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Over the past few weeks, American Airlines has had quite a few surprise announcements including, putting differences aside and partnering with Qatar, and putting differences aside and partnering with Alaska Airlines which I believe caught most of us off guard.
During that time, it may have been easy to overlook the fact that American announced two new international routes out of Seattle (SEA), including a Seattle (SEA) to Bangalore (BLR) flight.
SEATTLE TO BANGALORE DETAILS
American’s new Seattle to Bangalore flight has now been loaded into the schedule and tickets can be purchased.
The route is launching on 25 October 2020, will cover a distance of 8,112 miles, and will operate with the following schedule:
- AA200 SEA – BLR: Departing 5:55PM, Arriving 10:45PM (+1 day)
- AA201 BLR – SEA: Departing 2:05AM, Arriving 6:00AM
As you can see the flight is blocked at 16hr 20min to India (16hr 55min from India), and they will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route which features 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 234 economy seats.
AN AMERICAN WIDEBODY? OUT OF SEATTLE?
There are a lot of international carriers that service Seattle (SEA) however, the airport is largely an Alaska and Delta hub. At the moment, American barely has any presence in Seattle and they definitely don’t fly any wide bodies (aka BIG planes) there. So where is this 787-9 coming from?
It turns out that American has loaded a 787-9 (with the same flight numbers) into the schedule between Los Angeles and Seattle, as follows:
- AA200 LAX – SEA: Departing 12:50PM, Arriving 3:50PM
- AA201 SEA – LAX: Departing 8:30AM, Arriving 11:40AM
Because they have the same flight numbers, you will be able to book a “direct” flight from Los Angeles to Bangalore.
BOOKING USING MILES
If you are interested in traveling to Bangalore, India award availability is “zeroed out” for partners but is available for AAdvantage members. The inaugural flight is as follows:
And the round-trip prices are as follows:
Fortunately, American does not charge extra if you need a connecting flight to the departure city. In other words, you could fly from Phoenix (PHX) – Seattle (SEA) – Bangalore (BLR) and it would cost the same price.
If you’re in need of American AAdvantage miles, consider the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard [READ MORE] as you can earn 65,000 American Airlines miles after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening.
FINAL STAMP
Personally, I did not think this flight was going to happen because there were a lot of hurdles (e.g. AA doesn’t fly any wide bodies to SEA) but it appears American is very serious about their new route between Seattle and Bangalore.
We now know what the schedule will look like and where the 787-9 is originating (LAX) so that takes care of a few hurdles. The next hurdle is ensuring there is a demand to fill the flight. I guess we’ll determine that in due time.
Anyone planning to take this flight?
1TattedPassport 