As you may recall I have been looking for a trip to take over the week between Christmas and New Years on oneworld. Kelsey and I each have 112,000 AA miles thanks to two flights we have taken on AA as well as the 100,000 points bonus with the two Citi AAdvantage cards.
But, the trick was finding the award space to use these miles! I felt a little like Fry in Futurama when he says "Just Shut-up and Take My (Miles) Money!"
After fruitless searches on trips to Australia and Asia I started looking in Europe. The AA website was showing only BA availability and HUGGGEEE fuel surcharges as usual so I decided to try a bit of a different tactic.
I went to the AA website and pulled up their "where we fly" map. I then took a look at all of their gateway cities (Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, New York JFK and Chicago) to see what international destinations they flew to direct. I then used that list to look on Expert Flyer for award space. (If you haven't tried Expert Flyer it is worth every penny).
Finally after searching for hours on end I found one itinerary that worked with our schedule. We found two tickets from DC to Milan via JFK in coach and then a return from London to DC via JFK in first. The total damage at the end was 82,500 miles and around $250 in taxes. I called AA and told the agent what I wanted and she was able to see the space and put it on hold instantly.
Our plan is to stay in Milan, Zurich, Paris and London during the trip. So far we have hotels booked (thank you Hyatt) in Milan, Zurich and London...but the Park Hyatt Paris that everyone raves over was booked solid.
So...anyone know of a good hotel in Paris?
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