Ok, all of you AA/OneWorld gurus. I am starting to plan for a trip to Europe next spring (May). Ideally, we'd like to take Business Class over and not as concerned coming home - maybe Premium Economy or equivalent. Three people. Different arrival and departure cities (LUX and NUE)
I get that this is probably going to take a combination of miles and dollars due to availability but looking for some tips and strategies. (we'll have 200-250,00 miles maybe a bit more and I am a lowly Gold on AA)

I do have the KVS tool but am a rank amateur in using it.

*Should we try for FF tickets over for as many people as possible or look for upgradable Y and use FF to upgrade?
*Should we try for the Amex Platinum business class companion ticket? (would seem reasonable if just two traveling but not so much with 3 and since it would be a different airline as they don't do oneworld).
*Should we look to find RT tickets to one large, common airport and add train or short hop flights to the smaller airports?
*How far out are prices and/or awards optimum?
* I'd be open to taking OW over and another alliance back but would like to try to find a OW solution if I can

Generally, other than just looking in KVS and AA for award availability to the specific cities, how should I approach this?

Thanks,
AJ

If you are planning on using AA miles you will get more better responses and advice in the AA forum.

I'm inclined to move this to either the AA or the new "Information Desk" board where more general questions (not tied to a particular airline or alliance product) are addressed, but before I do, let me ask where you're flying from, as that may impact your Oneworld (or other alliance) airline options.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

I'd be ok with the move. would be flying out of MSP or RST

I think you should go for award tickets for all 3. J there and Y back would be 240K unless the return trip is before May 15, in which case you'd save 30K miles. You can't book premium economy with miles so best to decide between J and Y. I am a complete novice on upgrading with miles so I'll leave that to others.

Amex Platinum Int'l Business CO requires refundable J ticket so I would guess it's cost prohibitive.

Your options for US-Europe are AA, IB, AB, and BA (which you will avoid due to high fuel surcharges). Unfortunately only BA flies to LUX, so you'd have to so something like MSP-ORD-MAD-LHR-LUX where you are flying BA just for the last leg or two. Alternatively you could fly to FRA, DUS, or BRU and train to LUX. Then you could have a simpler itinerary like MSP-ORD-DUS. The NUE leg is a little easier as AB should be able to connect to NUE more easily. Basically I would rely heavily on AB since you are flying to Germany and surrounding. If IB has availability though, it might be worth taking it though it would nearly assuredly add a stop. Good news is AA allows routing and date changes for free, so take what you can get when you can as long as it's minimally acceptable and look for improvement. I recently flew CLT-LHR direct, but I booked 7 months in advance on IB CLT-MIA-MAD-LHR, then switched to CLT-FRA-LHR about a month out then got the direct about 3 weeks out.

IB availability won't show on aa.com. I'm sure KVS gets it but I've never used it. Or you can use qantas.com or Iberia.com to see it.

AFAIK you can't redeem AAdvantage or Avios for Premium Economy.

Am I really likely to be able to find availability for three?
Also, dukerau, how did you find the MAD route above? I have search routes on Kayak and AA and didn't see anything other than through via ORD or PHL (and one Paris routing using AB).
I'm thinking I should search directly on AB for starters?

Had no idea we could change routing later. Do you do that with a phone call?

Our flight dates are barely even showing up as available for booking yet (end of May) so we definitely are on the early end of things.

Thank for helping think this through.

Indeed, the KVS Tool supports Award Availability on all OneWorld member carriers (incl. IB):

http://Help.KVSTool.com/#AwardUpgradeClasses_OneWorld

Avios can be redeemed for Awards in Premium Economy on all OneWorld carriers that offer it.

AFAIK you can use Avios to upgrade a purchased PE fare.

I guess I'm going to have to study up on KVS. everything I'm getting back is either route to complex or too far out (that one I understand at this point but even searching a bit sooner to get an idea isn't giving me much of any availability and it is almost all BA.

I'm thinking I may have to search each segment separately and call in to make the booking.

I'll follow some of that up on the KVS forum but any other tips? I just can't figure out a way to get three award tickets on most any flight/airlines in business. does that ever happen?

-AJ

ok. followup question relating to the idea of changing the route later.
Can I really find a complex AA/BA/AB/IB/oneworld itinerary now and change it later for a less complex itinerary? Maybe the better question is it realistic to think I could find a better routing later for three people?

AJ

In Y, yes. In J, likely. You have a good advantage that you're looking so far out. Be sure to check first day your dates are open. If your dates aren't flexible and you see seats on your eastbound in J before your return dates become available, you may want to book with a dummy return to lock in your desired eastbound as the J will be more difficult to find (as you know). Keep in mind your travel must be completed within 1 year of booking.

I used award search engines. I did neglect to mention US - you will be able to fly through CLT or PHL so that opens more options.

I had to call since IB isn't bookable online. I think AA may require calling for all international changes. No fee unless you're within 21 days of flying (though I wasn't charged at 19 days out for some reason). You don't have to worry about the close-in booking fee since you're AA Gold though. Oh, and you can change routing but NOT origin or destination without paying a fee. I did read somewhere that as long as the origin/destination region stay the same you can change the city, but that's not documented on aa.com as far as I can tell (would love to see otherwise).

Especially for your J flights, a great itinerary may not open up until the days/weeks prior to your flight (or it may never open up). That's why I recommend booking anything you're willing to take and hoping for something better.

I have no doubt that KVS is a very powerful tool but if it is too daunting for now, you can use qantas.com for searches. aa.com won't show IB, Iberia.com just sucks in general, and BA.com often doesn't show partner availability if there is BA availability. Qantas.com doesn't have those issues, so you should be able to pop in MSP-DUS or whatever route you're looking at and it will show you what's available (and it has a calendar search result view like UA and AA). And no matter what method you use, always concentrate on the long flight first. Search ORD-all European airports, JFK-all European airports, etc. If the only piece you can't find available is the dinky MSP-ORD flight you'll just see no availability searching for MSP-FRA.

thanks - I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend :-)

If you can't get the dinky MSP-ORD flight onto an award ticket that you otherwise want, consider purchasing it but plan to allow lots and lots of time for problems with the connection.

What exactly are you searching for?

Please do.

There is no need (or point) for KVS Tool users to search on any of those websites (unless they are feeling particularly masochistic ).