I am traveling Spring 2014 from the US to Spain. I wanted to use my American Airlines frequent flier (AAdvantage) miles to best advantage, so to speak. I learned that it is possible to incorporate free domestic layovers into my journey. As I have family in Dallas, that intrigued me.
AA’s website showed available flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Madrid (MAD) that connect through Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York or Miami. AAdvantage rules require that the layover stops must be on published routings from the origin to destination. In my case, I am flying out of San Francisco and going to Madrid. So I could easily arrange my stop on published routes through Dallas (DFW), an AA hub airport.
Moreover, I discovered that it is possible to make additional layovers at cities in the US wherever the flights stop or change planes. That means that, when booking with AA miles, one can hopscotch across the country, choosing several stops along the way if one chooses.
You may create these layovers on either departure or return, or on both the outbound and return flights. This is only the case when you use miles to pay for the flights. In other words, purchased tickets do not allow this flexibility. Organizing free domestic layovers is a big bonus to using AAdvantage miles.
Note that AAdvantage does not allow free layovers at a location outside the U.S. (e.g. London). That is just as well, as I was not keen on dealing with the Airport Departure Tax (APD) for a London layover on this trip.
If you book a flight using miles, regardless of whether you make any layover stops, be sure to check whether any of the flight legs are operated by a Europe-based partner carrier such as British Airways or Iberia. In some cases, if the flights are operated by partners, you may have to pay $200 or more in airline fees for those legs.
I booked my trip US to Spain and back with a stop in Dallas for several days. Total airline fees for my round trip are less than $62. ¡ El mas barato es mejor !
Thanks for pointing this out!
By the way, it is also possible to take a free stopover on the international end. For example, a couple of years ago, we flew from NYC to Copenhagen (the routing) but with a week stopover in Stockholm along the way. We’ve used that kind of routing a number of times.
Adding to your point about Britain: Many of AA’s European cities are actually served by their closely-tied partners, British Air and Iberia. With a little persistence, you can find flights that don’t stop in UK and avoid the APD. We like to use Madrid, an easy airport, and the hub for Iberia; despite the fact that Iberia and BA have the same owners, Iberia’s charges are much lower. It’s also possible to plan trips using other AA partners including Airberlin that skip BA and Heathrow.
…. can these stopovers be scheduled on the AA website or must you speak to an AAdvantage customer service person and pay the ($25?) fee?
I scheduled my flights using the website. When you go to the AAdvantage booking site there are three choices: round-trip, one-way and multi-city. When you choose your flights you see boxes showing the number of miles per leg. The leg between Dallas and San Francisco showed no miles. There was also some kind of comment to the effect that it was considered part of the entire leg between Madrid and San Francisco.
I will be there about a month, from February 12 to March 12. I will be in Madrid for a few days after I arrive and then off to Girona and environs for a few weeks. I may wander into southeast France for a few days as well before I return to Madrid for a couple of days before I fly out.
I envy your trip! We’ll overlap in time, but not in place.
If you do add France to the itinerary, you might want to look into the new TGV service from Barcelona to Paris that starts this month. I’m not sure of its route as it leaves Spain, but it might go where you want to!
For some time the AVE has run from Madrid to Figueres which is north of Barcelona and Girona. The TGV has been running from Figueres to Paris for some time as well. I’m told that it takes about four hours to get from DeGaulle airport to Figueres with all stops.
It required 40,000 miles for a round-trip economy ticket. All were in-seat miles and all were from a few years ago.
Similar to WorkerBee’s experience, I’ve done these bookings using the Multi-City function, which allows you to specify a date for each segment. It didn’t require assistance. Actually I’ve never had to pay a fee for help when booking something that could not be done on line, but who knows these days.
I’ve done these stopover trips a number of times (NY-Budapest/open jaw/Prague-London w/stopover and then back to NY, etc.)
