Hi - as a result of a trip to Europe last year, a new credit card and a few other items, my husband and I each have about 43,000 AA Frequent Flyer miles. The AA Advantage web site seems unnecessarily convoluted to me, but it SEEMS that we qualify for free flights to Europe in the off peak season. But we live in Seattle, and there are no direct flights from Seattle to anywhere in Europe -- does that mean we'd have to pay for a flight to O'Hare or JFK first in order to get the free Europe flight?

Is there some sort of an FAQ for folks like me who are inexperienced with using FF miles?

It doesn't have to be a direct flight - it will include your flight from Seattle connecting in ORD or JFK or wherever you will change.

It is also basically "anywhere" in Europe - at least Western and Central Europe. You'll connect to British Airways, Iberia, SN Brussels or others, but you are not limited to AA's cities.

It doesn't have to be a non-stop flight, you can fly anywhere AA goes with as many connections as needed. If AA doesn't go to the city you want to visit, they will then hook you up with a partner airline, as rkkwan mentioned. If you need to book a freebie using a partner airline, it cannot be done on line, you must call AA at 1-800-882-8880.

One more minor point of clarification--a direct flight is not the same as a non-stop flight. On a direct flight you WILL stop somewhere, but that same flight continues. I apologize if it sounds like I'm nit-picking at words, but I do feel sorry for people who book direct flights thinking they're getting non-stop. The term "direct" can be a bit confusing.

AS everyone has indicated you can fly with AA or one of its partners, in addition you may be able to take a stopover (Seattle, stopover in New York on to Paris and return from Paris)or an open jaw(eg Seattle-London, Rome to Seattle.

Also do call AA or go to a website, you may be surprised to find smaller airports or the destinations that qualify as "Europe".

I find that it's generally worth calling and paying the phone fee for award itineraries.

Thanks for all the advice here. I called AA and now have seats reserved on a non-stop British Airlines flight from Vancouver (YVR)! There is also a BA non-stop from SEA to LHR but for some reason I couldn't use my FF miles for that. Anyway, Vancouver is not much farther away from us than Seatac so I'm pretty happy with the experience thus far.

AA will not book FF awards between the USA and Britain, but YVR is fine.

AA will not book FF awards on British Airways between the USA and Britain, but YVR is fine.

Sorry sorry sorry echo echo echo