blh

I'm looking at booking AA award tickets from DFW to PRG. We have always flown coach, but would like to fly business class this trip. I know we can fly DFW to LHR on American, but will have to fly BA on to Prague. Will the award ticket allow us to fly business class on BA, or will we have to fly coach on that leg?

I also wondered about the using the lounges at LHR. Will our AA business class ticket allow us to use the BA lounges in Terminal 3? We don't have elite status with AA.

Thanks for all help in advance.

yk

Yes, you can get the BA Club Europe seats IF they are available. You have to call AA on the phone to book award itineraries that involve partner airlines.

The Club Europe seats aren't that great anyway - they block out the middle seat (3x3) and make the middle seat smaller, so the 2 seats are slightly wider.

Your BA flight LHR-PRG will be out of Terminal 5. I'm not sure if you can use the BA lounges at T5 holding an award Club Europe BP. I'm sure someone else here can answer this.

On the way home LHR-DFW, you can use the AA lounge at T3 prior to departure.

travelgourmet

<i>he Club Europe seats aren't that great anyway - they block out the middle seat (3x3) and make the middle seat smaller, so the 2 seats are slightly wider.</i>

They no longer use the hybrid seating. They only block the middle seat now. So the seating is the same as in the back, only with an empty middle seat. This is a very recent change and not a good one. But it brings them into line with most of the other European carriers (except KLM, which doesn't even block the middle seat).

I am 99% sure that you are allowed to use the lounge on an award ticket. I am also 99% certain, though, that you will not qualify for a massage treatment, and you may not be able to use the showers.

yk

You probably know this already, but in the situations where I have to call AA and have them book tickets for me, I like to know my options ahead of time. So I go to aa.com and look up potential itineraries and tell the agent that I would like to book X & Y flights.

Obviously, you can check ahead of time which AA DFW-LHR flights have Business Award seats available; assuming you're using miles for the entire ticket, not seat upgrade.

yk

I was looking around on BA's website. According to this:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb

You have access to the BA lounges at T5.

blh

Thanks, yk and travelgourmet! When I looked on the AA website, it appears that there's not much availability for Business MileSAAver awards to LHR. I'm planning to call 330 days out, so hope I will be able to snag two tickets. Any advice or ideas would be appreciated.

laurie_ann

When you phone AA, if there isn't availability for your dates on AA from DFW to LHR, ask whether it is possible to go on American from DFW to Toronto (YYZ) or Calgary (YYC) and then on British Airways from there to LHR and LHR to Prague (you can't use an American award on BA directly from USA to London but once when I was looking for Chicago to Africa they gave me the option of flying through YYZ and LHR.) Yes, it's one more stop and extra time but if it is the difference between business class and coach consider whether it is worth it.

Gardyloo

You can use the lounges and showers on an award ticket; they're separate from the spas, which you can't use.

For the OP, I would join the British Airways FF plan - http://www.britishairways.com/travel...l/public/en_us - and register with BA. You then can use their award calendar to find award flights both within Europe and also between Canada, Mexico and the US and Britain. With AA miles you can't fly on BA metal between the US and UK, but you can between Canada or Mexico and the UK.

DFW-LHR on AA in business can be a hard award seat to secure; however if you use the BA site you can look for open seats from Canada - Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, or Mexico City, and in general if you see availability for BA FF members AA will also have access to the same seats. I find it's much easier to make award bookings when you know the flights are available. So when you see availability, you call AA with those flight numbers/times, and they ought to be able to issue your mileage ticket using those flights.

You can also get to Prague via Helsinki or Madrid using AA partners Iberia (Spain) or Finnair. In either case you'd need to connect someplace in N. America first (JFK for Helsinki, JFK, Chicago, Boston or Washington DC for Madrid.) In any case you'll have access to both the AA Admirals Clubs and any partner carrier business class lounges while en route.

blh

Thanks so much for all the info, Gardyloo. I had wondered if there were other routes with other partners that would work using AA miles. Having never flown with Iberia or Finnair, how is their business class service? I guess I am asking if it would be worth the extra stop stateside in order to fly business class (as opposed to flying coach from DFW to LHR). This will be a splurge for us using so many miles, so I just want it to be worthwhile!

I will definitely join BA's FF plan so I can check those flights on BA.

socaltraveler

Last summer we flew from LAX to LHR via Toronto on Business with our AA FF miles - a savvy AA agent did the routing, and yes we were able to use the BA lounge while waiting for our flight on to Rome. I use this as an example because not all AA agents will go the extra mile; last week, while trying to arrange our flights home for June 2010 (we booked the flights over two weeks ago), the AA agent said nope, all Business seats are gone, sorry. Two hours later, we called again, spoke to another agent, who figured out a route, using our FF miles that gets us home in Business. It helps to know their partners, routes, etc., but it also depends on the agent, we have found. On our flight back, we will have an extra stop, in Boston, but for the Business seats, we are fine with that.

blh

Thanks, socaltraveler. I've heard that before - but it's a good reminder to keep trying until you get what you are looking for. Those agents can make a big difference. Hope I can get a good one!