Is this a good use of miles?

[taxatty]

You may also wish to consider taking the AA nonstop CLT-MAD flight, followed by what have become numerous, relatively cheap and fast trains from Madrid to Barcelona--it might work out better for you.

Edited July 21, 2023 by taxatty

[taxatty]

21 minutes ago, taxatty said:

You may also wish to consider taking the AA nonstop CLT-MAD flight, followed by what have become numerous, relatively cheap and fast trains from Madrid to Barcelona--it might work out better for you.

 

I wouldn't do this, however, if you plan on taking more luggage than you can personally carry or roll on a train.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

On 7/18/2023 at 3:25 PM, the mice said:

A couple of things.  No one knows what travel next June will be like.  But we just flew to Amsterdam from Newark on May 30 and every seat (about 38 or 40) in business class was full. And the United Polaris lounge, which is just for business class passengers, was absolutely jammed, so I assume all the other flights had full biz class as well.  Also, the weather in the NYC area has been crazy - lots of weather related delays and flight cancellations in June and July, so no way would I ever due a 56 minute connection, much less in JFK.  

 

Yes, I have heard from several sources that won’t work. Why on earth do they even offer it? If we fly out of JFK, we will fly there a day prior. 
 

On 7/18/2023 at 3:25 PM, the mice said:

Just for the heck of it, since you are interested in using AA miles for a one way flight on a specific date as your outbound flight, sign up for free at Roame.travel.   It's got its limitations for general award searches, but works somewhat well for specific date searches. You can input your search requirements and select only AA from the programs to be searched.  It will show you award pricing, and if it's a mixed cabin award (not all segments in same class of service). You can see the flights, connections, times. You would still have snag those awards by booking on AA, but it can be helpful to watch for awards.  Is it perfect? No.  But I had great success finding one way award tickets using this site. 

 

Thanks!  I will check it out. 
 

On 7/18/2023 at 3:25 PM, the mice said:

And BTW, we usually fly business on overnight flights, but fly home from Europe in economy during the daytime.  Not the best, but we are short, average size, so it can work for us (although DH has gotten very spoiled by flying business so often, but I ignore his comments 🤣). And we are only going to the NYC area, not connecting onward.  Just did it on a flight from Hamburg-Munich-Newark.  If the plane is configured with 2 seats on one side of the aisle, we choose that.  Otherwise we book aisle seats across from each other.  Everyone has to figure out what works for them in terms of spending $$ and/or using miles.

 

We would love to fly business class there as well. I don’t know if we will have enough miles to do so. With the searches I’ve done so far, it looks like we can only do that with crappy connections. 
I don’t care how NCL gets us home. I can recover at home. I just want to be common the flight there. 
 

On 7/18/2023 at 3:25 PM, the mice said:

In future, AA isn't the best for business class awards to Europe.  You might want to look into collecting other points currencies if European travel is in your future plans.  Lots of info out there if you search for it.  

 

Good luck with your search and decision-making.  

 

I doubt we will go back but thanks for the heads up!  

On 7/20/2023 at 11:03 PM, taxatty said:

You may also wish to consider taking the AA nonstop CLT-MAD flight, followed by what have become numerous, relatively cheap and fast trains from Madrid to Barcelona--it might work out better for you.

I looked into that but it’s very expensive currently. We have considered flying direct to London, however, spending the day touring, and flying to Barcelona the next day. 
 

On 7/20/2023 at 11:26 PM, taxatty said:

I wouldn't do this, however, if you plan on taking more luggage than you can personally carry or roll on a train.

We will have to handle our luggage on trains throughout our trip. We are doing two different cruises with land in between and navigating luggage in Venice!  🤪

[Globaliser]

18 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Yes, I have heard from several sources that won’t work. Why on earth do they even offer it?

 

Because most of the time, it does work. And the most profitable passengers are typically those who really need to minimise their time in transit and who are most able to deal with problems if/when they arise.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

What would be the minimum amount of time for a layover at LHR?

