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-   -   Honk! If you are flying to Europe this summer with Frequent Flyer awards (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/honk-if-you-are-flying-to-europe-this-summer-with-frequent-flyer-awards-706100/)

NeoPatrick May 29th, 2007 03:14 PM

Garyloo, I'm no expert on coach awards, but are you saying that you CAN do a week long (or so) stopover in Rochester between Las Vegas and London on an AA free coach award???

andib May 30th, 2007 11:20 AM

Taking my daughter to Barcelona as high school graduation present next week. But oops - some money I saved on flights goes to Passport expeditor - dumb mom forgot to check on expiration date of daughter's passport, which was January 07.

aj May 30th, 2007 11:38 AM

We just returned from Paris-Rome FF Delta miles! Glad they are still in business!

swalter518 May 30th, 2007 11:39 AM

HOnk honk, 2 tickets to Paris at the end of October on UA. I'm so excited!!!!

bridonohue May 30th, 2007 11:45 AM

delta - 4 tix 50 k each
july - august
dca-atl-dub (delta)
1 week stop
dub-cdg (af)
24 hour stop
cdg-naples (af)
4 weeks
nap-cdg-iad (af)

very happy with delta
booked the tix exactly 330 days out

LindainOhio May 30th, 2007 03:25 PM

Flying Sept. 2nd Cleveland/Chicago/Shannon using 60,000 AA miles. Booked online March 15 and only had to change our date one day. Only had enough miles for 1 economy milesAAver ticket but other ticket was only a total of $704 including tax.

I have lots of Continental miles (they are the major carrier in Cleveland) but I seem to have a lot more trouble redeeming them.

mrschef Jun 2nd, 2007 07:16 AM

We're flying Miami to London with AMEX membership miles...our son is flying out sooner. He's going on a post high-school backpacking trip through Europe! He needed to fly on AA in order to be with his friends. I was actually able to get him a ticket with miles by contacting AMEX. They had me book with Mexicana who happens to partner with AA. It was odd, but successful! Off we go!

Luisah Jun 2nd, 2007 07:58 AM

<<I'll have a flat bed upstairs on the 747.
I still haven't decided whether I will sleep or pass out on the flights.>>

Don't forget to get off the plane.

Flying Atl to Venice, upgraded with miles to BE, but on Delta, no flatbed for me -- darn!

slbuz Jun 6th, 2007 02:45 PM

Honk honk! 5 tics to Athens r/t 50k each - Delta FF. Paid tax only. Divine intervention baby!

Lionors Jun 9th, 2007 04:38 AM

Honk! Honk!

Two tickets from Dallas to London, flying back from Edinburgh to Dallas, on American. Taking BA for the Edinburgh-London leg of the return trip, but it's part of oneworld, so it counts.

Got to love getting FF miles for paying for stuff you'd buy anyway. :D

~Elizabeth




DejaVu Jun 9th, 2007 05:34 AM

Honk! Just got back from using Delta miles for ATL-AMS, CDG-ATL. SkySaver with 50K, so here's a shout-out to the helpful Delta agent who worked with me for a half hour to find flights for me. :-)

AAFrequentFlyer Jun 9th, 2007 06:16 AM

My future bride and I have the following on hold:

