Back in the day, American was among the most generous airlines when it came to releasing saver level premium cabin award space on their own flights, both domestically and internationally. At times it was almost bizarre how much award space they had.
Continue reading: Great News: American Business Class Awards To Europe Readily Available
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
You're killing it this week Lucky! Now I've got two different itineraries to Europe this summer, one on BA with pre-devaluation rates, a Chase companion pass and fuel surcharges. The other with AA miles and no fuel surcharges. I just have to decide which to keep. Dates are slightly better on BA. What do you guys think?
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200k AA miles + $233 in taxes
96k BA miles + $2100 in taxes + Chase companion pass
Ben,
If I use points to upgrade a coach ticket, does this come out of the same bucket as if buying entirely with points?
@ James from BNA -- Correct, that include the ~$215 UK APD:
https://onemileatatime.com/understanding-the-uk-air-passenger-duty-and-how-to-minimize-it/
@ John -- "C" and "U" inventory does often overlap, though not always. As a general rule of thumb yes, but you'll want to call to be sure.
@ Tom -- Toughie! So with BA option you're "saving" 104K miles but spending an extra ~$1,900. I'd say American miles are a bit more valuable than Avios as well.
To be honest this is really close to being breakeven. Would the American award be in flat bed products? If so, I might go with that to save the cash, personally. If it's the angled seats, I'd definitely stick to BA.
Tom, I think you've been reading blogs like this one too much if you're seriously considering dropping $2000 in place of 100k (soon to be devaluated) AA miles.
I've been waiting to get a flight on AA to burn some miles, so this is perfect timing. Just booked CDG JFK in November in J.
Thanks Ben.
Yep, everything is flat beds both ways. 767, 77W on AA and 747 on BA. I view it as a tie as well, but I'll probably keep the BA since the dates are slightly better. I'll keep checking AA though to see if my date opens up.
Amazing thanks! Just cancelled a BA itinerary and rebooked on AA for $800 in savings!
Actually AA J space was all the time available - I believe it was a technical glitch in the system. I'm saying this because for the past month I was monitoring transatlantic award J space and I noticed a trend:
I couldn't get anything for direct Europe-USA flights. They were all zeroed out. But if I were to search for a destination anywhere in North America but the US, such as LHR-LAX-YVR instead of LHR-LAX I'd be able to snag the 77W in J. No problems with that. Similarly, ZRH-JFK would never show availability but ZRH-SJU or ZRH-YYZ via JFK would show availability on the ZRH-JFK sector. Or LHR-ORD-YYZ/LHR-DFW-MEX if I wanted to go to ORD/DFW.
I only see 1 seat on ORD-LHR, whereas JFK-LHR seems to have the bulk of the J seats. Any other East Coast cities offer LHR service on AA/US metal?
Also not really seeing anything for CLT-FCO/MAD, or am I just checking the wrong dates?
@ Tom -- Yeah in that case I'd definitely lean towards American if the dates were equally convenient, but only you can determine how much you value your specific dates. Keeping an eye on space is a good strategy. 🙂
Just booked regular business class for June. MIA-FRA roundtrip $2,206! Wow!!!!
Thanks for the heads up! Doing a birthday trip to LHR/PRG in September, and while AA is no prize, it is really nice to avoid YQ on a party of 3.
It's funny how excited we get. This level of availability used to be normal for AA, especially for EXPs with access to the extra space.
Do these taxes and fees from JFK to CDG on business class look right?
AIR PASSENGER SOLIDARITY TAX $51.10 USD
FRANCE
PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $33.10 USD
FRANCE
AVIATION CIVILE / AIRPORT TAX $23.50 USD
FRANCE
US APHIS USER FEE $5.00 USD
UNITED STATES
US FEDERAL INSPECTION FEE $7.00 USD
UNITED STATES
US SECURITY FEE $5.60 USD
UNITED STATES
US CUSTOMS USER FEE $5.50 USD
UNITED STATES
Total Adult taxes and carrier-imposed fees
$130.80 USD Per person
@Benjamin Perley
It's a different world out there, with an improving economy and consolidation among the airlines, this is the new normal, at least until the next recession.