redfrog

I am going to northern/central Germany this summer to visit friends. Is it better to fly into Amsterdam or Frankfurt on AA? The location I am visiting is the same distance from both airports. Advantages of one over the other? United Airlines also flies to these destinations from another nearby airport in the US. Should I skip AA and fly UA? I haven't flown on either airline in a long time. Thanks for any thoughts, advice, tips.

JJeffrey

For all intents and purposes there's no difference in flying AA to FRA or AMS, other than the city you may have to connect through.

How are you getting from the airport to your final destination?

While your final destination may be equidistant from both FRA and AMS, if you're taking the train then the connections may not be equal. I would fly into whatever airport offers the best/easiest connections to wherever youre going in Germany, be it by train or car, etc.

And as to UA vs. AA, assuming you're just talking about economy class then I'd take whichever offers the quickest and easiest connections. You don't say where you're starting from so it's hard to offer much advice in that regard.

guv1976

Is there a closer airport to your final destination than AMS or FRA? Both AA and UA have alliance partners which might enable you to fly closer to your final destination.

redfrog

One of my friends lives near Minden, Germany. They are planning on driving to pick me up from whatever airport I fly into. I couldn't see that Minden had an airport. I think there are trains/buses that will go to Minden from either airport when looking at Eurail/ Google maps.

Also what are the names of these Alliance partners? thanks!

aztimm

On the map, it looks like Minden is close to Hanover. You could fly BA through LHR to HAJ (the code for Hanover). It will likely be much closer for your friend than either AMS or FRA.

Your FT profile doesn't list where you are from, but BA flies to more places in the US, which could mean an easier trip overall. I'd much rather fly BA from AUS than deal with AA through DFW or another other hub.

redfrog

I dont live close to any airports. Wichita or Kansas City are probably the closest airports (still hours away) and none have direct flights to anywhere in Europe.

guv1976

AA is a member of the oneworld alliance, whose European members are BA, Finnair, and Iberia. UA is a member of Star Alliance, which has many European members, including Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss International, LOT Polish, and Brussels Airlines. But you needn't worry about those details: If you prefer to fly into Hannover, just select Hannover (HAJ) as your destination airport when you search for flights on aa.com or united.com. The search engines will display available routings and fares. Note that, because HAJ does not have trans-Atlantic flights, flying into HAJ will require at least two connections from your home airport.

Are you close to Hays, Manhattan, or Salina? Each of those airports has service on either AA or UA.

SWCPHX

How difficult is it to get to to DEN? UA flies non stop DEN-FRA.

cvision

Fly into HAM or DUS (or even CGN). Both have quite decent rail connections if public transit is important (and from DUS there's a Regional train that goes straight to Minden iirc, maybe with one connection in Dortmund).
I've never flown into Hanover, it's close so if you're being picked up fine. I'd personally not fly into such a small regional-ish exotic like that, for peace of mind.

Whether you do the above with oneworld partners AA/BA (e.g. XXX-CLT/JFK/PHL/ORD-LHR-DUS/HAM/CGN) or star alliance UA/LH (e.g. XXX-DEN/ORD/EWR-FRA/MUC-DUS/HAM/CGN) is a matter of what the price looks like. If it's *A and the connection goes through FRA, then you might also just get the train ticket to QKL (Cologne) or QDU (Dusseldorf) issued as part of the ticket. Similarly, if things go sideways and you end up in FRA missing your connecting flights, LH can issue train tickets for you to complete your journey.

Amsterdam I'd not recommend. If you have to go to/from Minden by public transit it's probably going to be a nightmare.

IADCAflyer

Yeah, you don't necessarily have to do AMS or FRA. DUS and HAJ are both closer and have some service on 1W carriers.

Fom a fare perspective my experience is that AMS is a bit more of a tourist market than is FRA and that the fares to AMS are, on average, a bit lower than FRA.

guv1976

If the OP is credit-worthy and will be flying Economy Class, he might be able to do a MCI-FRA roundtrip very cheaply. Barclays is currently offering 60,000 AA miles after one purchase of any amount, and is waiving the first-year annual fee:

https://www.applyaviator.com/

Here's a Summertime roundtrip for 61,000 AA miles plus $149 in fees:

travelingdrsuz

MCI (Kansas City) has direct and easy flights to Chicago (ORD) so you might want to search for ORD to HAJ, which may be the easiest. or MCI-HAJ. That will get you AA codeshares on BA. I would actually use Google Flights for this. The reason I suggest ORD is that it's sometimes easier to take a positioning flight to the airport. With many flights each day from MCI to ORD, that can help the search. I fly this route sometimes, and it's a quick and easy flight. I am for searching all options and choosing the best routing: Time, price, etc.

notquiteaff

There is nothing really small or exotic about HAJ. It’s the 8th largest airport (by pax count) in Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...rts_in_Germany

If connecting somewhere in Europe anyway (as you would if flying to DUS, HAM, or CGN), HAJ would be a much more convenient option for onward travel (to/from Minden).

(for the record, I have a flight back to the US booked for later next year that takes me from HAJ to LHR on BA and then onwards to LAS. And I have flown in/out of HAJ several times in the past).

As for UA vs. AA… does the OP have any status with either carrier or alliance or existing mileage balances that could be added to or utilized? I suspect not (based on the nature of the questions).

returnoftheyeti

Kansas City —>Toronto —> Frankfurt —> Hanover, or some variation of this.

Flying AC out of Kansas City is the best option so you don't have to connect in the states.

Ilove2fly

With Google flights you can enter Kansas City or Wichita KS as the origination city. Minden Germany, FRA, and AMS as the destinations. Google flight will show the choice of routes and cheapest destination. If you are not tied to an airlines, choose to the destination and route suite you the best.