NJRadioGuy

I'm planning a trip to CPH to visit a friend in autumn 2019, and I'm trying to use my AA miles just for the return segment.
I'm hoping to use my UA miles to get a business class award going EWR-CPH on SAS, which is doable-but-difficult, and I'd like to position myself to fly non-stop HEL-JFK on Finnair, but there's never any availability shown on AY nonstops. I refuse to pay BA's outrageous fees, nor suffer their service. And I'd rather eat my own liver than connect at Heathrow. I don't mind AA metal, but would prefer AY.

Do they simply not allow reward redemptions on that route or is there some other top-secret method for unlocking this nonstop? I don't mind a cheap repositioning flight from CPH but I want the trans-Atlantic journey to be non-stop. Preferably to EWR, but I'll take Kennedy in a pinch.

We spent a wonderful week in Finland and Tallinn last year and I figured it's a short flight from CPH to HEL, so two nights in Helsinki after the visit then home would be ideal.

Maybe a broader question for the forum is where in Europe does actual AA metal fly from JFK or EWR, so I don't have to mess with BA, Iberia, or any other ghastly vestige of IAG.

teemuflyer

It is most likely that AY has not simply yet released any availability for the fall of 2019. If you have some dates in mind, I would recommend that you perhaps open up an ExpertFlyerr account and start monitoring when such inventory might open up. Another option, on AA, and avoiding LHR, is to try to catch a ride from CDG..

UKtravelbear

Can I gently point out that tens of thousands of people connect every day through LHR without the need to eat their livers (or any other body parts).

As to there AA flies to from EWR and JFK I recall there being a rather nice route map on the AA website or check the lists the respective wiki pages for each airport

3Cforme

Finnair's sole HEL-NYC flight goes to JFK, so forget the EWR thing.

You're aware that AA awards don't allow stopovers, right? Stop more than 24 hours in HEL and it's going to price as two awards: CPH-HEL + HEL-NYC.

AA.com shows Business award availability for one passenger at saver level on the HEL-JFK non-stop on 18 of 31 days in October.

nrr

Flying should not be an ordeal. Connecting between T3 and T5 in LHR: lots of walking, taking over-crowded connection busses (which lately are not punctual), going through LHR security (TSA is nice compared to them), some European connections require more bussing to get to the plane a distance from the terminal--except for all of this connecting in LHR is a breeze.

NJRadioGuy

Yes, I know about AY only going to Kennedy. I was thinking "if I have to connect, can I connect to EWR instead."
But I think you might have missed the part about the outbound (NYC-CPH) being on SAS, using my United miles. This request is strictly for the return, and I'm not looking for a J reward on the way back, so long as I can get a premium economy or "more legroom" seat I'm fine for a day flight back. I am looking for space for both my wife and myself, so two seats, not one. Don't mind paying cash for the upgrade from steerage to econ+ or whatever it's called on the carrier I'll ultimately use.

I have about 225k AA miles at the moment, mostly saved from when we lived in Queens and LGA was our closest airport. Now I live in NJ, close to EWR, so using those AA miles is more problematic. I only fly NA<>Europe now, and my UA balance is low, so I'm trying to figure out how to use AA miles without being funneled to IAG's products. I keep running into a wall trying to find AA's own-metal destinations between NYC and Europe (preferably northern Europe, since that's where I generally need to fly).

Ordeal is a good word for Heathrow. I connected from PRG<>JFK with a 6 hour layover in T3 (BA to AA) earlier this year; I vowed never again. I walk with a cane and the distances involved are beyond the pale. I especially appreciated the poncy jobsworth in the men's lavatory scolding me for filling up my water bottle from the sink at 8:30am, insisting I purchase water instead (at Ł4.50 for a small bottle). I told him to go do something quite impossible, and kept filling. I agree with you on LHR security. Atrocious, rude, and far more invasive than anything I've run across in any Europe or U.S. airport. And why I had to go through a full security screening while connecting airside in the same terminal I found quite baffling. Because Rules, that's why. Not particularly a fan of CDG either, to be honest, but it's certainly less worse than LHR. And don't get me started on BA itself. If I wanted Ryanair-level service I'd have flown Ryanair. I vastly prefer easyJet within Europe over BA.

JDiver

Let’s try to keep this thread focused on securing two award seats NYC-CPH, and providing the necessary information - e.g. two seats are sought. Thousands of members have connected in LHR, and survived quite well. There are threads on LHR and connecting there as well.

Moderator

I’d look at AA flights via PHL to AMS, etc. (see Innosked link below) as well as AY via HEL. (23:59 is the maximum connecting time allowed on international awards, so a leisurely two day trip to Tallin is out of the question for a single award; more rules in HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance, where this will ultimately be merged.)

Innosked oneworld interactive route map and schedule here.

enviroian

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NJRadioGuy

Gents and ladies, while I do appreciate the replies, I'd respectfully request you re-read my question. My outbound leg from NYC to CPH is covered using miles from a different program. This will be two separate award flights; one using United Miles flying SAS metal, which I'm not having a problem with at the moment, and the other using American miles which is why I'm posting in this forum. I'm having problems finding a way home using AA miles.

