Using AAdvantage miles,I have two options for a return flight for a family vacation (with kids) to London, Paris and Amsterdam next summer. I can either (i) fly ord-lhr; train london to amsterdam (5 hours) ; train amsterdam to paris (4 hours); and, fly non-stop cdg-ord, OR (ii) fly ord-lhr; train london to paris (2.5 hours); train paris to amsterdam (4 hours) and fly ams-lhr-ord. I haven't been able to determine length of ams-lhr-ord but I'm guessing that flight time ams-lhr is one hour and probably 1.5-2 hour layover at lhr.

So, in terms of time and hassle - which would you pick?
Thanks

Going from London to Amsterdam and back to Paris involves a lot of backtracking. I'd fly into London and back from Amsterdam if that were an option.

It's not 5 hours from LHR to central Amsterdam by train. It's 5 hours (or whatever) plus the time to get through immigration at LHR, wait for your bags, go through Customs, shlep (at considerable cost) into town, check in 30 mns or so ahead of time for the Eurostar, then go through security and Schengen immigration before you get on the train.

In the time it takes to do all that, you'll have gone through security (but not immigration, customs or baggage claim) at LHR, got on the plane to AMS, arrived at Schiphol, gone through immigration and customs and got the far cheaper train into central Amsterdam. Giving you at least an extra 5 hours, a lot fewer years off your life expectancy and a fair few extra euros in your pocket to divert yourself with during all that extra real-life njoyment time yu've acquired

Why not just do the following:

ORD-LHR (AA) stop
LHR or LGW-AMS (BA) stop
Amsterdam-Paris (train) stop
CDG-ORD (AA) stop

AAdvantage rules allow one stop at the gateway city, which in this case would be London. Your destination would be Amsterdam and the open jaw would be Paris.

Thanks for all your help. I obviously was not clear enough in my question.

We will fly ORD-LHR, spend a few days in London, then go on to EITHER Amsterdam or Paris for a few days, then go on to EITHER Amsterdam or Paris for a few days, then fly home to ORD.

Does that change anybody's view?

Well I'm still confused

Do you fly in and out of London? Have you purchased your plane tickets to/from Europe already?

I flew into Heathrow, then onward to Amsterdam and it was very easy. But I didn't spend time in London, it was simply an airport connection.

I'm also confused.

Did you already use your miles for ORD-LHR ticket?

If so, you made a mistake. You could have included all the cities with one award ticket. All you would need to do is purchase a separate train ticket from Amsterdam to Paris.

If you did not get the ticket yet, then read my earlier post.

If you can add a stop to your ticket, like AAFF says, that would be the best option.

Otherwise, I'd choose option 2.

Well since the Paris Thalys trains stop at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, just a few steps from Customs exits that would be by far the easiest plane to train set up - by far