<i>
AMERICAN AIRLINES 307

LGA New York

Sep 06, 2007
01:30 PM

ORD Chicago

Sep 06, 2007
03:10 PM

First Z 3E, 3F

AMERICAN AIRLINES 54

ORD Chicago

Sep 06, 2007
05:35 PM

MAN Manchester

Sep 07, 2007
07:15 AM

Business U 3A, 3B

BRITISH AIRWAYS 1389

MAN Manchester

Sep 10, 2007
10:00 AM

LHR London

Sep 10, 2007
11:00 AM

Economy X unassigned

BRITISH AIRWAYS 856

LHR London

Sep 10, 2007
02:45 PM

PRG Prague

Sep 10, 2007
05:40 PM

Business U unassigned

MALEV HUNGARIAN 821

PRG Prague

Sep 14, 2007
10:10 AM

BUD Budapest

Sep 14, 2007
11:15 AM

Economy R unassigned

MALEV HUNGARIAN 402

BUD Budapest

Sep 14, 2007
06:00 PM

FCO Rome

Sep 14, 2007
07:40 PM

Economy R unassigned

IBERIA 3609

FCO Rome

Sep 20, 2007
08:00 AM

MAD Madrid

Sep 20, 2007
10:20 AM

Business U 1C, 1A

IBERIA 6251

MAD Madrid

Sep 20, 2007
01:05 PM

JFK New York

Sep 20, 2007
04:35 PM

Business U 2C, 2A</i>


All that for 80K AA miles each.


Some people here are confusing AA's OneWorld awards with AA's All Partner awards. Different awards all together.

The above would cost a great deal more AA miles if it was an AAdvantage All Partner award. The above is a OneWorld award. Limits airlines to OneWorld airlines only but saves miles. All Partner awards open the possibility of ALL AA's AAdvantage partners but in many cases cost more miles.

Not all AAdvantage partners are OneWorld partners.

One World partners:

AA
BA and some affiliatesa)
Iberia
FinnAir
Malev Hungarian
Cathay Pacific
Qantas
Royal Jordanian
Japan Airlines
LAN Chile (and some affiliates)

Only the above can be used with OneWorld award.

There are many AAdvantage partners which can not be used with OneWorld awards, only All Partner awards. Some of the AAdvantage partners are:

Alaska Air
TAM
Hawaiian Airlines
Gulf Air
Isreal Airlines
Brussels Airlines
Air Tahiti Nui
Turkish Airlines
Air Sahara
Air Pacific
Aer Lingus

NeoPatrick Jun 9th, 2007 06:55 AM

AAFrequent Flyer, I'm following all that except why isn't it 90,000 miles? How did you get the extra 10,000 mile reduction, or was that a special?

AAFrequentFlyer Jun 9th, 2007 07:16 AM

Because it's an AA OneWorld award, NOT the AA All Partner award. It's based on mileage between stopover points only. The following is:

8939 miles total.

LGA-ord-MAN-lhr-PRG-bud-FCO-mad-JFK.

The connections don't count for the mileage total, so only the straight line between LGA-MAN counts even though we're flying through ORD and the same is true for the rest of the trip. Straight line mileage between MAN-PRG, PRG-FCO and finally FCO-JFK.

and according to AA OneWorld page:

any trip from 4001 to 9000 miles is

80K AA miles for business class

<i>Distance Zone 3
Total Trip Miles = 4,001 - 9,000 Award Code
Economy Class OW60Y
Business Class <b>OW80C</b>
First Class OW100F</i>

T4TX Jun 9th, 2007 07:21 AM

Honk

We used Continental miles to get 4 First Class tickets from Austin to Venice on 5/4/07 returning from Rome on 5/17/07. Each ticket was 100,000 miles.

Startin in early November I used the internet to search for available reward tickets and quickly found that Venice/Rome had almost no availability. I would also call and speak with the agents, who were helpful but couldn't get 4 to/from Italy without going through another European city first so:

In mid-December I booked 4 tickets Austin/Newark/Frankfurt/Milan/Venice and Rome/London/Newark/Austin return.

In mid-January I was able to get 2 tickets from Rome therby cutting out the London leg, but I was not able to get 2 more tickets prior to our leaving on our trip.

For the Austin to Venice, we flew from Austin to Newark to Frankfurt arriving 9am. We had FF tickets from Frankfurt to Milan to Venice departing 6pm, but instead of taking that flight we took a noon Lufthansa flight, which got us into Venice at 2pm instead of 9pm.

While on our trip we went to an internet cafe twice and checked on First Class reward ticket availability and we were able to get 2 more tickets on the Rome/Newark/Austin flight. It cost $50 to change the tickets but we actually got money back because the airport fees are higher for London than Rome!