The AAdvantage desk agents, by the way, are some of their best and can be very helpful after you’ve booked. If you have to settle for an unsuitable booking, and are willing to keep checking, they can help you find other routing later. I had a route through Heathrow a couple of years ago; within a month they were able to find me choices through either Zurich or Madrid. As long as the begin and end points are the same, there’s no charge.
All things to be watched closely, by the way; by January the new AA will start rolling out updated program rules and procedures for what will be a merged program. We’ll need to watch closely to see what changes!
WorkerBee, how long will you be in Spain, and when? We’re going for 8 days (not counting the travel days) in February. We’ll be in Seville, Cordoba and Granada.
Gumbo fans would love to hear how your trip is going and to see pictures along the way!
I envy your trip! We’ll overlap in time, but not in place.
If you do add France to the itinerary, you might want to look into the new TGV service from Barcelona to Paris that starts this month. I’m not sure of its route as it leaves Spain, but it might go where you want to!
Now I know why your handle is WorkerBee.
Persistence and hard work get the job done! Well Done!
Wow ! That is a good deal. I need to drill down through those redeem mileage programs and see what I can learn. Thanks for this valuable lesson.
So, PHeymont, when you stopped for the week in Stockholm which airline was it and what fees were you charged for the stopover? You mention Madrid. Presumably that was a different trip, so same questions on that one. Also, can these stopovers be scheduled on the AA website or must you speak to an AAdvantage customer service person and pay the ($25?) fee?
All potentially very useful information. Many thanks, Gurus.
$ 18 ? I am puzzled by this. When I have taken flights from London to the US, the tax has been more like $ 150 – $ 200. It was worth it to spend time in London, of course. Still, it was not a small amount.
Garry RF and PHeymont – Thank you very much for the information.
In this case, APD is not incurred –
Flying NYC-LON-Continental Europe: No problem; as long as your time in UK is less than 24 hours, you are a transit passenger and don’t pay APD.
In this case, there is an APD, even if the transit is less than 24 hours ? –
Flying Continential Europe-LON-NYC: Not so good; you pay the APD on the trans-Atlantic leg, and that’s high.
Concerning the third item, this explains why Worker Bee had a problem with his particular booking, because, to connect through London, AA would book him on their partner BA, or a BA operated flight, for the jump over the Atlantic, yes ? –
The other issue with this is not APD at all; flying to the Continent through Madrid or Barcelona tends to be cheaper because it usually doesn’t involve BA, which has the highest “fuel surcharges” of any of the Oneworld partners.
The UK departure tax is “Banded” into distances and economy / regular / 1st class. London – Spain is only a short distance.
Well, but if Spain is the destination, passing up UK makes sense. On the other hand, APD leads to calculations such as
Flying NYC-LON-Continental Europe: No problem; as long as your time in UK is less than 24 hours, you are a transit passenger and don’t pay APD.
Flying Continential Europe-LON-NYC: Not so good; you pay the APD on the trans-Atlantic leg, and that’s high.
The other issue with this is not APD at all; flying to the Continent through Madrid or Barcelona tends to be cheaper because it usually doesn’t involve BA, which has the highest “fuel surcharges” of any of the Oneworld partners.
I’m not sure on your question about WB’s trip, because it depends on routing. From NY, AA most often uses their own seats for the ocean hop, but does use some BA seats from Newark. Other cities…not sure how many BA seats used in that direction. And sometimes it’s a matter of class. For instance, last year flying home from Paris, there were AA seats in business class available non-stop, but economy was only available on BA Orly-London-Newark.
It required 40,000 miles for a round-trip economy ticket. All were in-seat miles and all were from a few years ago.
That’s one of the things I like about AA…aside from the one-way awards. When everyone else was 50K to Europe, they were 40K offpeak and 60 peak. Now everyone else is 60K peak, and AA still has the winter bargains. Hope it lasts!
Wonderful piece of planning WorkerBee !
Missing off London to avoid the $18 Departure Tax for Spain seems a bit severe.
I presume your return journey is more direct.