Topic Wiki

Points Used:

UR: 133K
MR: 40K
SPG: 90K
AA: 148K
UA: 95K
Hyatt: 4 free nights
Marriott: 146K and 2 free nights (still waiting for some points to post and then change cash res. to points)
IHG: ~130K (still haven't decided which hotel in Belgium to stay at)
Melia: 22K
BA: 4.5K
And 1 BRG :)

Desired Locations: (Strikethrough means booked)

Israel
London
Paris
Zurich

Rome (Car rental booked FCO-FLR-PSA-VCE)
Florence
Pisa
Venice
Madrid (RT train booked to Toledo)
Barcelona
Seville
(Car rental booked SVQ-GIB-SVQ)
Gibraltar
Bruges/Ghent (Belgium) (Have to book trains within Belgium and RT to AMS.)
Amsterdam

Days Scheduled in Each Location
In no order in particular...

Rome 3.5
Florence .5
Pisa .5
Venice 4.5 including Shabbos (although others said it can be done in less time)
Israel 12
Amsterdam 2
Paris 4 including Shabbos
Dublin 1.5
London 4 including Shabbos (although others said it can be done in less time)
Zurich 1 (b/c it's the United <24 hour stopover, but I'm sure there's more than 1 day's worth of activities there)
Belgium 1
(Amount of days in the different Spain cities are short and were very calculated based on suggestions, as I wanted to save any "extra" days I had for other countries.)
Madrid 1
Seville .5
Gibraltar 1.5 including Shabbos
Barcelona 1.5
« Last edited by @Yehuda on June 08, 2014, 06:26:36 PM »

Author Topic: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon  (Read 108027 times)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #140 on: February 06, 2014, 02:10:11 PM »
Stop asking them to find stuff, and check yourself.
A quick check on AA.com found availability almost every day from MAD to JFK, w/ various routings. And that was only one route I checked.

Never rely on them to do the searching for you. You need to speak to them equipped w/ the knowledge of the exact flights you need.

I've been checking AA.com for the past 2 days while on the phone with them. They are MUCH better at finding flights. AA.com doesn't show IB flights for example.

Not sure what you're seeing. For the week of July 20, example, there are only economy saaver (which is not ideal for the long leg back to NY) and they stop off in TXL so you're flying all day basically.

Offline Drago

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #141 on: February 06, 2014, 02:19:02 PM »
I've been checking AA.com for the past 2 days while on the phone with them. They are MUCH better at finding flights. AA.com doesn't show IB flights for example.

Not sure what you're seeing. For the week of July 20, example, there are only economy saaver (which is not ideal for the long leg back to NY) and they stop off in TXL so you're flying all day basically.
Check IB on their website, or better, on BA.com
I saw routings through LHR.a

Offline flyingace

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #142 on: February 06, 2014, 02:19:46 PM »
New issue: Just told AA to stop and look simply for any flights EUROPE-NYC for end of July and there's no availability...
So, looks like I'm going to have to use other miles. I have LH, but from what I've seen EUROPE-NYC is going to have ~$300 fees per person.
Exactly. First find availability for the flights to and from Europe, then work out everything else around that. Europe in high season is very booked. You may end up with availability via a different alliance or destination...
« Last Edit: February 06, 2014, 02:23:16 PM by flyingace »

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #143 on: February 06, 2014, 02:22:38 PM »
Check IB on their website, or better, on BA.com
I saw routings through LHR.a

AA rep told me that avail via IB or BA does not mean avail that she can book through AA miles.

Exactly. First find availability for the flights to and from Europe, then work out everything else around that. Europe in high season is very booked.

Right. That's the problem right now, hehe.

Offline Drago

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #144 on: February 06, 2014, 02:34:29 PM »
AA rep told me that avail via IB or BA does not mean avail that she can book through AA miles.

Doesn't sound correct to me if it shows on BA.
Can any experts chime in?

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #145 on: February 06, 2014, 02:44:33 PM »
Doesn't sound correct to me if it shows on BA.
Can any experts chime in?
The reason it seems to me like it won't work is bc even AA has different award levels and OWE can only be booked with SAAver avail. So BA.com or IB.com might not be considered SAAver in AA terms.