[the mice]

51 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

What would be the minimum amount of time for a layover at LHR?

Depends on which terminals you arrive and depart from.  And good luck if your arrival flight is delayed - better know your options for that situation.  

As mentioned previously you will pay a lot to fly on AA/BA into LHR.

We have had a smooth time with 2 hrs and nightmares with more time than that.  Just saying...

Others with more experience can comment better

 

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

On 7/18/2023 at 12:49 PM, Hlitner said:

Two things going on in this thread.  We will leave the cost factors and use of miles to Flyertalker and other experts.  But the issue of connection times (my pet peeve) is very important and can be the difference between an enjoyable trip and getting to your ship and a miserable day and missing your cruise.  These days, agreeing to tight connections is just dumb!

 

When changing at LHR, one must be very careful.  If your incoming and outgoing flights are in the same terminal, that is a good thing (although Terminal 5 is huge).  But if you need to change terminals (this just happened to us when we had to go from T5 to T3) the process can be very lengthy (even 2 hours might not be enough).  

 

In the past 2 years we have found ourselves running for flights (delayed arrivals causing connection issues) and, at times, having to deal with anxiety and delayed baggage (because of tight connections).  We now try to always fly Business Class (on international flights) and make sure we have lounge access.  Longer connection times can be boring, but it can avoid some major issues.

 

Hank

 

 

1 hour ago, the mice said:

Depends on which terminals you arrive and depart from.  And good luck if your arrival flight is delayed - better know your options for that situation.  

As mentioned previously you will pay a lot to fly on AA/BA into LHR.

We have had a smooth time with 2 hrs and nightmares with more time than that.  Just saying...

Others with more experience can comment better

 

 

 

I'll ask you both the same question, if we miss our flight are they responsible for getting us on another?

[the mice]

21 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

 

 

I'll ask you both the same question, if we miss our flight are they responsible for getting us on another?

 

Can't speak from experience since we've been fortunate to not had that happen.  I would think yes. But that depends on seats being available.  I assume you have read about the disastrous situation with US domestic flights this past June.  I don't know how things have gone at LHR.

[Globaliser]

50 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I'll ask you both the same question, if we miss our flight are they responsible for getting us on another?

 

If you are travelling on a through ticket, then yes.

[FlyerTalker]

53 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I'll ask you both the same question, if we miss our flight are they responsible for getting us on another?

 

Just be sure to note the difference between "another" and "next".

 

There is no responsibility to put you on the next flight.  Or even the one after that.  They will try to put you on the next flight THAT HAS AVAILABLE SEATS.  They will not bump other passengers to put you onboard.

 

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

48 minutes ago, the mice said:

 

Can't speak from experience since we've been fortunate to not had that happen.  I would think yes. But that depends on seats being available.  I assume you have read about the disastrous situation with US domestic flights this past June.  I don't know how things have gone at LHR.

No. I have heard that recently they were canceling a lot of flights due to storms or something. At least I think it was this month. 
 

23 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

If you are travelling on a through ticket, then yes.

 Great!  Thank you!  

18 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Just be sure to note the difference between "another" and "next".

 

There is no responsibility to put you on the next flight.  Or even the one after that.  They will try to put you on the next flight THAT HAS AVAILABLE SEATS.  They will not bump other passengers to put you onboard.

 

 

Ok, thank you!

[fbgd]

4 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Yes, I have heard from several sources that won’t work. Why on earth do they even offer it? If we fly out of JFK, we will fly there a day prior. 

 

JFK has eight numbered terminals, but only six currently operating. For the majority of through ticketed connections you are going to connect within that terminal, so distances between gates isn't going to be enormous. 

 

Before JFK became my home airport I'd connected through it many times, often in as little as 40mins. Airlines set minimum connection times as such because in the vast majority of cases people will make them. It's in nobody's benefit to allow people to book connections they have little chance of making. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We have our search down to 3 options. I would greatly appreciate your much more experienced opinions!

