CherylD

Hi all,

I am trying to book tickets for my family to Ireland to attend a clan gathering. It was my bright idea and now everyone is excited to go. I foolishly assumed that I would be able to find award tickets. We need 4, I am fine with 4 business, or 2 business and 2 coach.

First, I called BA to fly EI. I checked flying out of ORD, BOS, CLT, and she also checked New York. They have one seat from ORD-DUB in coach on 6/25...but that is it. BA has availability to fly ORD-LHR. But she couldn't get me to DUB from LHR - plus the fees are too high.

I tried AA -only anytime awards available at 60K each in coach, no saver availability in any class. I only tried out of ORD.

I can get home using UA miles on 6/30 - I was able to see 2 saver seats in coach. But I can not select seats, it tells me that we 'need to see an airport agent during check-in to receive your seat assignment.'

US Air has availability at 120K r/t.

I have 1.3m AA miles between DH and myself. 400K United. 230K US Air. 80K BA. 250K MR and about 200K UR points.

Before I throw in the towel, I thought I would see if I was missing something obvious to others and not to me. :-o

Thanks in advance!

FlyingTrojan

For AA I'd call them and look at availability to dus or mad and the grab connections on airberlin or Iberia. Or buy a cheap connecting ticket.

CherylD

Thanks - no availability on either of those options. :-(

tom911

Can you get to London? You can do rail/ferry from London Euston to the Dublin ferryport for 38 pounds/$61. Downside is that the trip takes over 8 hours.

FlyingTrojan

I've also done the rail/ferry option. It was an interesting experience that is novel once but it really is a long journey.

tom911

Doesn't UA (former CO) fly into Belfast still? That's an easy 3 hour bus or train ride down to Dublin if you can get that far. Did you ask about it?

NewbieRunner

AA to MAN, then EI to DUB?

philemer

Try snn (Shannon). Check every day online.

CherylD

Thank you for the replies and ideas!

First, I am trying to avoid LHR due to the fees. We don't have a lot of time for travel as both of my 'kids' are working now. So the goal is to get there within a reasonable amount of time.

I asked BA about flying to MAN - no availability...but didn't try AA. I will check on that today.

Yes, I definitely tried SNN - that would be closer actually to our destination in Ireland. All full there as well.

Sounds like I shouldn't give up though. I will keep trying for the next few weeks before moving on to another destination that will hopefully please everyone.

I read on the UA forum that there seems to be a recent(within the last 2 days) issue with saver award space disappearing. Hopefully this is a glitch that will be fixed.

CaptRobPhD

You should avoid all UK airports (LHR/MAN/EDI/BHX/GLA) if you're going to go directly from one back to the US as they've all got substantial fees when not 'connecting' through. If you want to avoid serious $$, you need to avoid award travel on BA. A little flexibility in June sched? Out on 23rd and back anyday for 90k -- four adults (MAN has same availability). Sorry, I'm a OW peep so I can't help along the other airlines. With 1.3 MM on AA, those are kinda a heavy burden-- aside from me taking some off your hands why don't you just use 1/4 of them (or 1/6) and grab 2 anytime biz and 2 anytime coach on way over and use your UA on the way back? There are PLENTY of awards, you'll just have to decide of the clan trip is worth a little more of your 1.3MM. One last thought, if the 'kids' are tied to work schedule and you are not, why not just stagger the return awards?

CherylD

Thanks CaptRobPhd, I was hoping for us all to travel together (as part of our very limited 'family time'), but I am open to splitting up if need be. I don't see anything open on AA on the 23rd besides connections in LHR. Was the availability on another airline?

I am trying to avoid connecting at LHR due to the fees. We have a lot of travel plans in the near future, so I am hesitant to burn through our stash to the degree of 4 AAnytime awards, but I will keep that in my back pocket. :-)

Thanks again!!

CherylD

Hi, I just upgraded to a Platinum Amex and when I was on the phone the representative mentioned that I could redeem my MR points for airline travel and I would receive 20% back. Looking at availability on their site, it seems that I could get 2 coach seats on non-stop EI flights for 80,000 points each(with the discount). That is actually as good as transferring them to BA(except for the 20% current bonus) to use on EI. But since BA had no award availability, this may be the way to go.

Am I missing a problem with doing that?

84fiero

1. UA shows availability in Y and J, DTW-MUC-DUB on LH.

2. Could you get to YYZ cheaply? UA has seats in Y and J from YYZ on AC, through MUC to DUB.

3. UA has some seats nonstop ORD-EDI (only in Y at the moment); Aer Lingus serves DUB and SNN from EDI, probably not very expensive.

4. I'd also look at flying into other "gateways" in Europe as well, focusing on destinations with nonstop service to Ireland...

- Aer Lingus of course, serves several destinations in Ireland including some smaller airports in Ireland that could be closer to your destination.

http://aerlingus.dynamicroutemaps.com/

- Ryainair of course
http://www.ryanair.com/en/cheap-flight-destinations

-Easyjet services BFS from several airports in the UK, plus others including CDG.

http://www.easyjet.com/en/routemap

CherylD

Thank you 84fiero !!!! I will look into all of your suggestions! The first one is awesome, as my daughter lives only 2 hours from Detroit! I never thought to search DTW as an origin. :-o