Greece- need asap help with AA miles!
Nov 12th, 2006, 06:05 AM
#1
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Greece- need asap help with AA miles!
We have finally decided on Greece for a two week vaca mid-June '07. There are three of us traveling and we need to get flights booked ASAP since we are using miles. I would love to book within the next couple of days, therefore I am going to research as much as possible about where to fly in and out of. Is Athens my only option? In and out of Athens? Or is it possible to do an open jaw flight into Crete (or elsewhere?) We would love to visit Istanbul- but from what I've read, this doesn't seem very reaonable. Anyone care to offer an opinion on this?
We don't want to turn this into a *total* relaxing vacation. Rather, we want to site-see, vist towns, and soak up the flavors and culture. We don't plan on laying out all day long.
Before you lecture me
and tell me that I need to call the airline... I already have. I can get us in and out of ATH... I just want to make sure there isn't something else ot there to consider and/or to help maximize miles.
I'm assuming 14 days is a decent amount of time...
TIA!
~TXgal
We don't want to turn this into a *total* relaxing vacation. Rather, we want to site-see, vist towns, and soak up the flavors and culture. We don't plan on laying out all day long.
Before you lecture me
and tell me that I need to call the airline... I already have. I can get us in and out of ATH... I just want to make sure there isn't something else ot there to consider and/or to help maximize miles. I'm assuming 14 days is a decent amount of time...
TIA!
~TXgal
Nov 12th, 2006, 06:36 AM
#2
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You can certainly do an open jaw into other airports in Greece, but you will still have to connect through Athens. We did a DC-Santorini, Santorini-athens, athens-DC last spring.
I think common opinion is that you should be back in athens the night before your flight home, as the island carriers are small, weather is unpredictable, and schedules can change!
In Crete, you can fly into Heraklion or Chania.
I think common opinion is that you should be back in athens the night before your flight home, as the island carriers are small, weather is unpredictable, and schedules can change!
In Crete, you can fly into Heraklion or Chania.
Nov 12th, 2006, 06:48 AM
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I don't think you've overlooked anything. If you can get to Athens using FF miles, then it's not terribly expensive to fly from Athens to Crete. I agree with the advice to be back in Athens the night before your flight home.
Nov 12th, 2006, 07:32 AM
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Be very flexible....
Have several dates and be prepared for several plane changes etc. Ask about thier partner airlines.
Basically they started booking those FF tickets in July so you are actually a little late. Good luck!
Have several dates and be prepared for several plane changes etc. Ask about thier partner airlines.
Basically they started booking those FF tickets in July so you are actually a little late. Good luck!
Nov 12th, 2006, 08:00 AM
#5
There are AA partner flights to various Eastern Med destinations and you could easily set up an open-jaw - fly to Athens, back from somewhere else. Mikinos, Heraklion (Crete), Corfu, Istanbul, Paphos or Larnaca on Cyprus, probably some more. Israel or Egypt would be "middle east" awards (although Larnaca to Tel Aviv is 50 min. and around US$100 on your own.)
AA doesn't fly to Athens; you will be flying in with a partner no matter where you land after you cross the Atlantic. Most likely it will be British Airways from London, but could be Iberia via Madrid.
AA doesn't fly to Athens; you will be flying in with a partner no matter where you land after you cross the Atlantic. Most likely it will be British Airways from London, but could be Iberia via Madrid.
Nov 12th, 2006, 11:13 AM
#7
Cyprus Airlines and El Al both fly from LCA to TLV.
We were some of the lucky ones that got the $40 business class RTs to Cyprus when the (now unemployed) Alitalia IT guy made his famous boo-boo last April. Current planning is for us to fly into LCA then hop over to TLV to see family, then back to LCA in time for the return cheapo flight.
There used to be a ferry to Haifa but I believe it's inop for the time being.
We were some of the lucky ones that got the $40 business class RTs to Cyprus when the (now unemployed) Alitalia IT guy made his famous boo-boo last April. Current planning is for us to fly into LCA then hop over to TLV to see family, then back to LCA in time for the return cheapo flight.
