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Originally Posted by JumboD
Originally Posted by
tslugmo
Thanks JumboD. Actually the HNL part of the trip is up in the air, we are considering ANC as well (I know, pretty different). However, you bring up a good point. We would be fine having the NAGC be SFO, but that would be BA as well, which is $$. KLM flies AMS-SFO direct but I can't use awards on that. It does give me more LHR BA options though, thanks.
guv1976 I will give that a go next, thanks.
If you're ok with BA metal, then I'd also consider SAN and LAS, both BA-served cities now.
However, the more I think about this the more I think that DFW might be a good choice. AA serves both HNL and ANC from this gateway, the HNL flights are on a 763 instead of a 757 and there are A LOT of European options to DFW. Yes, you'll have to buy a ticket DFW-LAX, but those aren't
that expensive.
The OP is apparently able to get award seats from LHR to LAX (which is his preferred gateway city) on BA; why would he want to fly BA to some other city?
If the OP could find award seats on some carrier other than BA, it might make sense to consider another gateway, like DFW, to save the BA fuel surcharge. But the cost of flying DFW-LAX-DFW would certainly eat up most -- if not all -- of the fuel surcharge being saved (and DFW-LAX-DFW would likely be flown in Coach, which means checked-baggage charges), and would add hours to the trips.
Finally, if I were planning to travel from Southern California to Alaska on an All-Partner award, I would want to fly on AS, not AA. AS offers many more flights to Alaska (via SEA), and the travel time would almost certainly be less than routing via DFW.