Yikes! I just put 2 first class tickets on hold using miles - taxes & fees are $400.70 each! Yes, going through LHR. (Not willingly!) I would be happy with business class tickets.

Can anyone offer any help for this trip? Looking at either Dec 8, return Dec 11; or Dec 15, returning Dec 18.

Cyn

can you route w/out going thru LHR? British taxes are high.

I think you're lucky to find anything on such short notice. You might look at routing through Barcelona (and then continuing on Iberia to Rome). I think you can get award tickets that are direct BOS-BCN (if you wanted to fly to MAD, they'll make you connect in MIA for example). You'll probably have to call someone to make the itinerary work.

You could also try flying direct to Paris and then buying a cheap ticket to Rome.

AA no longer flies its own metal to Rome during the winter, so any award will have to involve a partner, hence booking has to be done by phone.

I can't see any business class award seats on AA metal over the pond on your dates (from Boston, NYC, Chicago etc.) but there's space on BA in business class for the morning BOS-LHR flight on the 8th, then LHR-FCO on the afternoon of the 9th, returning FCO-LHR-BOS on the 11th. There's also space in BA business class BOS-LHR-FCO on the evening of the 7th. The following week looks pretty full.

These flights ought to be available for AA mileage redemption; you'll have to phone AA to arrange it. I can't see Iberia availability; they're typically hard to get for business awards anytime close to the holidays.

The $400 is almost certainly due mainly to BA fuel surcharges, not British taxes assuming you're just connecting at Heathrow. UK Air Passenger Duty is a big hit, but it isn't charged on transits with less than 24 hrs stopover.

Thanks everyone. I guess that's the best I'm going to get onthis short notice. I appreciate the suggestions!

Cyn

Update:

Managed to get an IB flight back. Now just need to get a business class seat instead of fc on the way over to drop the mileage to 80,000/ticket instead of the 100,000 it is right now.
This is what I have:
Dec 8: BA BOS/LHR first class; Dec 9: BA LHR/FCO business
Dec 11: IB FCO/MAD/BOS business

The AAgent told me ths is a valid OneWorld all partner - even though it doesn't have any AA metal - can anyone confirm? I really thought it had to have one segment on AA?

It's a valid <b>Oneworld</i> award since it involves two Oneworld members that aren't AA. You don't need an AA segment on Oneworld awards as long as there are two or more OW members in the itinerary (BA and IB in your case.) An "all-partners" award can involve airlines that are AA partners but not OW members, such as Alaska Airlines or El Al. However in business class a one-way partner award to Europe is 50,000 miles (62.5K in first) so the 80K mile round-trip Oneworld award is "cheaper" as long as you can keep the whole route under 9000 miles flying. (BOS-LHR-FCO-MAD-BOS is around 8400 mi.)

FWIW there are seats in business on BA from BOS on the previous day, if that could be made to work.

Great - thanks Gardyloo! Unfortunately, we can't leave the day before - unless it leaves after 10:00PM.

The thing about elite award travel is that it changes frequently, more than once a day. Check back early and often.

Find a sympathetic AA person and there won't be any charges for changes. Be very nice.

One caveat, BA flies 1/2 of business class flying backward. Call BA to get your BA confirmation # to change seats.