Using AA miles to book travel

Check out www.flyertalk.com Lots of helpful miles information. Evan

I'm not an expert on using miles, and the ones I have are on Delta and United, not American. But, I do know that the airlines release mileage tickets in batches. So, while it's certainly worth looking as soon as they are first released, don't despair if the ones you want are not available. They often open up later. The same is true of routing, although you may have to pay a change fee. For example, on United miles, one may have to accept a route of NYC-Istanbul-Paris initially, and then be able to change it to the (far preferable) NYC-Frankfurt-Paris when the latter becomes available. I also know that, even if your itinerary is bookable online, the agents have access to international routes that you can't get on the web. It's worth calling (and paying the surcharge) to get all the options. I've also read that if you don't get a knowledgeable or helpful agent on the first call, hang up and try again-there's tremendous variation, and it's not worth wasting time when there are many who do genuinely know lots of tricks and want to help you. In general, AA partners that go to Europe are Swiss, Iberia and British Air; my friends who do have AA miles often end up having to change in LHR or Zurich. They said changing in Zurich was particularly easy, so they preferred that if they had a choice. AA does go to Paris from JFK (and probably other places, I just don't know their routes). As I said, a good agent will be able to help you with all the options.

Things have changed somewhat since your search will now include British Airways flights, and they charge exorbitant fuel surcharges, especially flying to London ( their hub). You might want to call AA to see about availability on AA flights only when you have your niece's travel dates available. In my past experience, AA only allots 2 business seats for 50,000 miles on its 767 planes. Not sure how many are available on the 777 to London. AA award travel has changed dramatically this year --very difficult to get direct flights unless you are flying first class. And since graduation dates are not in the Europe "shoulder season", I suspect you will be paying 100,000 miles each way. I would definitely be doing some research now.

Thanks for all the advice. I figured London would be hard. I'm not too worried about where we fly out of. I figure Dallas is going to be available. I live in Houston and niece in Oklahoma, so it's central for both of us. But if we have to fly out somewhere else, I'm not worried. I already have the dates decided. Leave May 25 2013 and come back 2 weeks later. I plan to call AA soon to see what advice they can give me.

For AA you have to fly out of a hub? My husband and I used FF miles on Continental 2 years ago. Sacramento-Rome and Munich-Sacramento. We got the exact locations and dates we wanted. I did reserve far in advance. I hope you get the flights you want. What a nice gift for your niece!

Hello. We have successfully booked AA business class miles for five trips in the past five years. One was a month long trip to Australia and within Australia. We also did four trips to and within Europe. For four of the trips, we had to book them out at the 331 length. This year, we booked a trip for June to Ireland and England, in February.. Some of the AA agents are very helpful. They look at all different routings. We usually go out of LAX in Calif. This time we are flying out of LAX, non-stop to London and onto Shannon. Coming back we wanted to see Chicago, so we are stopping there. We will fly into our local Santa Ana airport. You don't have to fly in and out of the same city in Europe. Also, with our miles, we don't loose them as long as we fly once during the year or use one of our Citibank Advantage credit cards at least once. You might want to call American Airlines and ask them. I know we don't have any special accounts, so you must fall into the same category.

I forgot to tell you something. American Airlines has partner airlines. For example, sometimes we fly to London on American and sometimes we are on British Airways. This time we are flying American over to London and British Airways for the return flight to Chicago. Last year we flew British Airways over to London and British Airways onto London, using award miles. When we flew to Australia, American put us on Quantas. This time when we are in Ireland, American doesn't have a partner within Ireland. Therefore, we have to pay for our two flights on Aer Lingus.

We used Alaskan Airline miles last year to fly to Europe. We did not have a non-direct nor non-stop flight but the price was right. I started calling the airlines 330 days before preferred travel dates and call every day until after about two month of calling finally got an agent, after listening to my story of trying with no results, said something like "well, the has to be some way to make this work"..We ended up flying from SEA to Dallas on Alaskan then transferred to KLM to Europe. Coming home we flew on KLM to Houston and then Alaskan to SEA. Long story made short: call every day until something becomes available and start calling early.

