All-Partner award - choose a stopover city?
Jul 3, 2008, 12:18 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 4
All-Partner award - choose a stopover city?
I am considering to redeem air ticket with All-Partner award.
SFO -> PRG (open jaw) FRA -> SFO
Checking from aa.com, most PRG flights from SFO have stop over at London. I would prefer to skip London but stop over either Paris or Rome. Do you think it is possible to pick your stop over city ?
Thanks!
SFO -> PRG (open jaw) FRA -> SFO
Checking from aa.com, most PRG flights from SFO have stop over at London. I would prefer to skip London but stop over either Paris or Rome. Do you think it is possible to pick your stop over city ?
Thanks!
Jul 4, 2008, 3:52 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: AA LTP 2MM, Marriott/SPG Rabid Plat w/Ambassador, HHonors Gold
Posts: 696
If you can find a AA or partner routing that connects in Paris or Rome, it shouldn't be a problem at all to stopover in one of those cities, if you can find partner award availability. But you are still going to have to connect (but not stopover) through LHR (or Barcelona, Madrid, or Helsinki, or other partner airline hub city) to get to PRG, since AFAIK there are no OneWorld or AA partner airlines that fly direct from Paris or Rome to PRG.
Jul 4, 2008, 8:54 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: STL
Programs: AA 2MM, AS MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,966
I believe that the stopover must be in an International Gateway city (either the first or last city that you connect in before leaving or returning to the U.S.). If you can find a routing that goes directly from the U.S. to CDG, or from CDG-U.S., you can have the stopover.
Try SFO -> CDG - PRG (with the CDG-PRG segment on Malev).
Try SFO -> CDG - PRG (with the CDG-PRG segment on Malev).
Jul 5, 2008, 2:39 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2002
Programs: AA (Exec Plat), UAL (Premier Exec), SPG (Platinum), Hyatt (Diamond), Marriott (Plat), Hertz (Prez)
Posts: 151
i find the easiest way to do this is to talk to an agent over the phone - the online functionality is probably a lot more limited than what agents can look at, and they should be able to tell you if one of the other stopover routes will work. i'd also suggest, if the agent you talk to doesn't seem very competent (sometimes you can tell over the phone), try calling again - not all agents are created equal.
Jul 6, 2008, 10:12 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,898
Have you looked into MA as your carrier FRA-PRG-FRA? This way you can fly on AA into FRA via ORD or DFW and avoid LHR completely
Jul 6, 2008, 4:13 pm
#6
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Without searching more extensively, other reasonable ways of getting to PRG using AA / oneworld partners would include via MAD (IB - one way to get there is SFO-ORD-MAD using AA and IB,) HEL (AY,) BRU (SN) or BUD (MA.) (I believe from FRA or CDG using MA you would have to connect via BUD or AY via HEL; you could use AA partner SN CDG-BRU-PRG.)
BRU is a relatively short (1 hr 22 min) train ride on the high speed Thalys TGV from Paris... connecting from a train (departing every 20 minutes) from BRU to Brussels Gare du Midi to Thalys.
FCO is a bit more difficult, IMO, as most of the apparent MA and SN flights are actually codeshares operated by Alitalia, leaving IB via MAD.
*Information from OAG.
BRU is a relatively short (1 hr 22 min) train ride on the high speed Thalys TGV from Paris... connecting from a train (departing every 20 minutes) from BRU to Brussels Gare du Midi to Thalys.
FCO is a bit more difficult, IMO, as most of the apparent MA and SN flights are actually codeshares operated by Alitalia, leaving IB via MAD.
*Information from OAG.
Last edited by JDiver; Jul 6, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Jul 6, 2008, 7:48 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
I am not sure you would want to fly MA, if you can find other ways.
I have an itinerary that I contempt to fly MA. Then from a casual encounter I have a chance to talk to a lady whose husband is from Hungary. They make at least 2 trips to Hungary each year to visit the husband's elderly parents and his siblings. She has told me many horror stories flying MA... That definitely has an effect on my thought about using MA.
OTOH, we were pleasantly surprised by IB's services in our recent trip, despite the IB agent at BCN was a totally indifferent employee with an attitude. The flights itself, were totally pleasant and on time. Lounges were decent and lounge staff provided good services.
I have an itinerary that I contempt to fly MA. Then from a casual encounter I have a chance to talk to a lady whose husband is from Hungary. They make at least 2 trips to Hungary each year to visit the husband's elderly parents and his siblings. She has told me many horror stories flying MA... That definitely has an effect on my thought about using MA.
OTOH, we were pleasantly surprised by IB's services in our recent trip, despite the IB agent at BCN was a totally indifferent employee with an attitude. The flights itself, were totally pleasant and on time. Lounges were decent and lounge staff provided good services.
Jul 6, 2008, 10:06 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Sacramento, CA
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hyatt,Marriott,BA,AS
Posts: 4,425
If you'd like to spend some time in Paris, stopover in LHR and just buy a cheap roundtrip ticket from LHR-CDG. BA sells it for about $120.