Suggestions for ORD-LHR-FCO?
Apr 17, 2013, 12:16 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CHI
Posts: 129
Suggestions for ORD-LHR-FCO?
I really wanted to book this myself, but having only booked straightforward redemptions in the past, I'm realizing that I might be over my head. I thought break down and ask for some suggestions before I consider alternative plans.
The goal is total of 4 originating from ORD, dropping 1 off in Florence (by 7/3) for a month-long study abroad program, and 3 of us returning.
What I was hoping for, since this coincides with our 30th anniversary, is to first spend 3-4 days in London before flying on to FCO or PSA. Or, just fly into FCO a day or 2 early, drop her off in Florence, then stop in London for a few days on our way back to ORD.
Not a lot of time, I know, which is why I'm not sure this is going to happen, but it seems worth a try. I do have flexibility within the short time frame of 6/28-7/10. There were some health issues to be resolved before we knew if this was going to be feasible, and fortunately, all is well. Except the part about me not finding availability at such short notice!
I have tried using Award Nexus, but I'm not finding the availability. I know finding availability for 4 tickets is difficult, even more so for an amateur.
As far as miles/points: I have approx 220K AA and Avios points combined over a few acct's to work with.
Also, approx 140K MR points, and a measly 14K United. I am really inexperienced with transferring MR points.
Obviously, we are fine with Economy travel since I don't have a lot to work with.
I'd really appreciate any suggestions regarding best strategy for redemptions, especially regarding trying to avoid BA and those high fees. I'm open to other route suggestions to search, or considering substituting another city for London.
Thank you for any help.
The goal is total of 4 originating from ORD, dropping 1 off in Florence (by 7/3) for a month-long study abroad program, and 3 of us returning.
What I was hoping for, since this coincides with our 30th anniversary, is to first spend 3-4 days in London before flying on to FCO or PSA. Or, just fly into FCO a day or 2 early, drop her off in Florence, then stop in London for a few days on our way back to ORD.
Not a lot of time, I know, which is why I'm not sure this is going to happen, but it seems worth a try. I do have flexibility within the short time frame of 6/28-7/10. There were some health issues to be resolved before we knew if this was going to be feasible, and fortunately, all is well. Except the part about me not finding availability at such short notice!
I have tried using Award Nexus, but I'm not finding the availability. I know finding availability for 4 tickets is difficult, even more so for an amateur.
As far as miles/points: I have approx 220K AA and Avios points combined over a few acct's to work with.
Also, approx 140K MR points, and a measly 14K United. I am really inexperienced with transferring MR points.
Obviously, we are fine with Economy travel since I don't have a lot to work with.
I'd really appreciate any suggestions regarding best strategy for redemptions, especially regarding trying to avoid BA and those high fees. I'm open to other route suggestions to search, or considering substituting another city for London.
Thank you for any help.
Apr 17, 2013, 12:38 am
#2
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
Suggestions for ORD-LHR-FCO?
First question is about what accounts your miles are in. Are your Avios points in a "family" account? If so how many Avios points do you have? For AA, what accounts do you have and how many miles are in each account?
At this late date, finding 4 seats on the same flights is probably not possible. Would you rather pay for a couple of the tickets or take different fights (if they can be found)?
At this late date, finding 4 seats on the same flights is probably not possible. Would you rather pay for a couple of the tickets or take different fights (if they can be found)?
Apr 17, 2013, 6:19 am
#3
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: AMEX Plat, AAdvantage Gold, UA, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 963
I agree 4 tickets is going to be hard, but I think it is possible - probably getting to LHR will be the easy part. However, as soon as you are in London then you are paying through the nose for fees.
I recently booked NYC-FCO, there are some whacky things I did to squeeze value that might inspire some ideas, here are the details of it:
http://saverocity.com/blog/selecting...-hotel-part-2/
Also, one routing that often doesn't show up online but is an idea for Rome to avoid London is to go through Dublin on Aer Lingus - they have a non stop service DUB-FCO which you can use your BA Avios on.
Personally I couldn't find space on that for my trip, so I flew into Milan and booked the high speed train.
I recently booked NYC-FCO, there are some whacky things I did to squeeze value that might inspire some ideas, here are the details of it:
http://saverocity.com/blog/selecting...-hotel-part-2/
Also, one routing that often doesn't show up online but is an idea for Rome to avoid London is to go through Dublin on Aer Lingus - they have a non stop service DUB-FCO which you can use your BA Avios on.
Personally I couldn't find space on that for my trip, so I flew into Milan and booked the high speed train.
Apr 17, 2013, 6:55 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CHI
Posts: 129
BA 54.9K family acct. (with all 4)
AA - 18K
AA (son's) - 159K. I used most of my points for our last family trip, so he's fine sharing his for a family trip this time. He travels a lot, so replenishes a lot faster than I can.
At this late date, finding 4 seats on the same flights is probably not possible. Would you rather pay for a couple of the tickets or take different fights (if they can be found)?