We're flying from Austin to Brussels and home from Zurich on AA miles in 3 weeks. I booked our flights 331 days out. I think for most flights they initially open up 6 coach seats, not sure how many business class seats. I've been checking to see if we can upgrade on our way there, and have noticed they have been offering BA flights online for 1st class. I did fly in first on miles to London 4 years ago and had no trouble getting a seat. As it's going to be prime travel time I would definitely call and ask exactly what time and day you can first book, and book it then if at all possible to guarantee you get the dates you want. You should be able to book from Houston to London and Home from Paris to Houston. No need to go to a hub.

Erika, it sounds to me like you're simply saying that AA with it's D/FW hub isn't your 'home airport', so you just want to use up your expiring miles...AND Dallas, being a hub and 1/2 b/n OKC (presumably) and Houston, would be the logical departure airport. Correct? You will be able to fly from anywhere in the USA TO an international hub, then continue on to your European destination. We used miles for Sept 2011 (coach; sorry for you AND me); Zurich was always available, then the pickings got slim after that - even with the partner airlines making the occasional appearance. Typically, the schedules were just plain weird. My advice - figure out where in Europe you'd really like to fly into and out of first, play around on the AA site and get familiar with what it's offering, then call the AAdvantage Customer Service number (or whatever number the website says to call for Award travel) and see what they can do for you. Have some feedback ready for them from your prior research so that you'll know if they can do any better for you than you've already found. Just be prepared for a few plane changes...:-( That's where calling a rep may help you.

You have to call the Advantage phone number to book international travel anyway. I feel as though it is a definite advantage to talk to the agent and have him/her look at all possibilities. You are charged for making the reservation with an agent, but it is worth it. Sometimes I get different information by calling back a few times before I book the trips also. A few months ago the agent made a huge and would have been a costly mistake, had I gone ahead and booked the flights she reserved for me. We are using AA frequent flier miles to go to London. We have to pay to go within Ireland. AA doesn't offer a partner within Ireland. The agent had originally told me we had to fly from LAX to Dublin (using miles), then fly on Aer Lingus (own cost) back to London and then again to Shannon airport. She was so wrong. I had asked her why would we have to fly back to London and then onto Shannon. She obviously didn't know what she was doing. Sometimes it pays to talk to more than one person, if you think the information is incorrect. Some agents go out of their way to look at various options and partner airlines and some don't.

"You have to call the Advantage phone number to book international travel anyway." We didn't a year ago...just booked it ourselves online. "She obviously didn't know what she was doing. Sometimes it pays to talk to more than one person, if you think the information is incorrect." Exactly why you scope out the options yourself before calling the CS rep; many a time I had options that the agents couldn't see until I gave them the itinerary/flight numbers (shaking head)...

....I want to use all my miles for this trip (they will expire if I don't use them)... Just to let you know, there are many ways to keep miles from expiring. An easy way is to shop an airlines' e-shop portal. An on-line purchase can keep those miles active for another 18 months. Flying business class is great, but you can save miles for another trip by flying coach. In this case I would probably opt for the better seats since it is a graduation gift to your niece. I just wanted to point out that there are options for keeping your miles active.

I'd sit in coach with my 18-year old niece; she can save her money/miles and get her own business-class seats someday when she can really appreciate them ;-) But never stick her in coach while you sit in business :-( In that case, you've gotta go for the two business class seats! IF you want to save some F/F miles, as stated there are several easy ways to 'reset' the clock for 18 months... As for not living in a 'hub city', I haven't lived in Dallas for 13 years, but still consider it (and AA) my hub city! Although I live in Northern California, I fly AA nearly exclusively (AA has the only non-stop flights to D/FW, and that's where I'm flying 99% of the time), and that's a bit farther down the interstate for me than Houston!

My husband and I did have to book our international travel with American Air, through an agent, as we were doing multi cities. I was told we had to book all international travel by the American Advantage agent.

Thanks again everyone for your help. The reason why I want to use all the miles up is that it is just easier for me to fly on Continental (oops United) now. I got rid of my Citi card so I could earn United miles. I spoke with an agent today and they told me to call as early as I can on day 331 and see what I can get. Worst case, I can get economy and hope for an upgrade. Either way, my niece will love it!