As I write this, I have relatives on their way to visit family in Geneva, flying TLH-MIA-MAD-GVA.

Their return trip was originally going to be GVA-MAD-MIA-TLH, however, about a week out from the trip, AA re-routed them--their return trip is now GVA-LHR-MIA-TLH.

I'll be making this trip myself in May, and I have one concern: I refuse to go through a NoS, full stop. I can currently fly in the USA, since you can always opt-out, however, at UK airports with the NoS (LHR), opting out is apparently not an option (unless you don't want to fly today).

Obviously, I do not want to get DY...Ted in the UK and have to get home on a one-way, last-minute flight from Paris. Therefore, I do not want to book a flight where there exists the possibility, as AA did to my relatives, of being re-routed through LHR (or any other UK airport) as a last-minute surprise.

With this in mind, are there any airlines that I should avoid or seek out?

A quick check with orbitz.com shows me that AA (or IB via codeshare) would do TLH-MIA-MAD-GVA, then MAD-MIA-TLH. Looking at what AA/IB did to my relatives, that's probably an no. (Side note: I'll be flying into GVA and back home from MAD. I have family in both these cities and will get from Geneva to Madrid by train).

UA can do it, but coming home would be four flights (MAD-BRU-IAD-TPA-TLH), arriving in TPA at 0010 and departing at 1010. No thanks. :-D

US can do TLH-CLT-FRA-GVA, then home via MAD-PHL-CLT-TLH; that's looking like my best option now.

Sorry to sound like such a brat here. :-)

Thanks!