New here and to points world.

I'm planning vacation for two in July/Aug 2014, DFW to Paris (CDG or ORY), then to Rome (any trans mode).
Dates and connecting cities are flexible as long as we are in Paris July 27th.

I have about:
100,000 BA Avios points with a free companion pass (for same class).
70,000 AAdvantage Points.

I've tried online and have called BA and AA today...but having challenges getting round trip or one way using points. (I know I may not combine AA & BA points.)

Any suggestions/routes on how to maximize use of our points?
Or where do I look to figure out alternative routes?

Thank you in advance for your time!

Is the companion pass valid for award travel?

Do you have to go to Paris BEFORE Rome?

What class would you like to travel in? You're probably going to need to book one direction using AA miles (2x30K) and the other direction using Avios. To fly business using Avios (65K for one ticket), you'd need for the companion pass to be valid for award travel since 2x65K exceeds your balance, otherwise you've got no choice but economy both ways.

One important thing to know is that flying on BA incurs fees (fuel surcharges) irrespective of whether you use AA or BA miles. A bit depends on how much you are interested in saving a few hundred dollars in fees, versus the inconvenience of (say) an extra connection.

If money is not an issue, then I'd fly business DFW-Europe on BA using Avios+certificate since it is a night flight, then Europe-DFW using AA miles.

The main issue will probably be availability on the return flight. For example, a quick search FCO-DFW showed only 7/29 then nothing until 8/13. If these dates don't work, you'd probably need to do something creative to get availability. It seems to be easy to find something LHR-DFW (with connections) but the flights are too early in the morning for the intra-Europe connection. For example, you could take the Eurostar from Paris to London, or you could fly FCO-TXL-LHR the day before, stay overnight in London, and take an early flight to the US. If the stop is just overnight, it can be done on the one award ticket for no extra miles and the availability isn't bad.

Outbound is not such an issue, e.g. non-stop seats DFW-CDG on AA48 on 7/20, 21, 23); also options DFW-LHR-FCO in both economy and business from 7/7-14.

Wow!! Fantastic info!
This helps me get started.

AA miles can be used to book award travel to Europe on IB (via Madrid). IB award travel cannot be booked online; you'll need to phone AA ($25 fee). But you can check flight times online so you'll know what you're looking for when you call. IB assesses surcharges on award travel, but they will be lower than what BA charges.

Are you wanting to fly into Paris then out of Rome? If so I'm actually doing this in March not using miles as I was able to snag an irresistible fare deal on UA about a month ago. $630/person in economy flying into Paris then flying out of Rome 7 days later.

For transit between Paris and Rome I'd check out the http://www.italiarail.com/ website. The THELLO train offers overnight rides between Paris and Milano then take the FRECCIAROSSA form Milano to Rome. You can find more information on the classes at http://www.seat61.com/thello-train-f...s-to-italy.htm

I'm not entirely sure how the companion pass works but I feel like I've heard that if the primary ticket is paid the companion pass is exempt from fuel surcharges this is not the case when the primary ticket is booked using award points. In fact, I'm not even sure the companion pass can be used in conjunction with the companion pass. As for award availability you might have better luck moving your travel to March/April 2014 or September/October 2014 as you're far more likely to find dates that would fit a schedule.

Lastly when flying in and out of Europe on American/BA see if you can snag a flight on AA's 777-300ER's they have a much nicer personal entertainment system, power outlets at every seat and international inflight wifi (if that is your thing).

I'm really curious what you end up doing as a DFW resident as well and also traveling to Paris/Rome it would be interesting to see how our plans diverge. Best of luck!