foodiern

I have 90,000 AA FF miles to use. Would prefer to use them for travel to Croatia but frankly am confused as to where to arrive in Croatia. Am thinking of Dubrovnik R/T. Also hoping for upgrade..Thoughts? Thought I'd start with Fodors for feedback before contacting AA directly..Thanks

Patrick

Are you looking at a 90,000 mile award for one free business class ticket? If so, where are you flying from? You know that if that is the case you can also do a stopover each way? Do you have another destination or two in mind?

Patrick

By the way, I think the nearest you can get to Dubrovnik by AA tickets is Zagreb.

I also just noticed you said you are hoping for an upgrade. To what, from what? Are you looking at one or two tickets?

pat

I was checking into this also. AA has a flight into Dubrovnik via London. I think it was a codeshare BA flight, but anyway, they only flew certain days of the week, and when I checked, they were all sold out, and I checked for a month. So start early, as thoses flights book quickly. Also, as I recall, we would have had to spend a night in London. Call AA, they can tell you all about it.

foodiern

I am flying from Newark, 1 ticket, ideally business class, if not maybe an upgrade. Italy would be my preference if I had to make 2 stops but only have about 12 days so was thinking Dubrovnik, & either Hvar or Korkula or both. I want to make the most of these miles...yes I will plan on giving AA a call..Thanks

Gardyloo

BA fly to Dubrovnik (daily this summer) from Gatwick, so you'll need to cross London to get to the airport, unless you fly into LGW on AA from Dallas or Raleigh/Durham (I think that's it on AA). You could also probably use the miles for a business class award on Aer Lingus from JFK to Dublin, connecting there to Aer Lingus' flight to DBV. I don't know that Aer Lingus offers business class within Europe anymore, though, so the last leg would be in coach.

mari5

Most airlines are VERY tricky about making it hard to redeem airline points. It seems to be getting worse...but I guess if done WAY ahead, it might work. Another idea is to tell them you are flexible,and ask the airlines to tell YOU when the FF flights are available! If they say nothing is available for several months down the road, then something is "fishy". I think they only allow a VERY FEW "FREE" seats on each plane...and that is understandable, as they are losing money on those seats.

Patrick

Getting the most for your money out of that ticket is tricky for such a short trip. Ideally with 90,000 miles you can fly free Business Class all the way -- Newark or JFK to maybe London or Paris, stay a couple days, then fly to Dubrovnik (assuming there is a one world airline that does that), do your own ground transportation to somewhere like Zagreb or even Venice, then fly to Paris or Madrid, or any other major city for a few days and then fly home. Since you CAN do all that for 90,000 free (open jaw plus one stopover each way), it's harder to justify using all those miles to go directly to Dubrovnik round trip.

pat

Agree with Patrick, as usual. You could even fly to Dubrovnik, via London, and do the open jaw, leaving to go home from venice. AA does have flights from Venice. You can do one open jaw segment per ff ticket, and that way, you could see more of Croatia with no back tracking. You might want to take a train back to venice as it isn`t that long a ride.

foodiern

Wow..alot to think about. I really wanted to spend much of my 12 days in Croatia with a 1 night stayover somewhere else if necessary. I've been to both London & Venice (& loved them both)but seems so much to see in Croatia. Will ceck w/ AA, but again appreciate all the good advice

Patrick

Don't misunderstand my post. I agree that you could easily and probably should spend all 12 nights in Croatia.
My comments were merely meant to reflect your comment that you wanted to get the most from your miles. If it is a simple round trip you're going to do, would it be wise to save those miles for a later use where you can effectively get several trips out of the one ticket?

foodiern

Thanks & point well taken. I guess I'm just getting concerned as I can only accumulate up to 90,000 miles & I am almost there, don't want to lose any extra "precious" miles I may accrue after I hit that 90 mark. Also seems R/T ticket to Dubrovnik is quite high...I will need to make some decision soon. Thanks again