BOOK QUICK! Great American Airlines Award & Upgrade Availability USA – Europe!

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We’ve seen this before from American Airlines and this is clearly becoming “a thing”. American Airlines has, once again, opened up a substantial number of Miles SAAver Business Class awards for travel to Europe from various American cities.

The availability I’m seeing on AA.com and ExpertFlyer is for travel between January and May 2017 and, although you’ll find that availability is better out of some cities than others, most people should still be able to find something that works for them.

All the examples I’m going to show below are for non-stop flights but, if you’re based in a city without availability or without American Airlines non-stop service to Europe, there is connecting availability too.

American Airlines Business Class Awards USA – Europe

Departing New York JFK

There’s a lot of availability out of New York right now – specifically on the Paris and London routes. For some reason American hasn’t decided to be quite so generous on the Milan route and that one appears devoid of any decent Business Class SAAver availability.

PARIS

JFK – CDG (February)

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CDG – JFK (March)

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With taxes and fees the total for this trip is 115,000 miles & $127.06 

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Be award that American Airlines operates a number of aircraft types on this route and one of those is the internationally configured 757….which you should try to avoid!

I had a look at ExpertFlyer and there seems to be more than enough availability on the 767 to make avoiding the 757 reasonably easy.

EF-showing-757-767The good news is that the 757 only operates during the winter months and at some point in April/May American rosters a nice reconfigured 777-200 on this route.

LONDON

Availability on the London route is pretty good as long as you don’t want to fly out in March or fly back in April – those months don’t appear to have any availability at all.

JFK – LHR (February)

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LHR – JFK (February)

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Because of the high UK taxes this route costs more than the one to Paris and will set you back 115,000 miles & 270.66.

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A look at ExpertFlyer shows some days have great award AND upgrade availability on most of the flights that American Airlines has between the two cities.

Outbound…..

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Inbound …..

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Note that there is availability on both the 777-300ER and the refurbished 777-200 aircraft.

Departing Chicago

Just like New York, Chicago has some pretty great availability to both Paris and London:

PARIS

ORD – CDG (March)

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CDG – ORD (March)

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Just like the New York – Paris flights the cost here is 115,000 miles & 127.06 for a roundtrip:

aa-ord-cdg-ord-flights-feb

Be aware that American Airlines operates the 767 aircraft on this route (not bad but also nowhere near as good as the new and updated 777 variants).

As you can see from ExpertFlyer, there are some days with good award availability and fantastic upgrade availability:

ef-ord-cdgef-cdg-ordIf you’re not sure what to expect on the American Airlines 767 then this is a link to my review from earlier this year.

LONDON

The Chicago – London route has some of the most consistent availability, between January and May, out all the routes I’ve seen.

ORD – LHR (April)

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LHR – ORD (April)

lhr-ord-april

What makes this availability even more impressive is that it’s over the Easter break so families may be able to make use of this if they’re prepared to go on separate flights (I haven’t seen too many flights with more than 2-3 award seats).

Once again, because this route flys into the UK, the taxes are high so it will cost 115,000 miles & $270.66 roundtrip.

aa-ord-lhr-jan-flights

American Airlines flys 767 and 777 aircraft on this route so, if at all possible, make sure you book the 777 as it has a vastly superior Business Class product.

Once again, ExpertFlyer shows some pretty good award AND upgrade availability in both direction:

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ef-lhr-ord

Note that there can be up to 3 seats on the 777-300ER so availability is definitely not limited to the 767.

Departing From Dallas DFW

I couldn’t find availability on the Dallas – Madrid route but the Frankfurt and London routes show promise.

Availability from Dallas is a lot poorer than from New York or Chicago and not all months have awards available…..but awards are still there.

FRANKFURT

DFW – FRA (February)

DFW-FRA-FEB

A roundtrip award will cost 115,000 miles & $116.16:

aa-dfw-fra-flights-march

ExpertFlyer shows good news and bad news on this route.

The good news is that there a good amount of award availability and there are an incredible number of Business class upgrades available.

The bad news is that, as things stand, this route is operated by and ancient 777-200 so the Business Class cabin will be less than impressive. There is a chance, however, that by 2017 this aircraft will have been refurbished so it may not be all bad news.

ef-dfw-fra ef-fra-dfw

LONDON

Availability on the outbound is good in January, February and May but is non-existant in March and April. On the London – Dallas route things are a bit better as there’s availability in March but still none in April.

DFW – LHR (May)

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LHR-DFW (May)

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A roundtrip award here costs 115,000 miles & $275.96

aa-dfw-lhr-dfw-may

There are no bad Business Class cabins to worry about on this route as American operates the 777-300ER and the refurbished 777-200…but it’s feast or famine when it comes to availability on different flights – there are days where 2 of the 3 flights are devoid of award seats while the third has lots!

EF-dfw-lhr

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Departing From Miami

Out of the cities that I checked and that had award availability Miami was the weakest…but at least there’s some availability there.

I couldn’t find availability on the Miami – Madrid route but there is availability on Miami – London in a few months:

MIA – LHR (May)

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LHR – MIA (May)

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Unsurprisingly a roundtrip costs 115,000 miles and, unsurprisingly, the taxes are high because the flights are to/from the UK.

aa-mia-lhr-mia-flights-feb
There may not be as many dates with availability out of Miami as compared to some other US cities but, on the dates where availability is there, it’s stellar!

ef-lhr-mia

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That’s up to 5 award seats and up to 5 upgrades available on some flights…and that’s on both the 777-300ER and the refurbished 777-200s.

Departing From Philadelphia

Lastly, if you haven’t had enough of London routes, here’s another one that has availability.

PHL – LHR (January)

phl-lhr-jan

LHR-PHL (January)

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The cost is, once again, 115,000 miles & 270.66 for a roundtrip…..

aa-phl-lhr-phl-flights-jan

….and the thing to notice here is that the aircraft is an Airbus A330-300 which is a remnant of the US Airways fleet. I have zero knowledge on this aircraft so I can’t offer any advice except to say that you should do some research to make sure you know what you’re booking – good advice now and for any other time you’re booking a flight!

Bottom Line

I have no idea how long this availability will last so, if you find something that works for you, book it or at least put it on hold while you think about it as soon as you can.

I haven’t checked departures from every city American Airlines uses for its non-stop flights to Europe so make sure you check other possibilities if nothing above works for you.

Last but not least, American Airlines has yet another “buy miles” promotion on right now and it’s terrible – don’t be tempted to buy miles to book these awards as you’ll be paying over $2,300 for the miles and then you’ll have the airline taxes to pay as well….that’s not a good deal at all.

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