AAFrequentFlyer Jun 9th, 2007 07:22 AM

2 more important rules for AA's OneWorld award ticket:

At least 2 OW partners <b>must&lt;/B be used and AA does not count nor is it needed.

A connection over 6 hours may be considered a stopover unless the next available flight is not possible within that time period, but no more than 24 hours is allowed for connections under any circumstances. </b>

annw Jun 9th, 2007 07:28 AM

Flying SFO to Venice and back from Rome on Delta next week, using miles to upgrade from Coach to Business. I've used mileage to upgrade 5 similar trips in the last four years. The TA books 330 days ahead.

fishee Jun 9th, 2007 08:13 AM

AAFF -- that's amazing. I didn't know there was a partner/one world distinction -- is that specification on the award chart? This is different from an RTW ticket, isn't it?

congratulations on your engagement.

AAFrequentFlyer Jun 9th, 2007 08:19 AM

The mileage charts are at the bottom of this page:

http://tinyurl.com/2evlqk


btw, Thanks...:-D

kechal Jun 12th, 2007 10:21 AM

Using miles for two tickets to Italy (in to Rome, Out from Venice). I also had to purchase two additonal tickets at a cost of ~$1500 each.

jspowell Jun 12th, 2007 10:32 AM

Honk! Honk!

Family of three just completed Knoxville-Atlanta-Frankfurt outbound, Munich-Paris-Detroit-Knoxville return. Used Delta Skymiles. Flights were on Delta (outbound) and Air France &amp; Northwest (return). Booked all reservations last summer (11 months in advance).

Togo Jun 12th, 2007 11:14 AM

Just got back two days ago!
Los Angeles - Washington D.C. - Rome
Zurich - Washington D.C. - Los Angeles
Used 50K United FF miles and got Economy Plus seats. Purchased ticket on January.
Honk! Honk!

em_axo Jun 12th, 2007 11:41 AM

Beep beep! My husband and I used AA miles for our tickets to Italy/France in August. Can't wait!

(We go DFW-Zurich-Rome and return direct Paris-DFW. 60K miles each plus some fees I've already forgotten about. We booked last September!)

violetduck Jun 12th, 2007 01:28 PM

In Sept flying from Newark to Frankfurt on
Continental and out of Frankfurt to
Atlanta on Delta-business class tickets
both flights. What a treat!





martyharly Jun 12th, 2007 01:57 PM

2 first class tickets to Vienna from LAX using my United Plus awards in August. We fly Lufthansa to Munich, change planes and fly to Vienna. Return is on Austria Air (two class flight) to London, change to United. The only fees we paid are airport taxes.

martyharly Jun 12th, 2007 02:03 PM

Whoops, forgot to add that I had to &quot;buy&quot; these tickets the minute they became avaiaible, last October, and I am not traveling until this August. I had to stay on the phone with United airlines until 3:00 a.m. when the seats were released and I could book my flights. It was still hard to get the seats since there are not many first class seats for mileage point users.

karens Jul 11th, 2007 03:57 PM

We just got back - four 50K tix on Air Canada, PHL-YYZ-LHR

jrecm Jul 11th, 2007 04:49 PM

AAFF miles from San Diego to Milan this October. Used 40,000 because I left after Oct.14th. Otherwise, it was 60,000. Last two times to London used AAFF for first class but not enough miles to do that again. Ugh, but I am always so excited I will get over that pain promptly.

AnselmAdorne Jul 11th, 2007 05:01 PM

karens, I saw your post on the Air Canada forum on FlyerTalk. Nicely done.

Anselm

hinson123 Jul 13th, 2007 06:59 PM

Round trip tickets on United Airlines, Washington Dulles to Paris, mid-August, for a family of 4! 50,000 miles per ticket. Booked in October.

sfarah Jul 14th, 2007 05:34 PM

Just booked a trip in coach with Delta using 50,000 skymiles from NY to Paris via Copenhagen on the outbound and direct from Paris to NY on the return. I am a woman traveling solo leaving on August 31 and returning on September 9. I decided to spend 2 nights in Copenhagen before flying on to Paris. Pickings are slim but I was flexible. Not bad for last minute travel given the crazy fares that are out there right now and Copenhagen was one of the cites I've always wanted to visit.

