I would like to attend a conference in Berlin that runs May 21-25, 2001. While I don't actually have a travelling companion yet, I might be able to scrape one up (either personal acquaintance who wants a trip to Berlin, or a business acquaintance who wants to attend the conference).

A quick look on travelocity.ca ("all airlines") only suggests one itinerary: Ottawa-Heathrow-Berlin, the European segment on BA. My guess is that any other itinerary would be three-segments, i.e. there are no flights into Berlin from a North American hub that also serves Ottawa (the usual Boston, Newark, Chicago, Detroit, etc.)

I really know nothing about AC in Europe, but I'm guessing my only other choice would be Ottawa-Toronto-Frankfurt(-Berlin?).

Clearly the Amex Companion Certificate is only going to get me as far as an AC destination in Europe. But are there any other reasonable alternatives, such as a train from Frankfurt to Berlin?

And AC's site only offers "J" options on two dates I picked somewhat a random. Is it likely that they _never_ have C on that route, and therefore I'm not going to use the cert anyway?

[While I'm at it, am I the only one who finds Travelocity's decisions incredibly stupid? Apart from offering Economy when Business Class is not available on an American-carrier two-class plane, when I ask for YOW-FRA, the only eastbound suggestions it makes are through Boston and Dulles! Admittedly it suggests Toronto coming back. AC suggests one through YYZ and one through YUL.]

Thanks!
andrew