You are always so helpful...

This is what I need. (maybe using my AA ff miles). We live in San Diego.

1. we are joining a Rick Steves tour in Milan. This tour ends in Rome.

2. After Rome, would like to stop in Paris, and also do a layover in Boston (we have kids there and This is a stop for AA.)

Not sure how to go about booking this. Can Someone help me? .

I am not even sure AA can take us to Milan..or should we go to Paris first as we want to leave from there?

Thanks so much

Assuming AA's FF award rules allow <b>one</b> stopover - check with AA, or maybe AAFF here can help - I think your best bet is to claim an open jaw like this:

SAN-xxx-MXP/LIN. Probably via British Airways through London.

CDG-BOS-SAN.

Buy your own ticket from Rome to Paris.

The AA award rules allow a stopover in one of your US &quot;gateway&quot; cities (either when going or returning) and also allow open jaws (to City A in Europe, return from City B,) and also allow another stopover in Europe besides your &quot;final&quot; destination - in your case Milan.

However, the rules won't allow a direct flight from Rome to Paris for another stopover, because no AA partner flies that route.

So it looks that an open-jaw trip routed something like SAN-(DFW,JFK)-(LHR,LGW,ZRH)-MXP (Milan) then returning CDG-LHR-BOS-(ORD,DFW, JFK)-SAN would be legal. You'd need to make your own way between Rome and Paris.

It's <i>possible</i> they might let you go FCO-(ZRH, LON)-CDG using Swiss or British, but that may be too many segments within Europe, not sure on that exact rule.

But in general I think it's basically doable; contact AA to get it going. Or report back if I'm wrong.

Oh dear...where do I find out what all those initials mean ????

Thanks...once I find this out I will call AA.

You are all great.

A question...I am assuming then that AA doens't fly directly to Milan so we would have to take partner airline. Is that correct?..is that why we would go to London?..

Perhaps we would be better just doing AA ff to Paris round trip and doing trains?..but this is an airline board I know. I will check the timetables.
Again..thank you

The main European partner of AA is British Airways. That's why we think they will likely put you on a London-Milan flight on BA.

Milan is pretty far from Paris. It's almost 7 hours on the fastest direct day trains, and 9+ hours on a night sleeper. Cost is not insignificant. That's why we tell you to use the FF miles to get to Milan directly.

SAN - San Diego
DFW - Dallas/Ft. Worth
JFK - New York Kennedy
LHR - London Heathrow
LGW - London Gatwick
ZRH - Zurich
MXP - Milan Malpensa
LIN - Milan Linate
FCO - Rome Fiumicino
CDG - Paris Charles DeGaulle
BOS - Boston Logan
ORD - Chicago O'Hare

Just two things you need to know about the airports:

1. Do not fly an itinerary with a LHR/LGW change in London. You need lots and lots of time.

2. If you can fly into LIN in Milan rather than MXP, do it. LIN is much closer to city than MXP.

Sorry - they're airport codes - SAN is San Diego, JFK New York, CDG Paris, MXP Milan, ZRH Zurich, BOS Boston, LHR London Heathrow, LGW London Gatwick, ORD Chicago, DFW Dallas, etc...

Yes, American partners with several European airlines, of which British Airways and Swiss Intenational are two that fly to Milan, Rome, Paris etc. When you get an award ticket on AA, you can fly to cities not served by AA itself, but by partner airlines instead. But some &quot;city pairs&quot; - Rome and Paris for example, aren't served by one of AA's partners, so instead you'd have to do a dog-leg - Rome to London, London to Paris, etc.

AA itself (on its own planes) flies to Rome but not Milan. So you'd use AA to some other entry point, like London (or Zurich) and transfer to another (partner's) plane to go to Milan. Because AA doesn't fly directly from Paris to Boston, coming back you'd also need to stop in some city where AA <i>does</i> fly from to Boston, probably London.

This is not complicated for the airlines, just call AA and tell them where you want to go, with all your desired stops, and they'll do their best to make it work for you.

Thanks for the help. I got really stumped on the AA website as it didn't show flights from London to Milan ..then when I went on British Airways it did. So I will figure it out and just call them on it.

You said AA flies to Rome..maybe another option is to go to Rome and train to MIlan. Our Rick Steves tour ends in Rome as I said, but we do want to go to Paris after that..maybe we can do Rome/train to Milan/and after tour ends fly from Rome to Paris..who knows I am

By the way, AA does go from Paris to Boston. We just did that. How can I thank you for all the help.

So ff miles work on a partner airline ... is that it?..


By the way, AA does go from Paris to Boston. We just did that. How can I thank you for all the help.

There's a very wide definition of &quot;partnership&quot; as well as &quot;alliance&quot; in the airline world. Some partnership are very closely tied - like between Northwest and KLM. All trans-Atlantic flights are code-shared, and Northwest handles all things KLM in N. America.

Other times, the partnership is mostly behind the scenes, and don't benefit the customer too much. While you can almost always SPEND FF miles on a partner, earning isn't as easy, for a variety of reasons. For example, only full-fare Cathay fligths earn AAdvantage miles, and you cannot earn AA miles on BA's US-UK flights and vice versa due to anti-trust problem.

Also a partnership can form and dissolve. Swiss International was pretty tightly tied to AA/BA even if it wasn't a oneworld airline; but it's merged with Lufthansa and will align itself with the Star Alliance. Its partnership with AA (including many codeshare flights from Zurich) will disappear.

AA flies to Rome from JFK and ORD. But if you want to go to Milan, then go to Milan via London then. I don't see why you should have to take the train - and at your own expense too! - when you can fly directly to Milan.

You're right BOS-CDG daily, my mistake. (Well, actually, not entirely. The new and not-improved version of OneWorld Alliance electronic timetable, the technical term for which is &quot;kluge,&quot; doesn't show it. Arrgh.)

So if I fly AA to Milan I have to go to London and then Milan. I want to use my ff miles so when I call AA I just tell them what I want to do?...and because British Airways is a partner, there is a chance that will be covered in my free ff ticket?...sorry I am so thick.

If it's an &quot;all partner&quot; award, then AA partner airlines can be used. It may not end up being the most direct routing, but they'll get you there. Yes, call and explain what you want.

The London-to-Milan flights on BA have AA flight numbers. So, these aren't even partner flights in terms of award ticketing. Just simple AA trans-Atlantic mileage will get you to Milan. It's just that the last flight is operated by BA not AA.

Just call and tell them you want to fly San Diego to Milan, and then fly out from Paris with a stopover in Boston. They'll help you.

EasyJet flyes from Paris Orly to Milan and the cost is very, very cheap. Check the website wwww.easyjet.com

I noticed today that AA was flying from Miami to Berlin VIA London. However, you had to go from Heathrow to Stansted airport and pick up an Air Berlin flight. Not very convenient.

Where did you see that?

What does Berlin have to do with this thread?