Last fall I posted about wide-open award availability to Europe with AA miles that lasted a few days. It’s back! And both ways this time! I’m seeing 6 or more seats on many weekdays for US Airways routes to Europe in both coach and business class.
Seats are on US Airways routes
US Airways flies from:
Charlotte to Barcelona, Dublin, London, Madrid, Paris and Rome.
Philadelphia to Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Glasgow, London, Madrid, Manchester, Munich, Paris, Rome, Shannon, Venice and Zurich.
Also, availability is very good on the PHL-TLV route at 67,500 miles each way. Israel is often one of the harder places to get premium cabin award seats for families, after Australia.
Courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.
If you want to visit a city not listed, you may be able to get there via Madrid continuing on Iberia, or via London continuing on British Airways. Either will raise the price some due to surcharges and increased taxes, but they will still be excellent deals.
This is a search for 6 passengers nonstop only from Charlotte to Madrid.
These will not last!
At about the same time as I posted this, Gary at View From the Wing posted the same news, along with the reason this is happening.
US Airways transitioned its fare codes over the weekend. As of yesterday, ‘U’ is fare basis for business class awards instead of ‘I’.
It looks like some of the folks in revenue management over at US Airways didn’t get the memo, because ‘U’ class has been left wide open on several flights.
Book. Sort out details. Fly. Enjoy. Read on…
5 day holds are free!
Hold now, ask questions and sort out details later, and get these booked and ticketed as soon as you can! Please do not let these get away if you’re planning family travel to Europe!
That’s it! Happy hunting!
Update: around 8:15 CST 1/19 these business class fares were showing up but then redirecting to the flight selection if you tried to book. By 8:30 it looks like many have been pulled, but as inventory is adjusted and updated they could be available off and on. Coach availability still looks better than usual. If you got a family trip out of this deal, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!
– Kenny
Is it just me, or did these all just disappear? …so close, but not quick enough.
They’re likely being snatched up, but many remain. Try some of the less popular routes like MAD, and call to add an IB flight if needed.
We were able to change our flight to Venice this fall to US Air and shaved two stops and 12 hours off our total travel time. They also refunded about $40 in fees in switching from other partners to US Airways. Thanks for the tip.
Very nice! We have until Friday to decide if we can make the trip we have held (also Venice this fall) work or not. Too many deals, not enough time!
Trying to decide between Dublin and Rome.
I’m still seeing lots of award avaliability, by the way, mostly in economy today.
Sounds like a good problem to have 🙂 Yes, coach availability is still very good but business class seems back to ‘normal’.
Thanks so much. Put an itinerary on hold on AA 2 days ago. Got a one-way in business to ATH. Good flights in lie-flats with no fuel surcharges.
Hey Kenny,
Taxes are high. I wonder if this is normal.
FRA-LHR-JFK-CMH on business is 50k + $436
I did find FRA-PHL-CMH on economy is 20k + $118
Bill
Never mind. I just saw your post that routing through LHR or MAD will increase the price. Thanks!
There are 3 things going on with London travel on AA miles, and they often get confused with one another:
The LHR APD which is a ridiculously high airport tax, based on distance and class of service, applied only if LHR is your origin airport (up to $220 for travel to the U.S., and doesn’t apply to your trip).
The UK tax that applies to everyone who touches LHR, transiting or originating there ($45-$60).
And the one that makes up most of what you’re seeing: BA’s surcharge on award tickets which is a total scam. ($227 in your case)
Many of these US and AA award seats are no longer available, but some still are. To find dates available without BA surcharges try searching for LHR-JFK, LHR-ORD, LHR-CLT, LHR-PHL or FRA-PHL and clicking ‘nonstop only’ on the results page and then unchecking BA. If you can find a routing through LHR with the LHR-US segment on AA or US, total taxes will be $209. If you can find one that avoids London altogether, taxes will be ~$120.
Thanks Kenny! Very informative.
Looking forward to see you again at FT4RL.