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Avoiding BA fuel surcharges
I’ve collected AA points for a trip to Europe as a graduation present for my daughter. It seems American doesn’t fly their planes to Europe as everything I’ve tried comes up with BA flights. I’m appalled at the amount of the fee they charge compared to other airlines. Does anyone know of a route from US to Europe (we are visiting Edinburgh, Amsterdam and London but could fly into another city) using AA points without getting on a BA plane?
You could, but the reality is that award space to Europe is just incredibly limited using American miles right now.
Look at airberlin (to Dusseldorf or Berlin), or American to Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Paris, Rome.
Iberia is also an option to Madrid or Barcelona, but they don’t have much award space.
Good luck!
Even when it says BA flights, it is worthwhile to go through ALL the offered options, because often you will find itineraries where the transatlantic segment is on AA metal, even if you have to connect twice within the US (which will of course be on AA metal too). For years now I have been able to get fairly cheap (taxes and fee-wise) business saver award tickets for us this way. I also found that the more AA segments you fly in that itinerary (meaning 2 and not 1 connection in the US), the taxes decrease. I do not know why, but that has been my experience.
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