Hi!

First time poster but long-time lurker at Fodors.

I would like to ask your opinion if this routing is legal using Oneworld Awards:
ORD-LHR(transit)-FCO(stopover)-MAD(transit)-LIS-MAD(transit)-ORD(transit)-STL.
It seems there are many transit points here. And is the mileage requirement 115K/person in business?

If that routing won't work, my other choice is do ORD-LHR-FCO-MAD-ORD-STL, and just get a RT ticket MAD-LIS-MAD on one of the budget airlines. Is this better, though? My head is hurting trying to figure out how to get to Lisbon from Rome using Oneworld FF tickets.

Or, should I go with AA All-Partner Awards? But I read that it does not permit stopovers.

Thanks for your help.

ORD-xLHR-FCO-xMAD-LIS-xMAD-xORD-STL is not legal. You can't transit your origin point (ORD) - the itinerary would have to end there. Instead you might want to look at ...LIS-xMAD-xDFW-STL (using AA's MAD-DFW service.)

At around 11,800 miles it's in the 115K mile award bracket for business. However it's leaving 2200 miles on the table; you might want to think about turning your final STL stop as a stopover, then adding a couple of flights as a side trip later, e.g. STL-MIA-STL or STL-LGA-STL, etc. to use up the rest of your allotment (up to 14K flown miles.) Remember you have a year.

Thanks Gardyloo...I was hoping you would see my post and respond.

So I am allowed two transits for the outbound and two for the inbound?

Thank you for your suggestion about making STL a stopover. I knew that can be done but when AA did the one-way awards, for some reason, I thought they eliminated that feature.

And can I take advantage of your expertise again? My friend wanted to travel to Croatia or Slovenia using his AA miles. He has ~108000 miles and can earn the extra 7k in the next year so he can qualify for the higher mileage for business class. I'd like to help him but I myself am having a difficult time figuring out my own "simpler" routing. He can start in ORD or BOS. Can you help?

Thanks.

The current rule on stopovers/transits with Oneworld awards is two transits and one stopover in any city, so you're fine.

Don't confuse the AA partner award rules with OW award rules - apples and bananas.

As for Croatia/Slovenia, unless he wants to stop somewhere besides those countries, an all-partners business class Europe award would be 100,000 miles round trip, vs. 115K miles for a Oneworld award.

Ljubljana is accessible from Helsinki on Finnair; Split or Dubrovnik from London (LGW) on BA. Malev also flies from BUD to Split or Zagreb.

Thus, possibilities include BOS-LHR-HEL-LJU, or ORD-LHR/LGW-SPU/DBV, etc. No stopovers en route, only connections would be allowed.

OK, got it...thanks again Gardyloo.

I will forward this thread to him and he will at least have a starting point for the possible routing you have pointed out. I must have confused him about the number of miles he needed because I was working on my own routing using the OW rules.

Gardyloo -

Does Star Alliance have the same type of award 115K for 14K miles flown? I can't find anything similar on Star but then again I looked at One World and couldn't find it there either

Sorry for jumping into Ingrid's thread

Pat

mystic1947: Star Alliance airlines do not offer the same type of mileage-based award. Also, with regard to OW awards, it's important to understand that each individual airline has its own rules and mileage prices. For example, the business-class award that costs 115k miles when using American miles would cost 180,000 miles if you're using BA miles.

Thanks Rizzuto and that's very interesting info. I only have miles in Star Alliance and was looking to see any deals through them.

Thanks
Pat

You don't have Star Alliance miles; you have miles/points from one or more *A member airlines, e.g. United, US Air, Air Canada, etc. As rizzuto says, it's the individual airlines that make the rules and set the redemption amounts for FF trips. And you can't combine miles from different airlines to "pay" for a higher-cost trip, even if they're in the same alliance.

Oops - sure wish we had an editing function here.

Meant to add, some confusion often arises from American Airlines using the term "Oneworld award" for one of its award options - using only AA miles. Basically, AA's "Oneworld" award limits the traveler only to AA partner airlines that are members of the Oneworld alliance, e.g. British Airways, Cathay Pacific, etc. Other AA partners, e.g. Alaska Airlines, El Al, are not Oneworld members so their flights can't be included on a "Oneworld" award, while they can when using AA's other award scheme, the "all-partners" award. Mileage redemption and routing rules are very different between the two award schemes; the awards are not interchangeable. Many of us wish AA would rename the "Oneworld" award to something else, to avoid this confusion in future. For the time being, however, we don't want them to touch the award; it's arguably the best FF award scheme out there.

Thanks Garyloo - AA's award does sound like the best out there. I have Continental miles and that's why I mentioned Star Alliancce. Actually, I've never looked at Star awards but have looked at Continental's awards.

Thanks for clarifying
Pat