not sure how to do this trip
 

You are all so terrific here and I respect your judgment so.....hubby and I going to Paris next year Sept. from San Diego. I have enough ff miles on AA to get two tickets BUT will I??

1. shall I call now and if I can get one and then buy the other (price is still high...1200 or more for one person).

2. if I can't get 2 seats on ff wait till March or so and try and find better prices.

3. is it ever possible to get two seats on one ff award?

Thanks so much fo all the help...

You have 120,000 miles or more in one FF account? If so, then you can call now and (try to) make reservations for two FF tickets. It would be two awards, each costing 60,000 miles.

In answer to question #1, if you are only able to book one seat on FF miles and you want to do that, then I would hold off on purchasing the second, paid seat in hopes of obtaining a better fare. There is no need to book them simultaneously. You can have the records combined later. (If you do this, it is generally best to book the award ticket for the LEAST frequent flyer and allow the more frequent flyer to earn miles on the paid ticket.)

2. If you can't get two seats on FF miles and you decide you are abandoning the idea of award seats, you wouldn't need to book as early as March. Your best fares for a September trip may not show up until June or July. Just keep checking. (While you're at it, you can keep checking for award tix. Sometimes seats that weren't there earlier are released later on.)

3. As mrwunrfl points out, you can book two seats on one award itinerary if you have the miles and the seats are available. I've done it a number of times.

First, I'm seeing SAN-CDG in Sept. in the $900 range, not $1200, but of course I don't know your specific dates.

Here's what I'd do:

1. Consider London instead. For the same dates that I used London was ca. $230 cheaper, much more than a quick hop to Paris on a low cost airline would cost, or better, Eurostar which actually gets you to Paris instead of some airport out in the boonies. On AA especially London is easier for FF tix because they have many more flights there than to CDG.

2. Use your miles (many fewer) to NYC then pay for a cheaper flight over the water from there. You have to stop en route anyway, so why not in NY rather than Dallas?

3. Originate in LA instead of San Diego. Many more flight options on AA or other Oneworld carriers.

Instead of all these OTHER options above, why don't you just go to www.aa.com, put in your dates, pick AAdvantage Award travel, 2 passengers, click and you will know instantly if they have 2 seats available for what you want to do. Forget about flying through London, paying half way, etc...etc... Out of curiosity I tried Sep. 7 out and Sep. 21 in for 2 award tickets and it came back with multiple options from San Diego to Paris. It was that easy.

If for some reason your dates are not available on www.aa.com, then call AAdvantage. They can look up their partner airline availibility which www.aa.com will not do. I could almost guarantee that you will get an award ticket for 2 in September from San Diego to Paris.

Forget about the other options mentioned above, just go to the source, and you may be surprised how easy it is to score 2 tickets.

Good luck!

BTW, it will be 120,000 miles plus $117.80 for taxes for the 2 of you according to www.aa.com.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I should have told you all that we need to stop in Boston on the way back to see family.. so we could leave from there too.I will consider all these suggestions. We are up there in age so want to make it as easy as possible....