong HKG – Male, Maldives MLE
$889.16 Tuesday May 3 – Wednesday May 11, 2016
LAX-HKG-MLE-HKG-LAX = 20,472 flight miles.
Unfortunately these book in Cathay Pacific economy S or N code, which are non-eligible for AAdvantage miles earning in 2016.
WheretoCredit.com shows Cathay Pacific N code earns 25% flight miles with British Airways, Cathay Pacific or Qatar (5,118 miles) or 50% miles with FinnAir (10,136 miles). Same earn rate for CX economy S code flight segments.
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