cynstalker

We (2 of us) can be somewht flexible in dates - preferred dates are departing Jul 1 returning Jul 15. Can leave as early as Jun 29, return no later than Jul 17; must be in Hvar Island, Croatia for Jul 6. I would love to leave out of BDL, but can do BOS or JFK. Needs to be Business or First.

I have the following on hold until May 30 with AA:

Jul 1 BOS/LHR
Jul 2 LHR/MIL then ferry to Croatia from Ancona to Split (which sounds like fun, but not after a long-ish flight)

Jul 11 ferry back to Italy,MIL to LHR
Jul 13 LHR/BOS

The AA person was pretty good, but I'm thinking (hoping?) that there must be a better routing than this, that will allow us to spend most of our time in Croatia - I don't object to the 2 nights in London, but it does cut into the time in Croatia. Perhaps a one world?

I would be so grateful for any assistance you can give; the advice I have received in the past from this board has been wonderful!

Thanks -

Cyn

AAFrequentFlyer

British Airways has 1 daily from Gatwick to Dubrovnik.

I believe that Malev has a seasonal service to Split and Zagreb from Budapoest.

Gardyloo

BOS-LHR-BUD-SPU is doable but requires an overnight in London as the only AA BOS-LHR flight that works is the morning departure the day before - the evening departure from Boston to Heathrow arrives at LHR without enough time to connect to the BA flight to Budapest, then connecting on Malev to Split. Of course you could overnight at a hotel near LHR (usually a steal on Priceline) before the morning flight to Budapest, which would also help with jetlag.

BOS-SPU-BOS (ignoring intermediate connections) is less than 9,000 miles, so using a Oneworld award in business class would save each person 10,000 AA miles (35,000 in first class) compared to a standard "all-partner" award. The Oneworld awards require the use of two Oneworld airlines in addition to AA, so you'd need to go on AA over the Atlantic, BA to or from Budapest, and Malev between BUD and SPU, which is certainly doable.

You might phone back to AA and ask about that routing, also about routes through JFK, which could eliminate the need for the LHR overnight mentioned above - better connections.

AAFrequentFlyer

I second the suggestion of doing a OneWorld award. It's 80K miles for business class.

Here is a possible routing:

BOS-LHR (AA) non-stop
do the transfer to LGW and spend a night in nearby Horley. Have some fun at a local pub.
LGW-DBV (BA)

Open Jaw
Enjoy Dubrovnik, the islands, make your way to Split.

SPU-BUD connecting to JFK (MA)
JFK-BOS (AA) - the only problem here is that the Malev flight gets too late into JFK to catch the last BOS flight so, it's overnight in NYC.

An alternative routing for your return would be:

SPU-BUD (MA) catch the early flight and have a nice relaxing day and spend a night in beautiful Budapest
then catch early BA flight to LHR
and either catch the
evening non-stop to BOS
or midafternoon flight with a connection in JFK or ORD.
Either way you be home the same evening.
No overnighting in NY necessary.

cynstalker

Thank you so much AAFF & Gardyloo - I'll let you know what I can work out. I really appreciate your help!

Cyn