There is availability today of many more dates for AAdvantage Business Class and First Class frequent flyer award tickets to and from European airports than I saw last week. I have searched for reward flights in July regularly for months and not finding anything within days of when we needed to fly home from Europe. There are even economy saver awards flying American Airlines operated flights that were nonexistent last week.
Points With a Crew posted Return of American business class availability? this morning. I went over to aa.com and was not finding anything the first few searches I made, Then I figured out there was a lot of Business Class availability for American Airlines operated flights from Dusseldorf to Chicago with Air Berlin connections from several European cities like Warsaw, Zurich, Berlin, and Copenhagen.
I booked Kelley’s ticket home from Europe in July with an AAdvantage Business Class award ticket for 57,500 miles + $61 flying Copenhagen to Monterey on four flights. She will have a retrofitted Boeing 767-300 Business Class cabin lie flat seat (my fingers crossed).
Bottom line is there is availability from many airports for Business and First Class award travel to and from Europe on aa.com right now, vastly more seats than were there last week to a variety of European destinations with Air Berlin and Finnair.
San Francisco – London Economy Class Award
30,000 miles + $72.30
Wednesday July 27
From my searches there appears to be far more award availability for returns from European airports beginning in first week of August. Still, lots of options for July award travel too.
San Francisco – London Business Class Award
57,500 miles + $5.60
Wednesday July 13
Be careful when pulling up reward itineraries to see all flights are booked in correct cabin class. You don’t want to find yourself spending Business Class or First Class award level miles for an economy seat across the ocean.
San Francisco – Warsaw First Class Award
Economy seat for 2 of 3 flights including transatlantic segment.
85,000 miles + $96.20
Monday July 25
This AAdvantage First Class one way award ticket from San Francisco to Warsaw is priced at 85,000 miles, but look closely to see that only the SFO-JFK flight is seated in First Class. New York to London and London to Warsaw are seated in economy class.
Avoid BA flights for lower award ticket taxes.
The main challenge with AAdvantage awards to Europe is avoiding British Airways flights. They typically add $100 in award taxes for any flight connection through London onward in Europe and $200 to $500 for transAtlantic flights on British Airways.
Today is great day to book AAdvantage summer award tickets to Europe
What makes today a great day for booking AAdvantage award tickets are the more widespread availability of American Airlines, Air Berlin and Finnair operated flights with far lower award taxes than flying British Airways through London. There are far more award seats available today than when I made an extensive award search last week for AAdvantage frequent flyer award tickets for July 2016 travel.
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