This week brought some good news for members of American Airlines‘ loyalty program AAdvantage. Chilean low-cost carrier JetSMART has joined program. Members can now credit flights with the carrier to their account, adding one of AA’s partners for South American connecting flights. However, they won’t receive status benefits on JetSMART flights. Also, Oneworld partner Cathay Pacific announced it will add a non-stop service from Hong Kong to American Airlines’ largest hub in Dallas/Fort Worth in April 2025.
Latin American JetSMART Joins AAdvantage
Just like Lufthansa’s Miles&More serving as the frequent flyer program for several airlines, AAdvantage is about to add other companies to its ranks: Chilean low-cost carrier JetSMART did join the program yesterday. The airline connects eight South American countries with its fleet of 40 Airbus A320-family aircraft. Most of those are the latest neo variant of the plane.
Since yesterday, September 24, AAdvantage members can credit jetSMART tickets to their account. Even without an AA flight number, you can earn loyalty points and award miles based on the ticket price. The airline has posted the award chart on its website:
While another earning opportunity is generally good news, there is also a major disappointment in this announcement: AAdvantage tier holders receive no benefits on JetSMART flights. No lounge access, priority services or even free bags. At time of writing, you can only receive some of the benefits (priority check-in and priority boarding) when flying JetSMART on an American Airlines ticket.
Cathay Pacific Picks Up Hong Kong – Dallas Flight
Starting in April 2025, Dallas/Fort Worth airport will be the destination of Cathay Pacific’s longest non-stop service. Rather than continuing its paused routes to Seattle or Washington, D.C., the Asian carrier tries its luck in Texas. The move is aimed for better connectivity through American Airlines’ largest hub. Dallas will be Cathay Pacific’s 8th North American destination, joining Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the US. The airline also servers Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
An Airbus A350-1000 with 46 lie-flat-seats in business class, 32 premium economy seats and a quite large 256-seat economy section will operate the four weekly trans-pacific flights. Flights depart on Mondays, Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays in both directions. An impressive 16:10 hours block time is slated for the westbound trip to Asia.
CX 898: Hong KongHKG16.05 – DallasDFW17.55CX 897: DallasDFW23.55 – Hong KongHKG5.05 +2
Because the flight crosses the international date line, the long red-eye from Dallas to Hong Kong takes place during one (long night), but arrives two days later.
Cathay Pacific will be the only airline operating this flight – following in the footsteps of American Airlines, that flew it from 2014 through 2020. Economy roundtrips are currently available for €1,480 (~HK$13,502) starting in Hong Kong and €1,670 (~US$1,957) from Texas. Business class seats come with a price-tag of at least €6,000 r/t. Hong Kong is the fourth non-stop destination in East Asia available from DFW. The others are Shanghai (daily with American Airlines), Seoul (daily with both American and Korean Air) and Tokyo (daily with American and StarLinx).
Cover Picture: Photo by Gabriel Tovar on Unsplash