ladyjaneMN

DH and I have done a few trips on miles, but next May/June we are thinking about taking our 2 adult daughters on a trip to Germany. We have enough points between us for 2 to go under his name/points and 2 with my name/points with AA and return the same with United. My question is when I go to book the flights will I need to call in and have them book by phone. Can I do it on-line saving 2 flights and then book the other 2?

dukerau

Yes. AA allows you to place a hold on awards for 5 days. United technically does not allow you to place award holds online, but there is a workaround: http://milevalue.com/master-thread-h...united-awards/.

JPG3392

You can do it all online with AA (an exception is noted below) and UA and will save telephone fees by doing so. Both airlines offer one-way award flights for half the miles of a roundtrip, so your travel plans would work as far as that's concerned. There are, however, a few things to consider before booking.

1) UA offers economy saver awards North America-Europe for 30k miles all year, but AA charges 20k offseason (October 15--May 15) and 30k the rest of the year. If you are able to leave by May 15th, you can save 40k miles (10k per ticket) by using AA to Europe and UA for the return.

2) Obtaining 4 award seats on the same flights will be difficult. You may wish to consider splitting up for travel, especially if you are able to find seats on flights that depart and arrive about the same time but involve connections at different airports.

3) UA includes LH, LX and OS among its partners and also serves many German cities with flights of its own. Finding award travel to Germany using UA miles is likely to be easier than doing so using AA miles.

4) There are special issues involving award flights on two of AA's partners, BA and IB. a) Award flights on BA incur prohibitive fees. It is much better to fly to Germany on AA itself (DFW-FRA; ORD-DUS) on one of its other partners. b) Award flights on IB (via MAD) cannot be booked online; they require a phone call to AA. IB has fees also, but they are much lower than BA's.

Best wishes.

ladyjaneMN

Thank you! This is exactly the information I needed. We are thinking of flying AA to London for a few days and then do a cheap flight to Munich and fly back from there. The fee's seemed to be cheaper to fly into London. We are definitely planning on taking advantage of the departure before May 15th to save on points.

JPG3392

If you are planning on train travel in the Munich area, you may be interested in a special offer called the "Bayern-Ticket." On weekdays, it's valid from 9 AM to 3 AM the following day, and allows unlimited travel on local and regional trains (including the Munich subway system) within Bavaria (and slightly beyond, e.g., Salzburg). The price is 23 Euro for one person, 27 for 2, 31 for 3, and 35 for 4; travelling together is required. Weekend travel is valid from midnight on. For a family group like yours, it's hard to beat the price, even for travel from the airport into the city.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

For the LON-MUC flight, consider acquiring some BA Avios. A Reward Flight Saver award from LHR to MUC on BA will cost only 4,500 Avios, and a minimal co-pay (about $30 USD) per ticket, which will cover the UK APD, the LHR PSC, and BA's surcharge.

Chase UR points and Amex MR points can be converted to BA Avios. Avios can also be earned directly with the Chase/BA Visa card.

sonofzeus

Open a window on AA.com and another on United.com.

Place the reservations in the baskets.

Pull the triggers.

JDiver

Don't forget, using AA miles (and with four adults you have flexibility of using different flights) to check airberlin / AB, as well as Iberia, and even Finnair if necessary. BA has a lot of seats available, but you will have to pay "YQ" surcharges that are considerable, and if you originate a flight in the UK you will also have to pay the Air Passenger Duty (connecting or ending there will not incur the APD).

aa.com does not allow you to book awards on all partner airlines online, so those they do not allow it you will have to call. AB, AY and BA, and of course AA, are definitely possible online. IB is not yet, and more arcane ones (e.g. TN LAX-CDG, etc.)

Two threads in the American Airlines | AAdvantage (Pre-Merger) forum that can be useful are:

AA and Partner Airline Award info, rules (NOT for oneworld Explorer Awards) 2014 on

and

MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Assistance & Discussion (consolidated)