Next June we plan a trip to Eastern Europe. We want to fly from SEA to Dubrovnik, then open jaw from Prague back to SEA. We want to use one of Alaska's mileage partners for the seats. My research shows that BA might be the best carrier, but the outgoing connections are through LHR with an overnight stay, then flying from London/Gatwick to Dubrovnik the next day. Does anybody have any better ideas to fly with an Alaska Airlines' partner for these cities without an overnight stay?
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
Are you using miles or hoping to pile up miles? If the latter, be aware that you will only get 25% of the miles credited to your Alaska account. If you are using miles, you'll be stung by BA with a hefty fuel and tax surcharge--maybe as much as $600 for each 'free' ticket. From Seattle, you might think about Air France as your nonstop to Europe--you get full mileage on that flight. Or the Delta/KLM to Schiphol.
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2788 posts
I fly from Seattle to Europe every summer. I use to fly NWA, but after getting screwed over by them (they cancelled my flight home), I changed to SAS and loved them. Unfortunately, they have quit flying out of Seattle. I now have flown Air France the last few years, and about every 3rd year, I get a frequent flyer ticket on AF using Alaska Air milage. I call the phone number listed on the Alaska web page under ff tickets relating to using one of their partners and the Alaskan operators have been very helpful. This May if flew AF from SEA to Paris to Istanbul all on AF. I also used BA once, having to go thru Heathrow. I only made that mistake once. There are too many other options than to do that again. (BA put my wife and I on separate airplanes to fly back from Heathrow to Seattle and when questioned, they said we had different last names - true - but we had made one reservation for both of us) The AF flight from Paris to SEA leaves about 1030 hours to you would have to get to Paris no later than 0900 which would take an early flight from Prague if you chose AF.
Posted by
Puyallup, WA, USA
881 posts
Larry, to really open up your options, and save money (BA will charge you through the ____ for free tickets), why not plan to use miles to get into London/Paris/Amsterdam/Dublin, etc, and THEN fly a discount airline (usual at great prices) the next day?
This will open you up to a tonne of options to use your miles - which can be a difficult proposition to Europe (you really gotta be on the ball and educated about it).
And I don't think an evening in London or Paris ever killed anyone... ;)
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15773 posts
Pay attention to the luggage allowances if you are going to take European flights. Within Europe, the maximum on economy is often 1 checked bag, max 44 lb. There may also be strict weight and piece maximums for carryon.