KARIME2 Jul 14th, 2007 06:05 PM

I just booked 5 tickets to Rome for next May, 2 business and 3 coach on American/Iberia/Brussels Air.

Chgo-Madrid-Rome and then Venice-Brussels-Chgo.

I am so excited to be able to get these seats. We are pumped and now starting to look into hotels.

Saraho Jul 14th, 2007 07:53 PM

ttt

ggnga Jul 14th, 2007 09:49 PM

Hello all, My ticket is not until Oct. also. Delta FF miles. Booked in Jan. Atlanta to Paris, return Florence, Paris, Newark/Atl. I only decided to add Tuscany and extended for another week a couple of months ago. The Delta agent worked hard to get me back from Florence. I go Florence to CDG Air France late evening..will book CDG hotel for cheap on Hotwire or Priceline and leave Paris to Newark early morning with a decent layover in Newark to Atl on Continental. This will save doing the entire long trip in one day and paying for transport to CDG from Paris. I was impressed at how hard she worked to get me the change I wanted to make. Very creative using partners. I used 50,000 miles and about $75.00. I had no problem at all with the original booking in Jan. for a direct flight ATl-Paris on Delta. It was originally Oct. 15 to 25, extended to Oct. 31.

My next project is getting a FF mile trip to Nairobi from Atl. next yr with hopefully a nice layover in Paris or London. I will begin 330 days out.

One of my better deals is to Maui for this Christmas. I had 28,000 miles on United, bought miles for $250 reaching 35,000; then scored a flight to visit my son for a week before Christmas. I go out on Dec. 17 and return Dec 25 at 11:59 pm. Christmas will be officially over 1 minute after I leave. I can deal with that. I have found Maui FF deals much harder ro book than Europe, especially Holidays. It will be our first Christmas together since he moved 6 yrs. ago. Hooray!! Honk! Honk!

Happy travels.

gg

adnil1962 Jul 15th, 2007 12:01 PM

Used 80,000 miles to go to Prague from Boston in Business Class on United.

I have never been in business class when traveling outside of the States. It was wonderful!!! Great food and I loved that my chair turned into a bed. I got a REAL pillow and blanket too!

caroline10 Aug 12th, 2007 04:37 PM

AA miles for trip to France. We decided in June to go to Provence this summer. Our dates were flexible, so I was patient, looked each day and found 2 tickets at 90,000 miles per person for business class. We fly San Diego to London, then I got cheap tickets to Nice and out of Montpellier. We leave on Thursday!!!

karens Aug 12th, 2007 04:45 PM

How is anyone doing with using miles for next year to Europe?

With all the trouble I had this year, I'm afraid FF availability to Europe might increasingly be a thing of the past.

VirginiaC Aug 12th, 2007 04:54 PM

Just booked a pair Continental Newark to Amsterdam for April 9, returning on Delta Gatwick to JFK May 10, using 200,000 Delta FF miles to fly business/first. In between it will be a brief river cruise through tulip country from Amsterdam to Antwerp, a few days discovering Antwerp, then Eurostar from Brussels to London for three weeks. Fortunately, we were able to be quite flexible with our dates. Our first few choices were unavailable.

blu_mountain Aug 17th, 2007 05:40 PM

I am flying on business to London, but my daughter is flying with me on AA using my miles and my sister is meeting us flying on Virgin using my USAir miles. Honk! Honk! Virgin had no blackout dates although USAir did. This is the best way to dispose of USAir!

Iwan2go Aug 17th, 2007 08:21 PM

Next April - departing on a Weds night Air France LAX-MAD, then returning on a Thursday CDG-LAX, 50K AF points. I had to shuffle the dates around a little bit, since I just now booked. Wasn't sure if I should wait to see if a weekend day came available...but decided to just go ahead and do it. I don't want to lose out! and am assuming that the other dates are gone (from the sounds of it, probably one of you guys got 'em :)


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