AY Using AA Miles
 

Trying to get from DFW to LHR on miles.

I have found J availability from DFW to HEL (AA to JFK and then AY to HEL) for 57.5k miles, and J availability on AY from HEL to LHR for 22k miles.

But aa.com does not show any flights from DFW to LHR with those connections. Is there a way to combine those flights on one ticket and award for 57.5k miles?

Just call AA and see if an agent can combine everything as a single award. That's the only way.

Put DFW-HEL on hold, and then call AA and ask if they can add the HEL-LHR segment for no additional miles.

Curious about this. Can you update how it went for you? Thanks.

Success - Sent a message to AA’s twitter account and they added the flight in less than five minutes.

Did you put DFW-HEL on hold before you sent the twitter DM to AA? Or, did you have them build the DFW-HEL-LHR from scratch?

Congratulations, that’s a brilliant move. Two recommendations: The AY lounge at HEL is great; and if you have or can build in a several hour (or longer) layover in HEL, it’s well worth going into the city, even if just to walk around for a bit. There’s an efficient and inexpensive bus every (I think) 20 minutes.

I put the first leg on hold and then sent the DM to AA.

There's also a train. I don't think it's as cheap as the bus, but it's not like the Arlanda express.

You don't have any status listed on your profile, but if you're OWE, the Platinum wing on the non-schengen side is excellent, and probably my favorite lounge in the world (yes, there are better lounges, but there's something about the nordic style of the lounge that I just appreciate).

Were they able to ticket this for you?

The twitter team added thr HEL - LHR leg and gave me a new PNR covering both flights, which I then ticketed online.

Also keep looking for DFW-LHR and JFK-LHR on your dates in case seats open up at the lower redemption so you can change it and avoid the extra routing.

Is that possible? Doing AY via HEL gets the partner 57.5k rate for J, and avoids the arm and a leg fuel surcharges with BA.

Lots of things are possible. ;)

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bcb78c1797.png

I take that back, wow

And if one has status and can deal with a Main Cabin Extra seat, there's also this option for Economy Class travel on AA:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3e9e2458e8.png

+1

Not sure I would rank it up there with The Pier or The Wing F lounges, or other great lounges, but the Platinum wing is just so nice and relaxing.

This is new to me. Could you explain the logic and rule on how or why this is allowed?

Is it region based, flying from US/North America to anywhere in Europe, using One World partner airlines? For example, could I fly from DFW to MAD on AA, and then from MAD to LHR on IB if I found two separate redemptions, and call AA to get the lower complete redemption for one itinerary?

Yes, a US<>Europe partner award in business class is 57.5k miles regardless of the routing you take*. But many times aa.com will not show each and every routing that may be available as a single award, especially on many that involve HEL connections. So you have to call to have an agent piece it together.

*There are some behind the scenes grey area routing rules which are not worth getting into here, most all "normal" routings are ok. DFW-MAD-LHR is no problem. Going to LHR, it's possible to connect at practically every AA European gateway on a single award, i.e. DFW-FRA-LHR or PHL-ZRH-LHR, etc.

Wow! That is extremely helpful and useful to know. In the past, I've just resigned myself to making two separate bookings, assuming it is what it is. I would assume this also applies to Asia, albeit the correct Asia region?

I've seen 57.5k partner awards for routings like DFW-LHR-EDI, where DFW-LHR is on AA metal, thus no huge surcharge. What I haven't tried it is putting one of those on hold and attempting to change the BA leg, LHR-EDI, to something else, retaining the AA TATL leg.

Generally speaking yes, works the same way in Asia, although some of the behind the scenes grey area routing rules can come into play more. If you see availability on all your segments it's best to first call AA and try to have an agent piece it together. If they can't book it as a single award then come post here and we can troubleshoot.