Non-stop is preferred, from Helsinki to NYC as my first choice, using AY metal. There just doesn't seem to be any availability for that flight from Sept. 15th through Oct. 15th (the range I'm looking at at the moment). Failing that, the least-painful non-LHR connection from either CPH, ARN, HEL or other close-in airport, using AA miles for an economy-plus or premium economy seat (gladly paying the differential in cash between main cabin and premium).

My hoped-for itinerary is EWR->CPH (again, using my UA miles on SAS metal), visit our friend for 4 nights, catch a one hour puddle jumper (cash-fare) CPH to HEL, one night in Helsinki, ferry across to Tallinn for an overnight, ferry back, train to Vantaa, then back to JFK. It's the last part that's giving me fits at the moment.

Thanks again.

craz

I believe that BA is the only OW carrier that flys into EWR, so that leaves PHL or JFK but JFK is very limited from Europe nowadays on AA and you dont want BA, so that pretty much leaves AY or IB or if available flying on Qatar.but thats flying way out of the way if they even fly to HEL. PHL isnt much better. Truth is *A and ST are best for European travel

If it must be AA miles then Id look into AY to a city AA flys into (besides LHR) in Europe and connect on AA back to JFK or PHL

JDiver

Unfortunately, AA doesn’t allow Premium Economy awards at this time. Though there’s speculation they might after all widebodies (other than the soon to be retired 767-300ER and A330-300), at this time only economy (“Main Cabin”), Business and First are possible (and true First internationally is only available on the few 777-300ER / 77W).

Using the Innosked tool canreveal routes that might be available to you. Flexibility is key in securing the recently more restricted MileSAAver awards.

NJRadioGuy

Earlier this year I booked a coach/main cabin ticket on AA from LHR to JFK, paid for the seat upgrade to a better seat and was pleasantly surprised by their new premium economy cabin. To be honest, for 7 or 8 hours during a daylight hours trip, I'm fine in a coach seat with extra legroom. True PE would be great but not essential, and i would rather use business class for NYC to Europe overnight.

It seems as if the big market that everybody is concerned about is from the USA to Asia, which I have no intention of ever flying -- my interests are purely European destinations. I have a few miles on UA left after this trip, and a bunch of Chase Unlimited Rewards points (living near EWR means that's my preferred airport and points ecosystem). The problem is I have a ton of AA miles left over from years past with seemingly no way to use them now. Whenever I look for any sort of trans-Atlantic trip out of NYC, unless I'm flying to London I just can't find any availability on AA metal. And like I said earlier, I simply refuse to pay the extortionate awards fees and fuel surcharges for BA. I guess the big question is, what use are AAdvantage miles for the NYC-Europe market, and should I just use them for domestic business-first trips instead? I find short haul a waste of miles, quite frankly.

NJRadioGuy

Well if you go back up to the top of the thread, that's precisely what I'm trying to accomplish. AY into JFK, using AA miles, two coach seats together (with hopefully the option to pay for an upgrade), in the Sept-Oct. 2019 timeframe. There seems to be zero availability on any date using AA's website. I came here to find out if there's any kind of tricks I need to try to obtain space.

As for PHL, that's a hard no. I live in northern NJ, about a half hour from NYC and less to EWR. I'd be looking at a ridiculous ground transportation option coming home at the end. Going in to Kennedy isn't too bad--take AirTrain and the LIRR, then NJT train and Uber home. Either way works well. PHL would be considerably longer and more expensive. Not going to do it after having been up for hours and coming off a long flight. Looking at Google Maps, it's about 4 hours total travel time across 3 trains and 2 buses. Yeah, no thanks

Yes, flying on United or their codeshare partners is my ideal way to/from Europe, however my points balance is just enough for a single one-way flight in Business on a codeshare partner (70k). I'm pretty well empty after that, so I have to resort to AA or pay cash.

JJeffrey

If you're simply not willing to connect at LHR then your options on AA and partners to Europe become very, very limited, especially to the secondary cities. This is the same coming from anywhere in the US, not just NYC.

Two coach seats from Europe to NYC will be an absolute cinch to find at pretty much anytime of the year outside of May-Aug, and even then there can be lots of availability depending on how flexible. But refusing to connect in LHR will severely limit your options. Award space on the AY HEL-JFK nonstop is typically easy to find, just give it time, you're barely inside the 331 day booking window for a lot of next fall.

And just to be clear, using BA for only the shorthaul LHR-Europe segment, your taxes and fees will be MUCH less than when you use BA for the longhaul portion. Searching CPH-NYC, on the first random date I clicked on in Oct. 2019 there was a great BA/AA routing CPH-LHR-JFK, 2 seats readily available in economy for 30k miles + $80 each in taxes/fees. I would jump all over that.

NJRadioGuy

I connected as you suggested in June, coming from Prague. I think it was $120 or so, but still reasonable. The 6-hour ordeal at Heathrow is not something I want to repeat, however. HEL is a civilized airport and any time I needed to go through it I have had great luck. Ditto KEF. Like JFK or EWR, I find LHR to be just too much to deal with in my old age unless I have absolutely no other recourse.

As for being just barely inside the 331 day period, I assumed (possibly incorrectly??) that that's the only way to book award space on a route like this. I figured that it would be snapped up at 5am the morning it opened. So what is the typical window to find award space on that AY non-stop to Kennedy? I don't want to leave it too late and have to push the trip back a year.