Amie

I am going to Florence the end of May and want to use my US Airways miles. They can only book me Baltimore-->Phila-->Frankfort-->Vienna-->Venice.

Any help on how I can decrease the number of flights and/or fly into Florence. Or does this come with the territory when using frequent flyer miles?

The return is Milan-->DC which is OK.

Thank you for any advice.

Amie

rkkwan

Since the main Star Alliance partner in Europe is Lufthansa, you basically have to go through Frankfurt. There's no non-stop flight BWI-FRA, so you need to change planes somewhere if IAD-FRA is not available.

Lufthansa flies to many airports in Italy. FLR may still be closed in May, but just tell them to look for ANY airport in Northern/Central Italy that has non-stop from Frankfurt on Lufthansa.

But yeah, when you use an award ticket, you can't be that picky.

nibblette

Try looking at flights out of IAD. If would probably cut out the connecting US leg.

You may find more flexibility and a bigger selection with IAD. And also ask the FF agent helping you to check USair's partners available seats. What USAir may have available may be different than what United or Lufthansa have available.

Pilchard

Hi.

I concur that flexibility is your best tool. Whenever I use FF miles, if my first choice city is not available, I ask the airline rep what cities ARE available. This gets me across the ocean and it provides an opportunity to see another city.

The next step, then, is to travel by train to where you want to go. Train travel in Europe is a grant experience.

B.V.

Pilchard

...and it is a GRAND experience, too!