What are award routing rules?

Carriers on the ticket

Singapore Airlines lists redemption of award tickets and upgrade awards on Singapore Airlines, Star Alliance and other partner airlines among the permitted uses of KrisFlyer miles. [3] The terms do not state, in the section checked, which individual partner carriers or routes are eligible. [3]

A second clause covers a different transaction. In the rules for using miles to pay for all or part of Singapore Airlines or Scoot airfares bought on singaporeair.com, the terms exclude corporate fares, group fares and any fare that includes a segment not operated by Singapore Airlines, naming codeshares, interline and round-the-world itineraries as examples. [3] The same clause says miles cannot pay for itineraries on FlyScoot.com or the Scoot app that include segments not operated by Scoot. [3] Both restrictions are written for fare payment rather than for award tickets, so they do not restate the carrier rules for Star Alliance redemptions. [3]

Air Canada presents Aeroplan flight rewards as redeemable with Air Canada and its partner airlines at aircanada.com. [2] The page also markets every seat on every Air Canada flight with no restrictions, no cash surcharges on Air Canada flight rewards, and payment by points plus cash. [2] Those statements describe Air Canada flights; the page checked does not set out partner-carrier routing conditions. [2]

American says award travel can be booked to more than 1,000 destinations on aa.com and in the American app, that partner airline flights appear in award search results, and that results can be filtered for preferred airlines on the choose-flights screen. [1] That means a partner flight can be part of an AAdvantage award itinerary searched online, but the page does not list which partners or combinations are accepted. [1]

Channels and fare types

Where an itinerary is bought matters as much as which airlines operate it. KrisFlyer miles cannot be used to redeem tickets purchased through travel agents, Singapore Airlines ticket offices or call centres, or Scoot ticket offices or call centres, and cannot be used to pay for corporate or group fares. [3] Tickets redeemed fully or partly with KrisFlyer miles are non-endorsable regardless of the fare conditions. [3]

American's cash and miles option is bookable only on aa.com or in the American app, and only for members with a valid U.S. home address, including Puerto Rico and U.S. territories, saved in their AAdvantage profile and at least 500 AAdvantage miles in the account. [1] It is available only on flights marketed and operated by American within the contiguous 48 U.S. states. [1] It is not available on Basic Economy fares, flights to, from or within Alaska or Hawaii, international flights, multi-city bookings, trips that include another airline, reservations that include travel in different cabins, AAdvantage Business bookings or TripLink bookings. [1]

Aeroplan's points plus cash option is advertised on the redemption page, but the conditions attached to it are not published there. [2]

Limits the pages do not publish

None of the three pages sets out zone definitions, a required direction of travel, stopover or open-jaw allowances, or a maximum number of segments for a standard award ticket. [1] [2] [3] A reader who needs those limits has to work from the programme's own award terms and chart, because this page does not restate them. [3]

The rules are also open to change. Singapore Airlines reserves the right to modify the KrisFlyer programme at its sole discretion without prior notice, including the award structure, award levels and availability of awards, the redemption structure and levels, the rules for use of awards and redemption travel, and the cities served. [3] American states separately that there are no change fees for award tickets, which is a condition on the ticket after it is issued rather than a routing rule. [1]

Exceptions and mixed itineraries

• Mixed-carrier and mixed-cabin trips sit outside American's cash and miles option: trips that include another airline and reservations that include travel in different cabins are both excluded, along with multi-city bookings. [1] Those exclusions are written for cash and miles, not for award tickets booked entirely with miles. [1]
• KrisFlyer award and upgrade redemptions can involve Star Alliance and other partner airlines, while the part-payment rules exclude fares with any segment not operated by Singapore Airlines. [3] The two statements appear in different sections of the same terms. [3]
• Changing an AAdvantage award ticket can be done online and carries no change fee, though the member may have to pay a difference and reinstated miles return to the original AAdvantage account. [1] Reservations must be contacted for trips that have already started, involve travel on partner airlines, or were changed after an uncontrollable event. [1]
• An AAdvantage award trip can be cancelled on aa.com, with miles reinstated and eligible taxes and fees refunded at no charge up to one year from the purchase date, provided the cancellation happens before the first flight departs. [1]
• A KrisFlyer ticket redeemed fully or partly with miles is non-endorsable, so it cannot be handed to another airline in the way an endorsable fare can. [3]

Related pages

Charts and segments: award chart zones, award chart distance bands, married segment, one-way award, mixed cabin award. Before booking: partner award booking checklist and award availability. Programme: AAdvantage. Browse all entries in the glossary.

Sources

Sources accessed on 18 October 2026.

1. American Airlines, Using miles for travel – AAdvantage program, checked 18 October 2026
2. Air Canada, Redeem points for great rewards – Aeroplan, checked 18 October 2026
3. Singapore Airlines, KrisFlyer terms and conditions, checked 18 October 2026