tcreath

Just curious. We are very much considering a trip to the Dordogne next Spring. We would be using FF miles for award tickets. I would love it if we could fly directly into Bordeaux or Toulouse or even Lyon instead of having to fly into Paris or Barcelona. We have used FF miles for awards tickets, but only to major cities. I've done some research and I know that BA and Iberia, both members of OneWorld, do fly into the Dordogne. I will inquire with AA as it gets closer but now it's too early. In the meantime I'm just curious if anyone has used AA award tickets to fly into any of these cities?

Thanks!
Tracy

blh

We have flown BA from Marseille to London and AA from London to the US on award tickets. We will fly from the US on AA to London in October and on to Prague on BA. Then fly home from Vienna to London to US. You can get on the BA website and see where all they fly in Europe. You usually fly through London. You cannot use AA miles on BA out of the US across Atlantic; therefore, must fly on AA metal across Atlantic.

You can post questions about flights on the Air Travel forum, and will get good answers. Also, you can post questions on Flyertalk.com for questions about routing, etc.

We flew into Paris and took the train to Brive when we went to the Dordogne.

StCirq

Why don't you do PREM tickets into Libourne or Bordeaux?

kenav

Flying to Toulouse from JFK in September. Using AA Awards. We fly into Heathrow and then to Toulouse. On way back we fly on Iberia to Madrid and then to JFK. The cost for the ticket (If I were paying) is $804.00.

You can also fly into Paris and then take a train to Bordeaux. I believe the whole trip is possible with FF miles on AA!!

tcreath

Thanks everyone! kenav, I'm happy to read that you were able to get award tickets to Toulouse.

We have no problem taking a train from Paris if necessary. I guess I was more thinking along the lines that if we could eliminate flying into/out of Paris we would also eliminate the need to stay there overnight before our flight home. We thoroughly enjoyed Paris on a previous trip, so not a big deal if it comes to that, but with a shorter trip it would be nice if we could fly directly into (or near) the Dordogne and avoid bigger cities altogether and the commute getting to/from.

Thanks for the responses!
Tracy

kenav

Don't think there are any direct (non-stop) flights to any of these smaller cities from the US. Always seem to need to connect.

tcreath

Yeah, I know. And because we will be flying from CLT we will probably have two layovers...one in the US (I imagine either ORD, JFK or MIA) and then another in Europe. We will entertain the idea of driving to Raleigh (more AA flights) if we can eliminate one of the layovers.

Tracy

StCirq

EasyJet flies from CDG to Toulouse, but that doesn't answer your FF question.

Carlux

In flying from Toulouse to Toronto, or to Cape Town, the two places we've been most in recent years, we use Lufthansa and fly by way of Frankfurt. We haven't found direct international flights from Bordeaux or Toulouse, usually have to fly to a hub. But Frankfurt isn't bad, it's generally a good connection - and they are part of Star alliance. Not sure what US airlines belong.

La_Tour_de_Cause

I've used FF tickets several times to fly into Toulouse from SFO, on American Airlines. If I'd started my FF miles with British Airways, I'd be better off...AA doesn't hub at SFO so we always have to change once in the US before we get to London. Makes for a looooong day from the West Coast, but hey, it's "free."
AA partners with British Airways so we always fly into Heathrow and then take a connecting (BA) flight to Toulouse.
We prefer Toulouse to Bordeaux, just a personal choice based on the actual location of our usual destination in the Dordogne, and because we prefer the drive from Toulouse.
So, the answer is "Yes," both Toulouse and Bordeaux seem to be the closest destination airports with FF possibilities, at least with AA and British. Don't know about other airlines.

Carlux

We prefer Toulouse to Bordeaux - it's on the north end of the city, and so to get to the Dordogne, you don't have to drive through built up areas. You're virtually right on the autoroute at the airport.

Bordeaux, on the other hand is on the west side of the city, which means you have to go through a lot of traffic to get to the east and out. It's the Rocade, Bordeaux bypass, but still lots of traffic, seems to be always under construction, and confusing, even to those of us who live here.

tcreath

Thank you all. We'll try for Toulouse when the times comes and then hope for the best. Based on location and where we want to be, Bordeaux does seem rather out of the way so that would be my second choice. And I would rather start out the trip without my husband getting mad because he is lost and confused!

Tracy

moolyn

We followed Carlux's recommendation and used Air Canada from Toronto to Frankfurt and then Lufthansa to Toulouse and could have used Aeroplan Miles for this. Toulouse is a recommended place to visit but we drove to Albi, about an hour away, and it was a delightful way to spend our first night. I'll paste that section of my Dordogne trip report:

Albi was an excellent first day destination, just over an hour’s drive on very good roads. We had to stop and ask for directions to find our hotel in the old town but my rusty high school français did the job. Our hotel, le Vieil Alby, a logis de France, was really just a restaurant with rooms but it was well equipped, quite comfortable, friendly and very reasonable. Our car was taken away and parked in a garage nearby by Sicard père. Sicard fils, the chef, showed us to our room. Our room looked quite pretty after we flung open the blue shutters. A quick wash and we were off to explore the town. Thanks to our numerous flight delays we had managed to avoid the dreaded lunch closings!

Staying in the old town gave us immediate access to the picturesque narrow streets and tiny stores. Toulouse Lautrec was born just a few doors away from ours. We walked slowly through the Cathedral Ste-Cecile and the Toulouse Lautrec Museum next door in the Palais de la Berbie. Even my totally inartistic husband enjoyed his paintings and prints. We relaxed for a while in the gardens between the palace and the river, admiring the view, and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner.

Dinner was more than good enough to make up for our lack of sleep and poor meals since we’d left home. For 35 euros we could choose four courses and two glasses of gaillac wine each, white or red. The restaurant filled quickly but no one was smoking and the tables were nicely spaced. My husband pointedly mentioned that he was the only one wearing a jacket, at my suggestion, oops! The food was all excellent but the highlights were my terrine of lotte and scallops and DH’s roast veal. Afterwards there was brebis, chevre du tarn and roquefort plus three desserts each including ice cream with almonds and some tiny, sweet strawberries garnished with candied orange peel and peppercorns!

In spite of the strange looking bolster replacing pillows, the bed must have been extremely comfortable because we both slept for ten solid hours, even with the windows and shutters wide open! At breakfast I really lucked out by requesting gluten free. While DH had the usual baguette and jam plus yogurt, I was served yogurt and four different cheeses including something soft and creamy in a pot. We both had lots of good coffee, mine with hot milk, and a special, pure apple juice called puycelsi. Then we rushed off to buy picque-nicque supplies in the nearby Saturday morning market before we had to load our retrieved car and check out.

In the Dordogne we stayed in a wonderful medieval house in Sarlat for two weeks: (http://www.yourfriendsinfrance.org/)

kenav

So glad to hear about Albi. We are going to the Dordogne in September. We also will fly into Toulouse and then get a car and spend the night at ALbi before gong northwest.

Unfortunately, we won't be getting in until 5PM. That's the way it goes when you use FF miles! That was the only connection (out of JFK and through Heathrow) that we could get. Nothing earlier (sigh).

Will probably go to the Toulouse Lautrec museum the next morning as I'm sure it will be closed by the time we get there, and anyway we will be more than exhausted. Probably dinner and to bed.

tcreath

moolyn, thank you for the advice on Albi! I'm just in the initial researching stage, but I was wondering about where we would spend our first night should be be able to get flights to Toulouse. Sounds like the perfect spot for us. I'll definitely have to check it out.

Thanks!
Tracy