We are considering a tour that starts in Lisbon. We live in San Diego. The tour ends in Madrid..we would go from Madrid to JFK after Lisbon. That would be our final destination.

1. what would be the least expensive airline and/or the shortest trip.

2. Would we be better taking a shuttle to LAX? where we could pick up a better plane?

3. Would a flight out of JFK be better?...we could take Jet Blue to JFK?


We don't want to sign up for the tour till we have a better idea of the travel expenses and time involved.

Have 240,000 AA miles. Can I buy upgrades?

www.kayak.com
www.itasoftware.com

You can use a search tool like www.kayak.com to see options. It has a page for multicity trips so you can check as a single ticket SAN-LIS out and MAD-SAN back. And you can choose if you want only one stop or a particular window of departure or arrival time. And you can compare the same with flying out of LAX instead. One caution if you were thinking you would use Jet Blue and book a ticket SAN-JFK or JFK-SAN separately allow plenty of connection time because if you miss the connection and you will not get a break from the second airline as you would if you were on the same ticket for the entire trip. (It would be treated the same as if you overslept and missed the second flight.)

Thank you...

I know you didn't ask this but I am going to volunteer anyway...

from all the questions you have asked about your trips, you seem really ill equipped to deal with planning a trip on the internet. I RARELY say thins but i think you would be much better off developing a relationship with a travel agent who could advise you on the kinds of questions you ask.

Now i KNOW it's hard to find a good one and they don't make money on airfare etc etc - but you seem way out of your league with planning tripos and dealing with emergencies....and I don't mean any insult, just an observation.

I've always booked on the internet but this trip is giving me trouble.

Just to let you know...found the trips to Lisbon are from EWR. My sister is in that area so we will fly there and visit and then to Lisbon...hopefully with my AA miles..

You are right. If you would like a nonstop flight to LIS, you can take United, Continental or TAP from EWR. But none of those are AA partners to fly on AA miles. (I don't believe AA has any European flights from EWR.) Instead to fly on AA miles you would be from JFK through London or Madrid or perhaps another European city for a connection to LIS.

I did a search on TAP airlines - and got this thread. How does this airline compare to other, major airlines? Any problems?