Offline flyingace

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #146 on: February 06, 2014, 02:54:40 PM »
I think he means that if it's showing up as an available award on BA it should mean Saver level, unless it's on BA itself who might show only their own, but I am  not sure they do that.

Offline Drago

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #147 on: February 06, 2014, 03:03:06 PM »
The reason it seems to me like it won't work is bc even AA has different award levels and OWE can only be booked with SAAver avail. So BA.com or IB.com might not be considered SAAver in AA terms.
-1

IB shows diff availability on their website for their own metal.
But my understanding is that whatever BA shows is available to AA.
Only AA metal has differences btw Saver and AnyTime (which is really double the miles for any open seat on the flight.)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #148 on: February 06, 2014, 03:05:23 PM »
-1

IB shows diff availability on their website for their own metal.
But my understanding is that whatever BA shows is available to AA.
Only AA metal has differences btw Saver and AnyTime (which is really double the miles for any open seat on the flight.)

Okay so then IB.com won't work, but then under this assumption, BA should work. I'll look.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #149 on: February 06, 2014, 03:08:45 PM »
Ok, there's a flight LHR-JFK BA0179 2 tickets in business class on 7/29. I'll call AA to see if it can be booked.

Offline Ergel

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #150 on: February 06, 2014, 03:23:14 PM »
Ok, there's a flight LHR-JFK BA0179 2 tickets in business class on 7/29. I'll call AA to see if it can be booked.
Be prepared for major YQ
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #151 on: February 06, 2014, 03:25:11 PM »
Be prepared for major YQ

Even if booked through AA? If so, then it really means to avoid flying BA on any leg of the trip...

Offline Drago

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #152 on: February 06, 2014, 03:26:31 PM »
Even if booked through AA? If so, then it really means to avoid flying BA on any leg of the trip...
Inner-European flights shouldn't have high YQ.

Also, if you do book that biz class ticket, start it somewhere else or else you'll be hit with the high UK passenger surcharge.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #153 on: February 06, 2014, 03:33:32 PM »
Inner-European flights shouldn't have high YQ.

Also, if you do book that biz class ticket, start it somewhere else or else you'll be hit with the high UK passenger surcharge.

First of all just realized the 29th is too late, want to be home before 9 days. But either way, you're saying for ex. CDG-LHR-JFK would be cheaper than just LHR-JFK?

Offline flyingace

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #154 on: February 06, 2014, 03:40:13 PM »
Inner-European flights shouldn't have high YQ.

Also, if you do book that biz class ticket, start it somewhere else or else you'll be hit with the high UK passenger surcharge.
But if he is flying TATL wouldn't there be very high YQ?

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #155 on: February 06, 2014, 03:45:56 PM »
Found CDG-LHR-EWR on BA.com and YQ is around $400 per person. LHR-JFK was around $500 pp.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #156 on: February 06, 2014, 03:50:14 PM »
Found CDG-LHR-EWR on BA.com and YQ is around $400 per person. LHR-JFK was around $500 pp.
Unsure about the YQ difference, but if you only have a layover in LHR, I don't think you have to pay the special ex-England tax.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #157 on: February 06, 2014, 04:00:34 PM »
Unsure about the YQ difference, but if you only have a layover in LHR, I don't think you have to pay the special ex-England tax.

Well the flight shows up on AA.com too, as does the direct LHR-EWR flight. 590-450 YQ diff pp. That's interesting as the rep definitely checked LHR-NYC and said no availability....

Offline MEIR613

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #158 on: February 06, 2014, 04:07:13 PM »
Unsure about the YQ difference, but if you only have a layover in LHR, I don't think you have to pay the special ex-England tax.
+1

Maybe try AB for the return.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon
« Reply #159 on: February 06, 2014, 04:13:03 PM »
+1

Maybe try AB for the return.

Do you know I find something on AB.com can AA book it?
« Last Edit: February 06, 2014, 04:18:42 PM by @Yehuda »