Lack of direct flights to Europe during Off Peak Season
 

Been searching for flights to Europe and I am not sure if this is on purpose, but there are no direct flights from PHL to many European destinations (LIS/BCN as example) from end of October through end of March.

Is this normal? Award redemption is terrible as it is all on partner metal and subject to the surcharges. Except PHL-MAD on AA metal but with 135k miles pp for flagship business.

Can anyone shed light on this? Sorry if this should have been asked elsewhere.

AA initially discontinued lots of non-stops from JFK to most European destinations (except to LHR), forcing pax to connect via PHL; now that they are killing the PHL market is not too surprising, this is the "new" AA.
I quit AA for DL months ago and have had no regrets. By the time AA realizes they've lost a big chunk of the northeast market it will be too late to woo that market back.

Have we considered the possibility that they suspend flights during the slow season because they can't sell enough tickets to make those flights profitable?

I believe you answered your own question in the title of the thread ... “Off Peak”

PHL has year round flights to DUB, MAN, LHR, AMS, CDG, MAD, FCO and ZRH. Everything else only operates in the summer and that is not something new.

You can get BCN service from JFK and MIA--those are LAA routes with relatively strong year round demand.

The typical NE market to Europe could care less if they connect at JFK, or EWR, or PHL, other than the NYC market. Further, AA's PHL European portfolio has changed little,except for tweaking, since before the JFK downsizing. OTOH, AA/JFK has Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Paris, London and Rome. It's called NYC greed - take away a NYC dime out of their billions, and they feel picked on. :D:D

This isn’t a recent phenomenon, it’s been that way for the past 20 years that I’ve been flying to the EU year round. The way I get around it is to fly into major cities like Rome, Madrid or Paris then either take a train or book a European LCC flight separately to my final destination. Sometimes, I book with a foreign carrier.

Bingo. Assuming the pilots aren’t on strike, you can get pretty much anywhere in Europe on a BA flight out of LHR with lots of alternative options. Yes, LHR is often more expensive and upgrades aren’t as common compared with other routes, but you can be guaranteed there’s a flight going to your final destination from London.

Thanks all for the insight! Might try and push the trip a little to snag an award flight with more availability

Not true. DC based and use United to avoid connections.

Every airline does this. It is nothing exclusive to American. Outside of Miami, demand to Europe from the United States is insanely seasonal and airlines adjust capacity accordingly. AA's Miami-Europe network is the only one that runs entirely year-round.

This is a handy wiki that I reference for AA direct flights to Europe. It has an asterisk by the ones that are seasonal. To your point the service is decreased dramatically during the winter. Take a look at Chicago for example.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ess-seats.html