TXL or FRA?
 

I am trying to use miles for a business class trip to Rome from the east coast in early May. I can leave from JFK, EWR or BOS. American award seats are all British Air through LHR with large fees or Finland with a long layover. The best options seem to be United or Lufthansa. The connections are either Berlin (2 hour connection) on a UA plane or Frankfort (almost 3 hrs) on LH. I could also move avoid to Iberia through Madrid. Better plane? Better airport? Any other considerations?

If memory serves, when booking AAdvantage (American) award flights online, not all possibilities show up. You might try calling the awards booking number and asking if you can get there NOT going through London. If you book a flight that doesn't show in online results, I believe there is no charge. But even if there was a charge it would be worth it to avoid BA's fees, I think.

By the way, having recently booked with miles on American, in to Paris, home from London, I struggled for months trying to avoid BA. I finally upped the number of miles I was willing to spend and was immediately offered flights all on American, coach going, business & 1st returning home. If you have more miles accrued than you've been using in your search, give it a try and see if you get a different result.

Thanks! I will give them a call. My son was able to snag a direct flight JFK-FCO business, but that was over a month ago.

My experience at TXL was that it was small and easier to negotiate than FRA but not well run. The one time I have missed a connection was at TXL. And it's about the most boring airport to hang out for 5 hours.

Good luck with the tix -- I've had good luck with agents when the websites didn't churn up the right mileage plus flights.

That confirms what I had read about TXL (although there were not that many comments). At present I think I will book a flight from BOS through Zurich on Swiss.
Thanks for the feedback.