There used to be a ferry to Haifa but I believe it's inop for the time being.
Nov 12th, 2006, 11:23 AM
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Gardyloo, I'm surprised by the suggestion of so many alternatives. A couple years ago AA miles would only allow us into or out of Athens (although Istanbul was a another possibility). Are you saying their one world alliance will now let you fly in or out of places like Mykonos or Crete? None of those even come up as one world alliance cities on their "where we fly" map.
Nov 12th, 2006, 12:09 PM
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OK Gardy, I called El Al and I've answered my own question, in part anyway. El Al only operates flights between Larnaca and TLV on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday. I must have been plugging in dates for other days of the week.
Cyprus Airways' web page is very slow and acting squirrley--I'll try another day.
Cyprus Airways' web page is very slow and acting squirrley--I'll try another day.
Nov 13th, 2006, 08:53 AM
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Okay, BACK TO ME !
I was under the assumption that my AA miles would only get me as far as Athens in Greece. But some of you are saying that I can use my AA miles (flying on one of their code-shares) to say, fly into Crete and out of Athens? That is what we would really like to do- I feel like we would be maximizing our miles that way. Plus, I would like to stay in Athens once for maybe two nights. I know I need to call AA and confirm all of this, but with 22 fourth graders, the internet is all I have to work with right now. I also know I need to work on an itinerary ASAP.
So I want to confirm- I can use AA miles to get to places in Greece other than Athens, correct?
Thanks!
! I was under the assumption that my AA miles would only get me as far as Athens in Greece. But some of you are saying that I can use my AA miles (flying on one of their code-shares) to say, fly into Crete and out of Athens? That is what we would really like to do- I feel like we would be maximizing our miles that way. Plus, I would like to stay in Athens once for maybe two nights. I know I need to call AA and confirm all of this, but with 22 fourth graders, the internet is all I have to work with right now. I also know I need to work on an itinerary ASAP.
So I want to confirm- I can use AA miles to get to places in Greece other than Athens, correct?
Thanks!
Nov 13th, 2006, 09:12 AM
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Sorry to hijack your thread.
According to Gardyloo it is possible to fly BA from London directly to Crete, so yes, that's doable. If you can't call AA right now, look at www.ba.com and see if the flight schedules to/from Crete are workable with your transatlantic schedule.
According to Gardyloo it is possible to fly BA from London directly to Crete, so yes, that's doable. If you can't call AA right now, look at www.ba.com and see if the flight schedules to/from Crete are workable with your transatlantic schedule.
Nov 13th, 2006, 10:07 AM
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When all else fails, pick up the phone.
I just called the AA advantage desk and was told that it is possible to book award travel with BA to or from Athens through London. It is also possible to do the same via Iberia through Madrid. But the only other Greek destination for award travel is Crete, via BA. So it looks like it is Athens only if using Iberia, or an alternative of Crete if using BA/American. Although BA does travel to other destinations in Greece, they said there are no award travel designations for those other cities.
I just called the AA advantage desk and was told that it is possible to book award travel with BA to or from Athens through London. It is also possible to do the same via Iberia through Madrid. But the only other Greek destination for award travel is Crete, via BA. So it looks like it is Athens only if using Iberia, or an alternative of Crete if using BA/American. Although BA does travel to other destinations in Greece, they said there are no award travel designations for those other cities.
Nov 13th, 2006, 11:20 AM
#16
When were you asking about? Mykonos starts around May 10 or so; HER around the end of March.
Both are BA numbered but operated by GB Airways, so ought to be fully bookable under an AA partner award. I'd phone the Aadvantage desk back if you want to go to Mykonos (or Thessaloniki.)
Both are BA numbered but operated by GB Airways, so ought to be fully bookable under an AA partner award. I'd phone the Aadvantage desk back if you want to go to Mykonos (or Thessaloniki.)