 

1. Charlotte to Madrid. 6/9 Direct flight, 8 hours. 4:40-6:40

We don’t have quite enough miles so we would have to spend apx $1,200 (buying more miles) total to fly there in PE. We would spend a day in Madrid then take the train to Barcelona (2.5-3 hrs) the next day. 

 

Options 2 and 3 involve us booking a separate flight to Atlanta. It would only use 9.5k miles. I chose a flight that lands at 5:38 just to allow plenty of time to make our flight from ATL-BCN. 
 

2. ATL-BCN 6/10

ATL-LHR 10:25-11:35 (2H 50M between flights)

LHR-BCN 2:25-5:30 

PE 40k + $253.90 each

(Business only has 1 seat available and we would need 2)

 

3. ATL-BCN 6/9

ATL-LHR 10:25-11:35 (2H 55M between flights)

LHR-BCN 2:30-5:35 

Business 57.5k + $754 each

 

Also, if we book one of these and find a better deal in a few months, are we able to cancel and rebook?  Reminder, we would be using AA miles. 

 

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

34 minutes ago, fbgd said:

 

JFK has eight numbered terminals, but only six currently operating. For the majority of through ticketed connections you are going to connect within that terminal, so distances between gates isn't going to be enormous. 

 

Before JFK became my home airport I'd connected through it many times, often in as little as 40mins. Airlines set minimum connection times as such because in the vast majority of cases people will make them. It's in nobody's benefit to allow people to book connections they have little chance of making. 

We intentionally left off JFK because of comments on possibility of missing connecting flights there. If we put them back in the mix, we can fly business for 57k + $753.90. We would fly in the night before, also using miles.   One toon options are either 2H 40M or 4H 30M, also an option of EWR at 2H 40M. 
 

Which airport is easiest to deal with connecting flights?  ATL, JFK or EWR?

Edited July 26, 2023 by NCteacherlovescruising

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

1. Charlotte to Madrid. 6/9 Direct flight, 8 hours. 4:40-6:40

We don’t have quite enough miles so we would have to spend apx $1,200 (buying more miles) total to fly there in PE. We would spend a day in Madrid then take the train to Barcelona (2.5-3 hrs) the next day. 

 

This is the obvious answer to me. Sure, there's an additional cost...but that convenience is unbeatable. Fly straight from home to Madrid, spend a day in what is usually a woefully underrated city (Madrid...which in my book is better than Barcelona), and then an easy and scenic train ride right in to the center of Barcelona. No brainer. 

 

OK, no brainer may be a bit over the top. Business class sure is nice, but I personally would just get to Madrid, spend the time in Madrid, take the train, and enjoy a decent PE product. That's just me. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Zach1213

[NCteacherlovescruising]

1 minute ago, Zach1213 said:

This is the obvious answer to me. Sure, there's an additional cost...but that convenience is unbeatable. Fly straight from home to Madrid, spend a day in what is usually a woefully underrated city (Madrid...which in my book is better than Barcelona), and then an easy and scenic train ride right in to the center of Barcelona. No brainer. 

We don’t mind the extra cost.  I don’t know if I will be able to sleep in PE. I guess I could get a couple hours and stay awake as long as possible, then go to bed early. 

[Zach1213]

3 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We don’t mind the extra cost.  I don’t know if I will be able to sleep in PE. I guess I could get a couple hours and stay awake as long as possible, then go to bed early. 

To be fair, that's kind of the "best practice" anyways (keep active, stay awake (don't nap), go to bed on the early side, wake up generally refreshed). CLT-MAD is pretty short as far as longhaul flying goes, so even if you were able to sleep on the flight, it wouldn't be a huge amount...but that's the same with ATL-LHR - you're in the air around 7.5 hours, so assuming you want to eat and drink (or basically do anything besides just go straight to sleep), you're looking at maybe five hours of sleep. Just want to set expectations that, between eastern North America and Western Europe (especially far Western Europe), the max amount of sleep still isn't a ton. 

