Chicago Flyers: How to Save 10,000 American Airlines Miles on Trips to Europe This Summer.
My cousin Mike who lives in Chicago took advantage of a cool trick this weekend. He is planning to fly to Europe this summer with American Airlines miles. Normally, these tickets will cost 30,000 miles each way in economy class. However, there is a way to lower the cost there to 20,000 by taking a small trip beforehand.
What he did was add a flight from Milwaukee to Chicago during the American Airlines off-peak period for travel to Europe. His actual flight to Europe is scheduled for later this summer. The two one-ways together cost 20,000 miles. Let’s review why this works:
Overview
In his strategy, Mike combines a few aspects with American Airlines awards:
- American Airlines allows a free stopover in the North American gateway city on an award between North American and another continent.
- Chicago is Mike’s international gateway city so he can stop there for up to a year from the date of ticket issue.
- The AAdvantage award chart only charges only 20,000 miles when flying between North America and Europe during the off-peak period between October 15 and May 15.
- If the trip starts in the off-peak period, it costs 20,000 miles.
Here is an example where taking a short flight from Milwaukee to Chicago during the off-peak period will make the trip price at 20,000 miles total.
I previously went over these concepts in these posts:
- How to Add Free One-Way Trips on American Airlines Awards
- From Caribbean in Winter + to Europe in Summer for 20,000 American Airlines miles TOTAL
The Steps to Saving 10,000 Miles on Summer Trips to Europe
- Book a multi-city award flight with a segment MKE-ORD before May 15 and ORD-Europe in the summer. Make sure the ORD-Europe flight does not touch North America after leaving Chicago.
- On the day your flight MKE-ORD is scheduled, get someone to drop you off at MKE airport and fly to ORD. Make your way home from there.
By spending a few hours flying MKE-ORD one day this spring, you can save 10,000 miles on your trip to Europe. Of course, it’s questionable whether that 10,000 miles is worth your time (and gas money), but it’s a nice option to have.
The 20,000 mile American Airlines trick is one of my favorite tricks. I, of course, mentioned to my cousin how my parents are taking advantage of this and getting a “better than free” one-way from Saint Martin this spring. That is, a flight to Europe would cost them 30,000 miles, but with the flight from Saint Martin together, the two one-ways together cost them 20,000. He countered with “But all I have to do is drive to Milwaukee. No free trip to Saint Martin required!” I suppose that is a plus… if you really want to avoid a trip to Saint Martin.
Saving Miles To And From Other Destinations
This trick for saving 10,000 miles, of course, doesn’t just apply to trips to Europe. American Airlines has a full off-peak award chart. All you have to do is include a flight during the off-peak award time for your region. For more details and dates for other off-peak regions, you can read my post on the American Airlines AAdvantage Off-Peak Award Chart.
Why did I mention Chicago? Mike explained to me that Milwaukee is apparently not a big deal for Chicago residents. Of course, if you have a close enough airport you can get to and American Airlines offers a short flight to your home city, you can do the same thing. As an example, I can fly from Philadelphia to JFK on US Airways to do the same… but I’d rather do a free one-way to the Caribbean!
So clever! I am keeping this trick in my back pocket.
Thank you for posting this neat trick. I wonder if the trick works from any North American cities (like YYC, YYZ, YVR).
Example:
Will YYC – DFW – FRA/LHR/CDG work?
The other question that I have is – what happen to the miles if I have to change the actual NA gateway to Europe segment? Will I get the miles back?
Your example would work… and, in fact, works from any North American city by creating a stopover in your home city. I don’t believe you can get back the miles for the total ticket as you are already en-route… but I never tried this.
Thks, I am doing the permutation right now on AA website. The blah factor is that I only see BA flights to Europe from DFW and ORD and the taxes and fee are still quite high.
I find it helpful to use the award search map to find destinations in Europe with non-stop flights for particular dates and just exclude partners so you don’t see British Airways. Just select non-stop. I wrote a post on how to do this here: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2014/01/31/search-award-map-american-aadvantage-europe/
Thks again for the pointer but unfortunately I think it has to be BA. I am limited to both DFW departure, and a certain time in July where RIAT is scheduled @ RAF Fairford.
… unless if AA for whatever reason do not display Iberian and I could call AA to find out Iberian award space ….
Uh-oh …. you did listed about Iberian. Thks again! Here’s hoping I find something!
Good luck!
don’t inconvenience your friends by driving to MKE. take the Amtrak from Union station to MKE; there is a station just south of the airport
Good tip!
Thanks for sharing, great tip!
Thanks, love this! I am from Chicago, too, so I can definitely do this.
how did youbook this? call customer service? One thing i hate about aadvantage is having to call to book international oneworld partner awards. They don’t list them online for award booking. they are cruel enough to list rip off scam partners like BA but not the other airlines. BA is a rip off for high fuel surcharge
You can book it online. I explain how to book such things in the post: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2013/03/17/american-airlines-aadvantage-off-peak-europe/ and American Airlines will show all Europe partners online except Iberia.
If only there were not so many AAnytime flights available instead of Savers awards when Off Peaks should be in place. If i call AA directly will I be getting different results for a certain date to fly to MAD from JFK than I am getting online? Will I be able to get any flight with Iberia???
Using Iberia also works with the stopover and saving miles, but Iberia availability is not shown online on the AA website. You can call AA customer service and ask about Iberia availability or check on the BA website, which is my preference. Also, to find non-stop flights to Europe from your city, I like to use the AA award map http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2014/01/31/search-award-map-american-aadvantage-europe/ and that’s how I found my parents flights to Rome with New York as the international gateway city for this summer.
This AA award tool is an awesome one and just let me find out that for my planned trip to MAD from JFK on 04/17/14-04/20/14 I’d need to spend way more miles than using MileagePlus account :)