The first flight that was canceled was DUB-ORD on AA. The reason that we had 2 separate itinerarys is because we wanted to fly from our home airport which was United at the time. My friend only had enough miles to fly from GCK-ORD on United. She also only had enough miles to fly ORD-DUB on AA on miles. That made us have 2 unconnected flights. If AA allowed us to book DUB-ORD, I'm sure there were other people that they messed up. That means AA had to make many calls to get these people home some other way. This return flight was scheduled for Nov 7th, 2010.

I'm not afraid to ask for what I know should be expected but I was new to flying with miles and didn't know that we shouldn't have had to pay our own way to LHR.

Our 2nd flight that was canceled was a flight from LHR-ORD. We did get on an earlier flight that day but it made it almost impossible to get from DUB on Aer Lingus. We were lucky and had an on time flight to LHR and actually called AA in LHR for assistance in LHR with a wheel chair! My friend was having knee problems and riding in a wheel chair with someone who knew the airport was needed. I pushed the luggage cart!

This was a lesson not to ever book flights with miles on separate airlines. We even stayed in Chicago going and returning just to make this work. But I was thinking if we flew over on AA and home on UA, we wouldn't have connection problems. Unless we had to cancel the entire trip and have 2 separate fees to add our miles back.

Yes, a few years ago AA went through a bunch of self-searching to try to figure out if and how and when to serve Ireland exactly. They used to fly BOS-SNN on a 757 (a regular domestic 757, sold as all coach but elites could reserve seats in the normally-F section!), while flying ORD-DUB on a 763. Then they changed it to a single ORD-DUB-SNN-ORD round-robin flight on a 763. Then they dumped SNN once Open Skies happened (and the requirement that all airlines that fly to Ireland fly at least 25% of their flights to SNN went poof), and then they couldn't make up their mind as to just how seasonal they wented ORD-DUB to be. (I don't know if that's stabilized or not.)

So it all depends when you want to fly to Ireland. If you want to fly "in season" then it's not as much of an issue. If you want to fly in "far fringe shoulder season" then it's more of an issue, because that's where the schedule is most iffy far out.

(So far I've flown to Ireland twice, but only to SNN so far. And the last time, I was on the second-to-last flight back from SNN that AA ever did! The was the ORD-DUB-SNN roundrobin...)

I'm not sure what I did wrong with that last post. Trying to learn how to respond to a particular post.

are these 180 degree flat beds really at 180 degrees? the plane flys with about a 6 degree angle of attack. if you fly feet fwd, your head will be down more than a little bit. i have only flown LH and UA "flat beds" in biz class. the bed is a bit over 6' long, and i find the entire experience to be a delight.the beds in UA are both head first and feet first. next time i use one, i will look to see if i can see an angle between the two of them. i have flown feet first on a couple 3 flights recently. the only time i noticed it was out the window on taxi, and on blast off. i experienced no discomfort.

there is not a big saving between biz and in first with "saver" fares on ua. if you want a saver fare on DL, look to 2020. their offerings are really ugly short.

look at possible routes on orbitz it is fast.

i have a lot of miles on starwood amex. they are great because they do not get orphaned and they transfer to most airlines. i decided starwood hotels were not worth the miles, and stopped stayijng at starwoods on points. i have all these miles on DL, and dl does not really fly out of dc any more. i had a ton of miles on swiss. they just dissapeared, with my miles. i had a lot of miles on amtrak, but they went bad if i did not ride yearly. when i sold my company, i no longer traveled dc-ny. noplace to burn or transfer amtrak miles.

You have to reply after the "/quote" that's in brackets. The "/quote" in brackets tell the system to end the quote, so anything you type before that is included as part of the quote!

You can't do intermixed replies (without knowing exactly what you're doing). Only people who've been around FT for a long time and have figured out the innards can do intermixed replies (and even then it's a bit tedious).

Well, take a look at the rail map for Ireland:

http://www.irishrail.ie/map-ireland.jsp

You can't get to many of the sights in western Ireland with public transport. You either have to rent a car or hook up with tours (big or small; the small tours btw can get you to places the big bug tours can't, because many of thoe roads in western Ireland are too narrow for big buses).

If all you want is pubs, you can find that anywhere in Ireland. If all you want is general countyside, yes, you can get that on rail routes. If you want a sizeable city, you can probably do that on rail routes. But if you want to tour the ring of Kerry, or the cliffs of Moher (or an ancient burial site in that area), no trains go there.

However, there is a train near SNN, though it doesn't go right to the airport. (The airport is between Ennis and Limerick, and there are train stops both places. But you have to catch a bus to one of those cities AFAIK.)