I agree 4 tickets is going to be hard, but I think it is possible - probably getting to LHR will be the easy part. However, as soon as you are in London then you are paying through the nose for fees.
I recently booked NYC-FCO, there are some whacky things I did to squeeze value that might inspire some ideas, here are the details of it:
http://saverocity.com/blog/selecting...-hotel-part-2/
Also, one routing that often doesn't show up online but is an idea for Rome to avoid London is to go through Dublin on Aer Lingus - they have a non stop service DUB-FCO which you can use your BA Avios on.
Personally I couldn't find space on that for my trip, so I flew into Milan and booked the high speed train.
I recently booked NYC-FCO, there are some whacky things I did to squeeze value that might inspire some ideas, here are the details of it:
http://saverocity.com/blog/selecting...-hotel-part-2/
Also, one routing that often doesn't show up online but is an idea for Rome to avoid London is to go through Dublin on Aer Lingus - they have a non stop service DUB-FCO which you can use your BA Avios on.
Personally I couldn't find space on that for my trip, so I flew into Milan and booked the high speed train.
Apr 17, 2013, 7:37 am
#5
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: AMEX Plat, AAdvantage Gold, UA, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 963
Sorry, I should have specified.
BA 54.9K family acct. (with all 4)
AA - 18K
AA (son's) - 159K. I used most of my points for our last family trip, so he's fine sharing his for a family trip this time. He travels a lot, so replenishes a lot faster than I can.
With the relatively short amount of time there, I guess I'd be willing to split up 2 and 2 if the flight times were fairly close. I'd like to avoid paying for a ticket if possible, but I'd pay for 1 if it came to that. As it is, I'm thinking I'll need to pay for my dau. to return after her month in Florence, depending on what I have left point-wise after all this. Thank you, btw.
Thank you for the suggestions. I'll definitely check them out. Flying into Milan would be great, if I can find availability. Same with Dublin. Do I need to join Aer Lingus to search availability, or can I search it some other way? Thanks!
BA 54.9K family acct. (with all 4)
AA - 18K
AA (son's) - 159K. I used most of my points for our last family trip, so he's fine sharing his for a family trip this time. He travels a lot, so replenishes a lot faster than I can.
With the relatively short amount of time there, I guess I'd be willing to split up 2 and 2 if the flight times were fairly close. I'd like to avoid paying for a ticket if possible, but I'd pay for 1 if it came to that. As it is, I'm thinking I'll need to pay for my dau. to return after her month in Florence, depending on what I have left point-wise after all this. Thank you, btw.
Thank you for the suggestions. I'll definitely check them out. Flying into Milan would be great, if I can find availability. Same with Dublin. Do I need to join Aer Lingus to search availability, or can I search it some other way? Thanks!
Also, I had a very hard time searching Iberia - but they fly via Madrid, when I called them I got more space available. Of course, not good for the London part but a good way to get into Rome.
Apr 17, 2013, 10:26 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,580
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
A few thoughts:
1. If you are going to stop over in London at all, do it on the outbound, not on the return. Reason: if you fly BA from LON to Italy and have earned at least one Avios in the past year, you can get Reward Flight Savers, which will save you considerable $$$ compared to a regular Avios award. Plus, if you were to stop over in LON on your way back, there would be a very high U.K. APD assessed on your U.K.-U.S. leg.
2. Re the DUB option: it is reportedly very difficult to find award space on EI's intra-European flights. Not saying it's impossible, but very difficult. You might, however, find a low-cost carrier from DUB to Italy.
3. If you go the DUB route, yet another option is to then head up to Belfast, and fly BA out of Belfast City Airport. Since Belfast is in the U.K., BA will give you a free LON stopover on a BHD-LON-Italy Avios redemption, and you should be able to use the Reward Flight Savers out of BHD.
4. Another way of getting to Rome from Chicago with AA miles is ORD-TXL-FCO on AB. Unlike IB award space, AB award space can be checked at aa.com. If you were to bypass LON on your way to Italy, you could then redeem for Avios Reward Flight Savers Italy-LON-BHD with a free LON stopover, and then fly home from DUB, using either Avios on EI, or AAdvantage miles on AA. (This would avoid the APD problem I mentioned in Point #1.)
5. If you use AA miles to fly back from somewhere in Europe directly to ORD, don't forget about AA's free gateway stopover option. For the same number of miles as Europe-ORD alone, you can get Europe-ORD (lengthy stopover) - Hawaii/Caribbean/Alaska, etc.
A few thoughts:
1. If you are going to stop over in London at all, do it on the outbound, not on the return. Reason: if you fly BA from LON to Italy and have earned at least one Avios in the past year, you can get Reward Flight Savers, which will save you considerable $$$ compared to a regular Avios award. Plus, if you were to stop over in LON on your way back, there would be a very high U.K. APD assessed on your U.K.-U.S. leg.
2. Re the DUB option: it is reportedly very difficult to find award space on EI's intra-European flights. Not saying it's impossible, but very difficult. You might, however, find a low-cost carrier from DUB to Italy.
