Originally Posted by
guv1976
OK. Keep in mind that if you use the RDU-LHR or LHR-RDU flight when going to or from PAR, you can make RDU your "gateway" stopover. So for 20K per person, you can get a MileSAAver award LAS-DFW/ORD/JFK-RDU (stopover) - RDU-LHR (or RDU-LHR-CDG/ORY, with the last segment on BA).
Or on the return, CDG/ORY-LHR-RDU (stopover) - Hawaii/California/Caribbean, etc., later on, all for 20K one way.
I've been trying to figure out how to work something like that in. I did retail tix RDU-ORD-LAS/LAS-ORD-RDU for the Vegas flights because I had $100 fare coupons to use. So the award tix are not in that mix. I should have about 260k or so AA miles. I do have to get 5 folks to CDG from RDU, but would happily follow some one-way award strategy like you laid out for 2 of those folks to get another trip out of it.
I think that would be 5 tix RDU->CDG (via LHR if necessary) for 100k, then 3 tix from CDG->RDU for 60k + 2 tix CDG->Somewhere else fun for 40k + 2 tix from that fun place back to RDU for 40k. That totals 240k points which is imminently doable.
I've very new to this game (really only started in May), so any advice on how to book that sort of thing would be greatly appreciated!