So DUB may be more practical if you're going to use only rail, even if you're going to go to the west.

Amtrak miles expire unless you use Amtrak or you hold the (no annual fee) Amtrak MC from Chase. I do the latter, since I rarely ride Amtrak. Not sure what I'll use it for, but it probably won't be from my home town, but when I fly to somewhere where it then makes sense to use rail onwards. (But who knows what year that will be! Which is why I just let my Amtrak points sit and slowly build with occasional light use of that card.)

Starwood polints transfer to a lot of airlines, but to UA they transfer at a horrid rate (1/2 the rate of all other ailrines), so it's funny you should mention this card after talking about how much you like the UA business class flat seats!

Starwood redemptions are often the best value with cash+points, but of course that only works at some hotels. I find in some locaitons I can't use them at all, but in some other locations (especially away from big cities) they are much better value than other points I have. Especially useful when they have a resort somewhere I want to go where every other hotel is independent (can't use points) and all the hotels are expensive on cash. (Iguazu Falls, Argentina, is example #1 there.)

My experience mirrors yours. To provide a little corroboration for the OP, two years ago, I took a trip to Ireland with my youngest sister. She hadn't flown in years and really only needed me for hand holding on the way over. Once we spent a couple of days in Dublin, we went our separate ways for a week, meeting in Galway, and then splitting again before returning to Dublin to fly out.

She took the trains. I rented a car. The train service from Dublin is relatively good (my sister went to Galway by train and then on a trip earlier this year, to Killarney), but I don't think there's as much service between smaller cities as there is on routes running on a direct line between Dublin and the ultimate destination. My trip took me into the Ring of Kerry as well as into northwest Ireland. I could not have used the train for transportation deep into those areas.

Driving in Ireland is an experience since the economic woes have apparently delayed the further improvement of the Irish motorway system. The roads within a 30-mile radius of Dublin are generally good with some interstate-quality roads (but with American-style rush hour traffic jams), but once you're in the hinterlands, even the roads designated as "national" roads (the equivalent of numbered US highways here) can be twisty, two-lane roads where the posted speed limit is probably the true limit with the design of the road frequently requiring a speed 20 miles per hour lower. I learned that it was probably best to estimate times between two points outside of Dublin by assuming no more than a 35 mph average.

By the way, the narrow roads, the tight parking in cities and towns, and the even higher gas prices in Europe make taking the smallest rental car possible a good strategy. An SUV generally works only if you've got four people and a lot of luggage.

I don't want to drive in Ireland but maybe my son will. We haven't discussed it. I'm not sure if I would be more nervous if I drove or if he drove! Taking short tours and trains is so much more relaxing but I know limiting.

We stayed 3 nights in Athlone and then took the train to Dublin and stayed 10 nights. After staying 4 nights in Dublin we left almost everything in our room and took the train to Cork and bus to Kinsale. The next day bus to Cork and train to Kilarney. There we did a Ring of Kerry tour. Then back to Dublin for 4 more nights. We were staying at the Weston on points and 5th night free so it was just easier to not check out of our room while we were gone for those 2 days.

We took several day tours around and from Dublin.

My son has never been to Ireland but it would be nice to see some new areas. If anyone has any ideas on how to see Ireland without renting a car.....

For now, I will work on building up miles and points. I'm itching to apply for a couple Chase cards for UR points and the new AA card that has priority boarding and free checked bags. Just 5 months ago I got the personal citi Amx card so I can't apply for another personal card for another year? I also have the citibusiness card and plan on canceling it. I hate to lose the CL but I don't want to pay the yearly fee which is due in Nov. Maybe citi has another business card that I could apply for before I cancel and then move the CL over to the new card. I havent seen any great offers lately. I've had this citi business card for 2 or 3 years. I also think that I should apply for Chase cards first but their offers aren't the best right now either.

Thank you sdsearch for your tech help. I'll try it again sometime.

And even then get the narrowest SUV possible!

Also, I would suggest considering full "collision" coverage in rural Ireland, even if you let your credit card protect you elsewhere. (Besides, some credit card rental protections have specficially excluded Ireland!) It's not that a true "collision" is likley, it's just that with the narrow roads often bordered by stone walls (instead of shoulders), and the tight parking, etc, you're more likely to get scrapes/scratches/dents on a car there perhaps than most other places overseas.

Rental Tip:

Over in the Avis forum, someone discovered that they could get an Avis rental with insurance included on the avis.ie (Avis Ireland) site for less money than the exact same rental with no insurance included on avis.com (the Avis US site)! That didn't include the "super LDW" I think but even adding that in (a few euros a day I think it was) still made it come uut to less than if booked with no insurance indluded on the US site (and no insurance added upon pick-up).