3. If you go the DUB route, yet another option is to then head up to Belfast, and fly BA out of Belfast City Airport. Since Belfast is in the U.K., BA will give you a free LON stopover on a BHD-LON-Italy Avios redemption, and you should be able to use the Reward Flight Savers out of BHD.
4. Another way of getting to Rome from Chicago with AA miles is ORD-TXL-FCO on AB. Unlike IB award space, AB award space can be checked at aa.com. If you were to bypass LON on your way to Italy, you could then redeem for Avios Reward Flight Savers Italy-LON-BHD with a free LON stopover, and then fly home from DUB, using either Avios on EI, or AAdvantage miles on AA. (This would avoid the APD problem I mentioned in Point #1.)
5. If you use AA miles to fly back from somewhere in Europe directly to ORD, don't forget about AA's free gateway stopover option. For the same number of miles as Europe-ORD alone, you can get Europe-ORD (lengthy stopover) - Hawaii/Caribbean/Alaska, etc.
Apr 17, 2013, 8:10 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CHI
Posts: 129
Thank you again for the help, brooklynmatt. ^
Really appreciate all the good advice, guv. Thank you. Since I'm having no luck with finding availability on my own, I think calling BA directly and seeing if they can put something together might be the thing to try next. I will ask about the Reward Flight Savers since I'm unfamiliar with them. Thanks for the reminder about the free gateway stopover on AA. Hopefully, I'll be able to take advantage of that, although it's not looking very positive right now.
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
A few thoughts:
1. If you are going to stop over in London at all, do it on the outbound, not on the return. Reason: if you fly BA from LON to Italy and have earned at least one Avios in the past year, you can get Reward Flight Savers, which will save you considerable $$$ compared to a regular Avios award. Plus, if you were to stop over in LON on your way back, there would be a very high U.K. APD assessed on your U.K.-U.S. leg.
2. Re the DUB option: it is reportedly very difficult to find award space on EI's intra-European flights. Not saying it's impossible, but very difficult. You might, however, find a low-cost carrier from DUB to Italy.
3. If you go the DUB route, yet another option is to then head up to Belfast, and fly BA out of Belfast City Airport. Since Belfast is in the U.K., BA will give you a free LON stopover on a BHD-LON-Italy Avios redemption, and you should be able to use the Reward Flight Savers out of BHD.
4. Another way of getting to Rome from Chicago with AA miles is ORD-TXL-FCO on AB. Unlike IB award space, AB award space can be checked at aa.com. If you were to bypass LON on your way to Italy, you could then redeem for Avios Reward Flight Savers Italy-LON-BHD with a free LON stopover, and then fly home from DUB, using either Avios on EI, or AAdvantage miles on AA. (This would avoid the APD problem I mentioned in Point #1.)
5. If you use AA miles to fly back from somewhere in Europe directly to ORD, don't forget about AA's free gateway stopover option. For the same number of miles as Europe-ORD alone, you can get Europe-ORD (lengthy stopover) - Hawaii/Caribbean/Alaska, etc.
A few thoughts:
1. If you are going to stop over in London at all, do it on the outbound, not on the return. Reason: if you fly BA from LON to Italy and have earned at least one Avios in the past year, you can get Reward Flight Savers, which will save you considerable $$$ compared to a regular Avios award. Plus, if you were to stop over in LON on your way back, there would be a very high U.K. APD assessed on your U.K.-U.S. leg.
2. Re the DUB option: it is reportedly very difficult to find award space on EI's intra-European flights. Not saying it's impossible, but very difficult. You might, however, find a low-cost carrier from DUB to Italy.
3. If you go the DUB route, yet another option is to then head up to Belfast, and fly BA out of Belfast City Airport. Since Belfast is in the U.K., BA will give you a free LON stopover on a BHD-LON-Italy Avios redemption, and you should be able to use the Reward Flight Savers out of BHD.
4. Another way of getting to Rome from Chicago with AA miles is ORD-TXL-FCO on AB. Unlike IB award space, AB award space can be checked at aa.com. If you were to bypass LON on your way to Italy, you could then redeem for Avios Reward Flight Savers Italy-LON-BHD with a free LON stopover, and then fly home from DUB, using either Avios on EI, or AAdvantage miles on AA. (This would avoid the APD problem I mentioned in Point #1.)
5. If you use AA miles to fly back from somewhere in Europe directly to ORD, don't forget about AA's free gateway stopover option. For the same number of miles as Europe-ORD alone, you can get Europe-ORD (lengthy stopover) - Hawaii/Caribbean/Alaska, etc.
Apr 18, 2013, 11:36 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CHI
Posts: 129
Check our (my) prodecure here.
I'd also like to throw out a general nod of appreciation to all who have been kind enough to step up and share your experience with other "dreaded noobs" asking for suggestions. I do understand it can be tiresome (for some more than others) but I'd like to think there's also a bit of satisfaction in knowing that you helped someone out, and it didn't cost you a dime, just a few taps on your keyboard.
I'll head back to lurking on the cruise boards now... Where my offensive noobish glow isn't quite as bright.