Nov 14th, 2006, 06:47 AM
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So sad 
AA has zero award seats available... from the end of May to the end of June from SAT to ATH. And we have over 3 million miles!!!! Now it looks like we're going to fly Delta. Only, we only have enough miles to fly coach (oh the horror!!!!!!!!) I think I can wait a while to book them since they're SkyChoice, not SkySaver... what are the chances of getting an upgrade (using miles)? My mom, though very young, have rhumatoid arthritis, and really benefits from the extra leg room. The coach seats are 100,000 each (we have a little over 230,000 miles total) and the biz class seats are 250,000 miles each. We can easily rake up another 100,000-200,000 miles by March or so... but that's about it.
AA has zero award seats available... from the end of May to the end of June from SAT to ATH. And we have over 3 million miles!!!! Now it looks like we're going to fly Delta. Only, we only have enough miles to fly coach (oh the horror!!!!!!!!) I think I can wait a while to book them since they're SkyChoice, not SkySaver... what are the chances of getting an upgrade (using miles)? My mom, though very young, have rhumatoid arthritis, and really benefits from the extra leg room. The coach seats are 100,000 each (we have a little over 230,000 miles total) and the biz class seats are 250,000 miles each. We can easily rake up another 100,000-200,000 miles by March or so... but that's about it.
Nov 14th, 2006, 07:17 AM
#19
Hold the phone.
Picking arbitrary dates in the first week of June, I'm seeing a lot of coach award availability out of SAT to London, generally through Raleigh-Durham (RDU) or a few seats through DFW (both to Gatwick) and here and there to Heathrow.
I can't see the award availability situation on British Airways' connections from London onward, but generally I haven't had bad luck snagging those; it's the transatlantic legs that are usually the hardest.
I would phone AA back (NOT the on-line function; you can't do much on overseas flights using aa.com) and ask about two scenarios - routing through RDU or DFW to LGW (which would mean switching from Gatwick to Heathrow in London - ugh) or secondly a separate award, London - Greece - London. (Thus you'd use 60K miles to London, then 20K to Greece.)
Alternatively, if all else fails, if you got to Gatwick you could fly to Athens on Easyjet for not too much money - probably under £100 round trip.
The cardinal rule about award mileage trips is to keep calling back.
Picking arbitrary dates in the first week of June, I'm seeing a lot of coach award availability out of SAT to London, generally through Raleigh-Durham (RDU) or a few seats through DFW (both to Gatwick) and here and there to Heathrow.
I can't see the award availability situation on British Airways' connections from London onward, but generally I haven't had bad luck snagging those; it's the transatlantic legs that are usually the hardest.
I would phone AA back (NOT the on-line function; you can't do much on overseas flights using aa.com) and ask about two scenarios - routing through RDU or DFW to LGW (which would mean switching from Gatwick to Heathrow in London - ugh) or secondly a separate award, London - Greece - London. (Thus you'd use 60K miles to London, then 20K to Greece.)
Alternatively, if all else fails, if you got to Gatwick you could fly to Athens on Easyjet for not too much money - probably under £100 round trip.
The cardinal rule about award mileage trips is to keep calling back.
Nov 14th, 2006, 07:27 AM
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Wow Gary- you're awesome! We don't care how many AA miles we use... we would just really like to fly biz or 1st... we're spoiled, what can I say 
Our ideal dates are 8 June- 22 June, but like I said, any two week stretch towards mid-June should be fine. I called and asked about Anytime miles to get to London, and award miles to get to ATH. She could do it, but it was 120,000 miles for coach, and three legs.
If we're going to HAVE yo fly coach, we might as well fly Delta- only 2 legs. SAT/DFW to ATL. ATL to ATH...
What site are you checking? Is this a site a normal person like myself could use?
Thanks!
Our ideal dates are 8 June- 22 June, but like I said, any two week stretch towards mid-June should be fine. I called and asked about Anytime miles to get to London, and award miles to get to ATH. She could do it, but it was 120,000 miles for coach, and three legs.
If we're going to HAVE yo fly coach, we might as well fly Delta- only 2 legs. SAT/DFW to ATL. ATL to ATH...
What site are you checking? Is this a site a normal person like myself could use?
Thanks!
