BMGfan

Hey folks,

Currently there's two people booked on two PNRs intra-europe J on LH, LHR-FRA-MXP. Would I save money after paying the $90 to switch to LX LHR-ZRH-MXP?

At the time we booked LX wasn't open in J, and now it's WIIIIIIIDE open. Also just to confirm you CAN transit a city twice as long as it's once in each direction right? MXP is our point of turnaround. intra-europe route is inbound-LHR-XXX-MXP-ZRH-outbound.

There's also an LX flight leaving LCY in the evening getting into MXP later than we'd like (but not terrible), would the taxes be significantly lower than ex-LHR?

Any advice is much appreciated

scotchmeup

typical intra europe J on either LH or LX is pretty spartan, effectively economy with a blocked middle seat: LX does have slight better pitch 34 vs 30 but same width and somewhat enhanced service
I wouldn't spend extra to change unless you have a widebody option vs the Airbus320 etc
Flew both this summer and wasn't much to distinguish IMO.
Cant speak to the taxes but a call to aeroplan would likely clear that up if you cant see on website.

Ontario

You will find that intra Europe, most people tend to fly in Y. The seats are the same, you will only have the advantage of sitting in the front rows and the middle seat empty, and the food/drink selection is better.

Have taken many flights in Y on both LH and LX. In C only if it was the connecting flight to a longhaul in business. This past summer booked a couple of intra-European legs on LH in C as awards - only because I needed to travel on specific times of the day and that was the only way to get on those flights without paying fantasy prices.

In general, the food on LX is better than on LH, other than that, not much of a difference in the cabin. It's pretty irrelevant on such a short flight, I would always go with who offers the better times.

Since I redeemed LH M&M points, cannot comment on redeeming Aeroplan points and rules in Europe.

tng11

Meh, European J is pretty much the same across the board.

You'll probably get some scamcharges back for moving to LX. Besides, transiting in ZRH is better than FRA as far as I've heard.

echino

The only real business class within Europe is on MAN-MUC SQ flight (you may even find availability there), and some TK flights. Other are just economy seats, not worth paying extra miles.

BMGfan

Thanks folks,

we're only booking intra europe J because we're flying J over the pond, so we're entitled to J intra europe.

I'm only really thinking of changing because transiting zrh would be nicer than fra. but it only makes sense if the scamcharge refund from the YQ is more than than the $90 change fee.

I guess I'll give them a call tonight and see...

yycworldtraveler

Unfortunately you are unlikely to get an answer from AE. IME agents can't or won't give you the new taxes and fees unless you go ahead and actually change your booking.

If you want to try and guess yourself, just use the AE search engine for LHR-MXP roundtrip selecting LH, and then half the YQ to give you the one way YQ charge.

tng11

I wouldn't put too much weight on the number by segments, as AP seems to pull the YQ out of their rear-ends when there are multiple segments involved.

Especially since the OP is starting from NA - the YQ is not always exactly NA-Europe + intra-Europe YQ. His YQ might not even change at all.

yycworldtraveler

All quite true...that why I said "try and guess". Trying to guess the YQ number that AE will pull out of thin air on itineraries with both YQ chargeable and non-YQ chargeable airlines is almost impossible.

Another factor to consider is if the OP booked these tickets months ago, TATL YQ or any other YQ that is part of the itinerary may have gone up, and any change involves a full recalculation of taxes and fees.

I recently changed cabins on a short Tap flight (part of a mini RTW J award) from Y to J when space opened. I was charged another $30+/ticket in YQ.

sp4294

Check you flights with Matrix and you will get an idea of YQ. Changing to LX will cut your YQ in half at least over LH. Should be more than $90 if two people. UK APD should be the same from LCY vs LHR.