Alaska Airlines to Europe Business Class

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jack79

Level 2 Member
Hi,
I am not paying 105k for business in Emirates or the hefty surcharge with BA, so was looking with AA. There is NO Business class seats in May to anywhere entire Europe. WTF!!! Tried all the major european airpors. If i find a connection, they gie me business in short range like NYC-MIA, but only coach on the intercontinental flight. ALASKA is dead. ANY tips??
Thank you.
 
M

m124

Level 2 Member
125k round-trip. I mentioned in my first response "must purchase round-trip". You don't have to fly both ways on DL. You can fly BOS-LHR on DL and AMS-KEF-BOS on Iceland Air (with a possible stopover in KEF) for 62,500 + 55,000 total per person.
 
M

m124

Level 2 Member
To Italy, you can book BOS-LHR-FCO if you have DL miles. Since LHR-FCO is on AZ, you cannot do this with AS miles.

But if you get to LHR, there are many low cost carriers London to Italy. Just search on google.com/flights from London(all airports) to Milan(all airports) or Rome (all airports). I am seeing flights in the $25 -$40 range one-way.
 
S

SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
Have you looked at the IcelandAir route map? You can book a ticket with them using AS miles and get a stopover in Iceland.
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
Jack, you have now learned a really valuable lesson: booking trips with miles means thinking MUCH farther ahead than booking trips with money.

Many people start planning their trips over a year ahead, and then wait for the seats to open at 330 days ahead of the flight--booking one ways. Then again, 330 days ahead of the return date.

It's not strictly necessary to do it that far in advance. But seats are released one or two at a time in the front of the plane as the flight date approaches. And the cost in miles may well go up into the stratosphere for them, as well.
 
J

jack79

Level 2 Member
Thanks for the responses. Well I am using expertflyer to look at availability ROME NYC MAY 17th, and above. There are plenty of seats, but none of them are shown at alaska website...I guess I am waiting for a last minute opening a week before or something?
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
jack79 said:
Thanks for the responses. Well I am using expertflyer to look at availability ROME NYC MAY 17th, and above. There are plenty of seats, but none of them are shown at alaska website...I guess I am waiting for a last minute opening a week before or something?
Click to expand...
I may be an outlier, but I have never once booked seats 330 days ahead for mileage awards. I think a lot of people perhaps use @MickiSue's strategy. I am just not one of them. I've been doing this a long time and I think that if you are flexible on dates, aircraft, itinerary, and airline, it's not necessary. If however, you need a specific thing on a specific date it could be more essential. Opening of availability is often random. It will likely open back up closer to the departure, but then again, it might not. If you only have Alaska points, that is really limiting. It helps a lot to diversify. When I begin to think about a trip, I know I have a lot of options and that also helps.

The other thing to take a look at is other ways to get there on revenue flights. For example, flights from NYC to Milan are often much cheaper than to FCO.
 
J

jack79

Level 2 Member
United and Alitalia have plenty of award seats. Wish I had those points. I tried any connection. The transatlantic flight is always couch to Philly or jfk or bost no business.
 
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MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
There's a reason that Alitalia has so many seats. Even Italians gasp with dismay if you tell them you're flying Alitalia. I have no opinion on the front of the plane. But Husband paid for upgrade to Coach + last year, and, while he said the seat was decently comfortable, the food AND the service were terrible. And this is not a man who complains about bad service.
 
J

jack79

Level 2 Member
I didnt know alitalia sucked that bad. Well my point was that it is easy to find award seat with 60k points otherwise. AA is 110k only. nothing less.
 
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SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
I don't see that you ever answered the questions at the top of the thread. Or did I miss it? It would be easier to be helpful if we knew starting airport, desired destination(s), band of dates, class of service, max fees you are willing to pay.
 
J

jack79

Level 2 Member
My final destination is BARI, Italy. So I am looking for airports with a connection with bari. Ideally RT direct flights from Boston or New York to Milan or Rome or dusseldorf in business....I found a flight from boston to DUS on airberlin business using 57.5k AA points, but I dot have enough for the return flight. For return I want to use AS miles but I cannot find anything. ONLY American Airlines flight. Ideally leaving at beginning of MAy returning mid may. HAs to be MAY, 2 weeks permanence in Italy.
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
You really don't need air connections to Bari. Daughter lived there for several years, and there is a commuter train from a neighborhood station in Rome to Bari, with limited stops, in the late afternoon. There's also a commuter train from Bari to Rome, same route, early in the morning. EARLY, as in, IIRC, 5:30 am departure.

It's a lovely way to go back and forth, really, because you go over the spine of Italy on the train, so there are some spectacular vistas to be had! When I was coming home the last time I visited when she lived there, I got into Rome about 9 am, took a different train the the central station, stored my luggage, and walked around Rome till the afternoon, when I took the train to FCO, and stayed the night before my flight at the Hilton there.

Rome Central Station is within walking distance of Piazza del Popolo (Piazza of the People), Trevi Fountain and several other really nice places.

Of course, the reverse is true: there's a train from FCO to the central station, and you can catch trains to many other places from there.
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
Of course, not flying into Bari opens up more of AS partners, as well.

Oh, and FWIW, if you've not been to Bari before, there is a sweet little hotel there, called Hotel Adria, only a couple of blocks from the train station. That's where we stayed the first time we visited Daughter in Bari.

If you like fish, you'll be in heaven there. SO much awesome fish!
 
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jack79

Level 2 Member
I know bari. I am from Taranto. And Taranto is the biggest mussels producer in the entire Europe. LOVE IT. The problem is still finding business class award to FCO....
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
I found it to Milano, when I needed to get near VCE for the birth of my grandson. It's a longer train ride, but still pretty...

Taranto! I loved the little park there, that was built on the site of Pythagoras's home. To think that I was walking around above the place that a genius had lived, millenia ago was mind boggling.

When Daughter first went to Italy, to take Italian for her foreign language requirement, she took the train to Taranto, and then a bus to Otranto, where she took elementary. With zero Italian, she went to the tip of the heel of the boot, alone!
 
MickiSue

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
I've not been there, myself. But Daughter's best friend and her family used to go there every August to run a little shop selling the kind of pizza that the Bariese people loved.

I kind of fell in love with Polignano a Mare, though.

Still want to spend an anniversary at the hotel that hangs over the sea, there.
 
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