I did get a travel agent to book all our flights as suggested by readers here.She has suggested this flight. MAD to JFK, Swiss airlines. Oct. 10

Arrives Zurich 12:05PM....
Depart for JFK 1:00 PM

That's only 55 minutes leeway. She said it's legal. I know nothing about that airport. I hate to see our luggage in JFK without us. Any comments? Could this work?

Thanks..

isnt this your travel agent who you were surprised was still alive?

I am really really confused. You have AA Miles but you are flying on Swiss, I believe a Star Alliance partner?

I would be ok with 55min at Zurich airport. It's a comparatively small airport with far fewer flights than the biggies like FRA or CDG, so it's a lot less hectic.

mztery, loisco is taking a complex multi city route, starting and ending in SAN. If they use FF miles for MAD to JFK then the price for the rest of the multi city trip goes way up since they'd be buying a ticket with $ only one way across the pond. Too big of an open jaw.

SWISS is one of the best and most dependable airlines, and Zurich is not a difficult airport. When you arrive from Madrid, you will follow the signs to the E gates. It will take you 10-15 minutes to get from your arrival gate to departure gate, and that includes a short shuttle train ride. Just before you reach the departure gate, there's the secondary security for US-bound flights. In short -- and certainly without saying that traveling through Zurich is an especially good way to get from Madrid to New York -- the connection your TA suggested is a viable one.

I wonder how many miles the OP flies a year. I figure a couple of trips from SAN to Europe and perhaps one or two transcon will get her enough to have elite status. I think instead of finding the "best flight" each time she flies, she should stick with one airline's FF program to be elite. And I think AA should probably be it.

Then get a Admirals Club membership, or the American Express Platinum. There is a Admirals Club at SAN too, so she can use it quite often. This way, she can book slightly longer layovers and rest comfortably at Admirals Club (say, in JFK). And the agents inside can help her rebook if there's any issues.

And familiarly helps. My parents are 66 and 75, and they fly around the world. Still, they try to stick with Continental, and even though EWR can be hell sometimes, they're familiar with its layout, they are used to it, and they never mind having 2-3 hour layovers there if they can use the Presidents Club there.

P am not sure why a TA was suggested, but a couple of questions

1. Is it a 24/7 TA? Becausse until you fly flight ONE the TA "owns" the reservation and Swiss (or whomever) will only deal wiht them. So when the next "ash cloud" type event occurs...

2. Your TA thought the best fares were now for an October flight? Exactly how often does this TA book international travel? Because I would bet they will drop some.

3. Your TA's only comment is "it's legal" ... in other words the TA has never been to the airport in question?

All in all, I am not overly impressed with the TA. I don't use them for air travel simply because of the three questions above. (I Have used my company's Amex TA in the past, but they do havea 24/7 emergency service that has saved me a few times )

I transferred at Zurich last year.. it will be fine, as long as your incoming flight is on time.

The TA was because she was suggesting flight after flight and getting mixed up what airlines flew where.

I understand the multi city routing but why not get the one way awards for the Last US cit to europe and back, then just buy (cheaper) domestic tix

The reason lois says she has to lock in tix this weekend is because she has to commit to the land portion this weekend. Which still doesn't make a lot of sense....

I would not do a 55 min connection DOMESTICALLY but I always plan to spend time at the airport. We are now red carpet club members so if we have along connection we can at least relax. And I have never missed a connection with one painful exception in IAD (before the renovations which I understand have made it much easier)

bottom line, on my way back form Eirope or anywhere overseas I build in as much time as possible - you never know if a flight will be delays or a bunch of flights come in at once and hold up customs or ??

I also agree w. rkkwan - if oyu are flying as much as you seem to be , paying a bit more and focusing on one alliance makes most sense. Helps w/ baggage fees at least.

I've only flown thru Zurich a couple times, but found it a very easy and quick airport to tranfer from one flight to another. We had a 55 minute connection one time and made it with time to spare.

I'm late to the game and have only read a fraction of the OP's threads but it seems OP needs:

SAN-LIS
MAD-JFK
BOS-SAN

OP has 260,000 AA miles.

Seems OP could just do 3 one way awards or was availability an issue?

Somebody clue me in. I wanna play too

I too have been wondering why the OP is not taking this travel problem to an online AA ticket agent and seeing what can be done with the FF miles. I have concerns that the booking with many airlines could end up with a big problem somewhere along the line.

I haven't been following the trip planning for Loisco, but emphatically *NO* I would never take a 55 min. connetion anywhere internationally. ESPECIALLY if these are separately purchased or booked tickets!

I believe that's the whole point of using a TA - so that the tickets are on one itinerary. In this case both flights for this leg of the trip are on the same airline.

SWISS from MAD to Zurich
SWISS from Zurich to JFK

J62~ How would I have known the flights were on the same airlines from the Original Post? You must know more details than what was shared here on this thread?

sorry sorry sorry sorry. I was not reading carefully enough. I now see the Swiss airlines part was up in the first paragraph.

<<< I believe that's the whole point of using a TA - so that the tickets are on one itinerary. >>>

Can't see why that is because it's bookable on the Swiss website

They could also do Madrid to Newark with a 5 hour layout in Zurich

in case you hadn't read the million or so posts before:

the flights here are just one part of a very complex itn with at least two open jaws that I know of; partially miles tickets and partially paid.