Originally Posted by
Adam1222
I said likely, not always. Given the number of one world transatlantic gateways served out of TXL by other OW carriers (3) v. Those served by AB (6), and the difference in frequencies, I stand by that.
OK, but I also stand by my strong belief that most people who are flying to TXL, using AA miles and not using AB are not going to be flying the 1 DfW-FRA flight, or the 1 JFK-ZRH flight, or the 1 PHL-MUC flight, or the 1 PHL-FCO flight (2 in the summer when there is a CLT-FCO flight) but rather the over twenty flights a day to London on AA/BA or the more than handful of flights to MAD on AA/IB. Of course AB connects TXL to more cities, but in terms of the largest OW gateways, there are other choices such that the loss of AB award space is not detrimental to those who wish to connect in my opinion.
I think perhaps the bigger problem with AB not being available is when one needs to fly between cities on the continent and going through LHR, MAD, or HEL (which are on the "edges") would add a lot of extra time.