Our college daughter will be studying abroad in Florence this summer. We would like to join her the last week of her studies. I not familiar with the best routing, but I assume we would have to connect in Rome first???? What routing would you suggest?

And, which airline is most comfortable and offers the nicest perks....if we're lucky enough to fly 1st or business again. ( The only time we've been to Italy, we flew on AA 777, 1st class miles tickets and then connected to Rome. Gotta say we were totally spoiled...

AA runs 2 777s DFW-LGW, both non-stops.

If you can fly in F then chances are you will get the great suites. If in J then chances are you will get the new business class seats. If you liked the service before, then you'll will enjoy it even more now as it keeps on improving after they started making profits for the last 6-7 quarters.

BA intra EU J is just a little better econ seat but it's a short flight and the service is good.

You will be able to use lounges in DFW(AA), LGW(BA) on your outbound and FCO and LGW(both BA) on your inbound.

or you can fly AA all the way. DFW-ORD-FCO. The over the pond flight is a 767, a 2 class plane. The front is basically the same business class seats found on a 777 in business but the service/food is somewhat better when compared to 777 business class. AA just like many airlines with 2 class planes, treats the front cabin like an F cabin on a 3 class plane.

Florence has its own airport, FLR, which is served by various European airlines from various European gateways.

Pisa, PSA, is just an hour from Florence by direct train from the airport. Also served by various European airlines from various European gateways, plus Delta from JFK 3x weekly.

Also, by this summer, AA will have moved one of its two DFW-London flights to LHR. BA also will also have moved its DFW flight to LHR.

Look into Lufthansa from DFW to Frankfurt, connecting right to FLorence.

Wow! Thank you for your quick replies. I'm thinking we will probably go with AA so we can "hopefully" use our miles. I am only familiar with AA internationally; how does BA and Lufthansa compare?

I have a question for AAFrequentFlyer: If miles aren't a problem, what are the ultimate seats to try for? And, which route would you prefer? I must admit, I am a little confused with all the airport codes. thanks for all your help. Oh, sorry, one more question. Isn't there a site you can view all the different airplane seating charts??

If you can afford F with your miles then Dallas-chicago(stop)-London(connection) on AA-Rome on BA would be my preference. You will get to use theFlagship Lounge in Chicago and the BA First Class lounge in London.

It's a 777 and most likely it will have suites. It's 1-2-1 seat config. If you want to sit next to hubby then the 2 center suites is the way to go. If you guys just want to enjoy a quiet ride, then the window seats are great. You can have dinner together in one of the suites as it's set up for 2 at dinner time and then just relax in your individual window seats either by going to sleep or watching a movie or ???

If you are doing business class then I would take the 767. Service/food is a notch or 2 above 777 business class.


www.seatguru.com is the site you're looking for.

You can't use AA miles on BA(US-UK) or LH(at all). If you're willing to connect in Canada or Mexico then you can try BA F or J using AA miles, for example, Dallas-Toronto on AA then London-Rome on BA. To be honest, IMHO AA F is better than BA. BA is a class above AA in business class.

If you're using AA miles for a business class award, you might also think about splitting up your itinerary - take AA/BA in one direction and Iberia/AA in the other, for example Pisa > Madrid > Chicago > DFW. Iberia's business class product (they don't have First) is very pleasant as well, and Madrid airport is a snap for connections compared to Heathrow.

You amaze me with your knowledge!!! Thank you so much. Now for the challenge of obtaining mileage tickets on the dates we want. We hope to go for one week between the dates June 22- July 5th. Do you think it will be difficult? Are there any "tricks"???

For those dates I think you probably need to be persistent and lucky. Start phoning yesterday.

Note - I can see a little AA first class availability to London that week and more the week after; one or two business class seats from Raleigh-Durham (connect from DFW) to London are also showing open as well. I'm not able to tell if Iberia has any open seats either way; only AA can tell you that.

AA- Yes, I remember the lovely 777 suite set up. Hubby and I did have the 2 center suites. We both got a kick out of all the fuss.... who doesn't love 1st class!!! Just read saw an ad for new flights to Dubai where they offer enclosed? suites. Sounds marvelous!!!

AA.com is showing 2 seats available in F, departing on 6/29, returning on 7/6 from DFW-ord-LHR-ord-DFW.

Since it's not possible to check award availibility with BA on aa.com, you need to call ASAP and if nothing else put the itn on hold. You will have 2 weeks to ticketed it.

Good luck!

See my comments on your Europe board.

Yikes!!! I'm a little worried... after checking our mileage balances, I do not have enough for the F award or any 1st class. Hubby does (barely), though. I only have 79,256. I totally forgot I used miles for a couple other trips. I know I could buy the extra needed (up to 30,000??) Is there a way to temp. reserve mileage seats w/o the miles? Probably not.... any suggestions at this point would be appreciated.
Oh, also just found out daughter will need to return to states by July 1-2. (her last day of studies conclude June 26th) Please know how much I appreciate your advise.

You can put an award on hold for 2 weeks without having the necessary miles.

You should just call AA and see what they can find for the 2 of you for the dates you need. Perhaps businees/first is available with their partners. Put a hold on it and only then play with other options.

Like I said, AA/BA combo through Canada or Mexico City, AA/IB through Madrid, and few other possibilities, FinnAir, Malev, Brussels Airlines, Aer Lingus, and Turkish Airlines is still possible to book for few more weeks before they discountinue their relationship with AAdvantage on March 30. Once Turkish award is booked it's good up to one year after.

Good luck!

Could I just hire you AAFrequentFlyer....I'm serious!!!

another vote for Lufthansa via Frankfurt to Florence.
Another option might be with DL via JFK then directly to Pisa, as already said, just 1 hour by train to Florence

AAFrequentflyer you mentioned AA offers 2 non-stops flights DFW to LGW, but I could only find non-stop DFW to LHR. Also, rkkwan you mentioned there might be a change this summer???? Fortunatately, I have been able to book (on hold) 1st class with miles DFW-ORD-LHR.
I'd prefer non-stop from DFW, but seats weren't available. Am I missing something?

After posting this, I read another thread, "AA says cheerio to Gatwick" Think this answers my question.....sort of!!!! Confusing!!

katie - a number of airlines are changing from LGW to LHR this spring, primarily around the 3/29 - 4/7 period, including AAs flights from DFW. [CO and BA are doing the same thing at IAH, with 2 CO flights and 2 BA flights moving to LHR, but CO is keeping a 3rd flight to LGW]. The thing to watch for of course is that BA is keeping departures of a lot of connecting flights to places in southern Europe out of LGW (not sure if FCO and FIR are among those). So you might have to schlep from LHR - LGW; not fun but doable. Just something to keep in mind.

FWIW, we've taken LH from IAH - FRA - FCO and a return from FIR and was a very pleasant trip. Some of our friends did LH from DFW - FRA - FCO and also enjoyed it.

companies flying the summer schedule DFW to FLR with only 1 change are:

LH via FRA to FLR (LH/UA codeshare)
KL via AMS + IG to FLR (IG/KL codeshare)
AA via CDG + AF to FLR

BA to LHR + IG from LGW to FLR

If alternative destination Pisa PSA is acceptable, then:

AA to LGW (AA078 only) + BA LGW to PSA

AA or BA to LHR + BA from LGW to PSA