John69

Dear all,

I have 70.000 miles in my AAdvantage account. I could also tranfer 125k Marriott Rewards points into another 50k AAdvantage miles (total= 120k)

I am undertaking a trip to Chicago & Los Angeles in Feb '06.

My questions:
1) How many segments can I fly on a single award ticket in business class ?
Is the following possible:
11 feb: BRU-LAX (
14 feb: LAX-ORD
17 feb: ORD-BRU
Would this cost me the 90k miles on J as posted on the site ?

2) Is it worth forking out additional miles for an F-award ? How is the intercontinental F-class compared to J ?

I also have another 110k miles on Lufthansa, but don't see how I could spend them in a useful way on this trip.

All tips & hints are welcome !

John

PresRDC

You should be able to do that routing as a standard AA award.

Your routing options would be:

BRU-ORD-LAX-ORD-BRU

or

BRU-JFK-LAX-ORD-BRU

A stopover in ORD on the return would be permitted.

As for whether to go for First Class, keep in mind that AA does not offer First Class to BRU. Both the ORD and JFK flights are operated by 767-300ERs, which only have First and Business Class. To fly in First Class, you would have to connect in LHR or FRA. The J class service on the 767-300ERs is quite good, but the seats are much nicer in F.

acf573

Check out the sticky at the top of the forum for routing rules for award tickets. As PresRDC says, your itinerary should be fine and you could even add another stopover if you wanted.

Your best bet is to make sure that your international legs are the longest ones as int'l J/F is much nicer than domestic F. Well, the AFS JFK-LAX is pretty nice too in J/F. So I would suggest BRU-JFK-LAX or BRU-LHR-LAX with the non-stops on LAX-ORD and ORD-BRU (or ORD-LHR-BRU if you want to fly in F).

If you want to use your LH miles, I don't see why you can't. You can use UA and US for the domestic-US portions of the trip.

andrzej

The other options are:

Through LHR either with SN or BA and connect to a non-stop AA with 3 class service to LAX.

flying BA through city in Canada (BRU-LHR-YYV-LAX), but it will be an extra connection and possible PITA.

I believe you can still book Swiss through Zurich, and from there it may be a direct, non-stop to LAX. (not sure about that).

If you are going with AA, BRU-ORD/ORD-BRU, then business is the way to go, but be aware that the ORD-LAX-ORD segments will be in coach with a business award.

justageek

Whenever I've booked Business (U) international awards, the domestic segments have always been in First (Z). Is this a new policy?

andrzej

I could be, or maybe I'm wrong , but I was under the impression that int. business class award ticket books into domestic Y.

I've never done it myself, (always F ), so I'll step aside and let others confirm/deny.......

BlassSJU

Intl Business Class Tickets book into domestic F.

Fly AA J all the way

I would do the F award and go BRU-LHR-LAX. I would do that for several reasons. First, you will have the connection at the beginning, while you are still wide awake. Second, you will have the longest part of the flight by far on the nicest plane, in the nicest seat. You will also not have to worry about connecting at JFK or ORD, which can be no fun, especially if there are weather problems. Also, if you don't mind a connection on the ride home, and are willing to go through LHR again, you can get F on the 777 also. This is a much nicer way to sleep than J on the 763. If you hate flying overnight, the way I do, you will have the option of going to LHR on the morning flight out of ORD, spending the night there, and going back to BRU rested in the morning.

yellow77

It's possible you're thinking of awards on AA using QF points: J awards there book into Y for the domestic segments if the premium class is called 'First' (but not if it is called 'Business'). Other OW airlines may have the same idea; I don't know.

Another disadvantage of the QF program, quite apart from the inordinate price of awards.

ajacpril

A minor clarification - dom 2 class F or dom 3 class J.

azmmza

i would fly on a F award and do bru-lhr-lax-ord (stop)-lhr-bru

i think that the 35K mile premium for F is well worth it

alect

Although I agree with most of the reasons set out above, I would remind you that LHR-LAX is a daytime flight and not a good one to get a good sleep on (mainly because sleeping through it will not adjust you to time zones etc..). If you are able to switch the order around of ORD and LAX I would recommend doing LAX-LHR-BRU as the LAX-LHR is a night flight and much better to sleep on.

Fly AA J all the way

I still think the availability of a day flight ORD-LHR makes this the best option. Why rely on sleep on a plane when you don't have to, and have the Sheraton Skyline waiting at LHR for you with open arms? LAX-LHR has no daytime option, so it is second, IMO to ORD-LHR.

acf573

Why spend $150+ on a hotel room when you don't have to?

To the OP, I agree that if you can swap the order of LAX/ORD, that probably makes the most sense as you can get the nice long LAX-LHR to sleep on. Red-eyes from the East Coast are too short, but West Coast ain't bad. Then your routing would be BRU-ORD (or BRU-LHR-ORD if in F), ORD-LAX, LAX-LHR-BRU.

BlassSJU

That's right:

International J Ticket = Domestic F (2 class), domestic J (3 class - mostly transcons), Caribbean J

International F Ticket = Domestic F (2 class), domestic P/F (3 class on transcons), Caribbean J