 

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

6 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

To be fair, that's kind of the "best practice" anyways (keep active, stay awake (don't nap), go to bed on the early side, wake up generally refreshed). CLT-MAD is pretty short as far as longhaul flying goes, so even if you were able to sleep on the flight, it wouldn't be a huge amount...but that's the same with ATL-LHR - you're in the air around 7.5 hours, so assuming you want to eat and drink (or basically do anything besides just go straight to sleep), you're looking at maybe five hours of sleep. Just want to set expectations that, between eastern North America and Western Europe (especially far Western Europe), the max amount of sleep still isn't a ton. 

 

 

That’s true, besides our time we would land around 2:40 AM. I wouldn’t be sleepy before 11 or so anyway. Read a book and maybe get 2-3 hours sleep. I think we’re going to do this. Less chance of lost luggage and much easier than running around airports. 
 

This would use up all our miles. I have Citi, dh has Barkleys. Then we would both apply for new cards to get the big lump sum after spending so much money. 🤪

Edited July 26, 2023 by NCteacherlovescruising

[NCteacherlovescruising]

On 7/20/2023 at 11:03 PM, taxatty said:

You may also wish to consider taking the AA nonstop CLT-MAD flight, followed by what have become numerous, relatively cheap and fast trains from Madrid to Barcelona--it might work out better for you.

 

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

This is the obvious answer to me. Sure, there's an additional cost...but that convenience is unbeatable. Fly straight from home to Madrid, spend a day in what is usually a woefully underrated city (Madrid...which in my book is better than Barcelona), and then an easy and scenic train ride right in to the center of Barcelona. No brainer. 

 

OK, no brainer may be a bit over the top. Business class sure is nice, but I personally would just get to Madrid, spend the time in Madrid, take the train, and enjoy a decent PE product. That's just me. 

 

We booked the CLT-MAD direct flight.

[Hlitner]

19 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

 

 

I'll ask you both the same question, if we miss our flight are they responsible for getting us on another?

Tough question.  As long as your connection meets the airline’s minimum connection time (which should be the case if they sold you the ticket) the airline will simply put you in their next flight that has available seats.  These days that can sometimes mean being stuck for days.  This happened to us 2 years ago at DFW when AA could not find us seats for 2 days.

 

If you are on your way to a cruise….kind of sad.

 

Hank

[NCteacherlovescruising]

21 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Tough question.  As long as your connection meets the airline’s minimum connection time (which should be the case if they sold you the ticket) the airline will simply put you in their next flight that has available seats.  These days that can sometimes mean being stuck for days.  This happened to us 2 years ago at DFW when AA could not find us seats for 2 days.

 

If you are on your way to a cruise….kind of sad.

 

Hank

We were worried about missing connecting flights or lost luggage so we opted for the direct flight to Madrid. We will enjoy it for a day then take the train to Barcelona. 

[Zach1213]

19 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We were worried about missing connecting flights or lost luggage so we opted for the direct flight to Madrid. We will enjoy it for a day then take the train to Barcelona. 

The only bad part about starting in Spain after an overnight flight is that you might not be able to stay awake for your 10pm dinner 😅

 

Make sure to check out the Royal Palace, Catedral de la Almudena, and Plaza Mayor. Retiro Park is a good option if you just need some space. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

58 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

The only bad part about starting in Spain after an overnight flight is that you might not be able to stay awake for your 10pm dinner 😅

 

 

That’s a given!  Lol Tapas, wine, and early to bed it will be. 🤪

 

58 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

Make sure to check out the Royal Palace, Catedral de la Almudena, and Plaza Mayor. Retiro Park is a good option if you just need some space. 

All 4 are on our list. Good to get another recommendation for them. Thank you!  

[Globaliser]

40 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Tapas, wine, and early to bed it will be. 🤪

 

That sounds like it'll be what the Spanish call a late lunch.