Zach1213

While I generally subscribe to the "book with the airline operating the flight" theory, there can be pricing advantages to booking a codeshare. There are sometimes surprisingly drastic price differences, and if the difference is big enough, I say it's worth it to book the codeshare...especially in the case of this flight where all of those OneWorld members play fairly friendly with each other (especially AA, BA, and IB).

Iberia doesn't have 787s, they have A350s, so you're likely seeing the American Airlines 787 flight (AA36, which is codeshared as Iberia 4607). Madrid Airport is a solid place to transfer - you'll be confined within the absolutely gigantic but easy-to-navigate Terminal 4/4S (which is sterile and boring, but easy), and there are a LOT of Iberia flights from MAD to BCN to be accommodated on if needed. EDIT - one other option...Barcelona is lovely, but so is Madrid. One option is to split your couple of days between Madrid and Barcelona. Fly in to Madrid, spend the first day or two there, take a train to Barcelona, day or two there, and then the cruise.

Just a heads up, Southwest doesn't fly to JFK. You also mention DFW above, and they don't fly out of DFW either. They do fly to LaGuardia, and have nonstops from DAL to LGA. You could also look at flying in to Newark (though not on Southwest, they don't fly to Newark), getting in to the city, spending the night in the city (with the associated fun of the city), and heading out to JFK the next day for the transatlantic flight.

There's actually sometimes a bit of an advantage in connecting via Europe instead of the US - options. Let's say you're planning to fly DFW-JFK-BCN on American, and there is a delay where you miss your connection in JFK. Your options are fairly limited - maybe they'll put you on an Iberia flight via Madrid, or a BA flight via London, or make you wait for tomorrow's AA flight if there's space. However, if you flew, say, DFW- Paris (CDG)-BCN on Air France and misconnect at CDG, you suddenly have 5-6 CDG-BCN Air France nonstops per day to be accommodated on, as well as 1-2 ORY-BCN flights (ORY is Orly, the other Paris airport). In a pinch, you could also put yourself on easyJet or Vueling's CDG-BCN nonstops, or even a train.

Two hours should be fine if everything is on time (the caveat for every connection, of course). I wouldn't want any less than two hours, personally, but you'll likely be okay. I'm a somewhat regular on the Australia/New Zealand flights where you leave Auckland at, say, 8pm and arrive in to Los Angeles at like 11am on the same day. I have a friend who is from Japan but lives in Hawaii - her Tokyo to Honolulu flights gain even more time (leave Tokyo at 8pm and arrive at 8am the same day).

This should be a pretty good/easy routing. Note you'll clear US immigration in Toronto, so make sure you have some extra time for that. 16 hours always sounds like a lot, but when you realize you're going from freakin' Japan to Florida, it starts to become apparent how amazing modern air transport is.

One thing to consider, if you want to see both, is that the British Isles are probably better for a cruise, whereas the Netherlands is probably better for a land trip (especially with their insanely good train system).

You'll notice a lot of fairly short connections in MUC, even for flights that involve immigration and security re-clearance (like yours). Munich is just set up to be very efficient, and is. Connections that I would never try to make in other airports are generally no problem in Munich, so just keep that in mind.

I miss the days when we had WDH-FRA-LGW. That was handy. Alas, I don't see it happening anytime soon 🙂 As a OneWorld frequent flier, there was a time when it was awfully nice to have Comair operating BA-coded flights in to Windhoek. Alas, they finally ceased to exist as an airline this year.

You will clear Schengen immigration at MUNICH. This is because the Rome to Munich flight is intra-Schengen and, as such, operates within the same immigration system, meaning passports aren't required. There will be plenty of people flying Rome to Munich who won't be leaving the Schengen zone, and thus won't need or have passports with them. EU/EEA citizens, for example, will likely just have their national ID cards with them for intra-Schengen travel. Since you are officially leaving the Schengen zone in Munich (to board your USA-bound flight), that is when they will check your passport* and you will officially exit Schengen-land. It shouldn't take long. German immigration is usually very efficient (thorough, but efficient...so, Germany in a nutshell) and the lines aren't usually too long. Don't factor in too much extra time for this. * - they will check your passport when you check in at Rome airport, but this is for identity check and documentation check, NOT an immigration process.

Psht, skip Johannesburg and come next door to Namibia. We're way cooler. Signed, A Namibian Who Speaks The Truth (Keep Cape Town though, it's bad ass)

Too late to edit, but damn, realized I didn't put any units in this. Tokyo to Orlando is, obviously, 7251 giraffe's apart in distance*. * - and by giraffe's, I mean miles.

Minneapolis or Detroit might be a great balance of being pretty much along the most direct route (especially Minneapolis) and easy to connect through. Both have nonstops from Tokyo (I believe Haneda) on Delta.

Connecting on the West Coast is a waste, in my opinion. It's a bit of a misnomer that the west coast is a good break area - it's actually quite a bit out of the way of the direct path. For example, Tokyo to Orlando nonstop is 7251; Tokyo to Los Angeles to Orlando is actually about 400 miles (5.8%) longer. Maybe you could stop in Vancouver along the way (which is closer to being in a straight line between your origin and destination), but there aren't a lot of options on the Vancouver to Orlando route without having to change planes...again. I would just suck up and take it. There are a million amazing places to visit in Japan, but Tokyo is your best bet to fly in and out of. Even if you're elsewhere in the country, the trains make it so easy to get back to Tokyo, and very few other airports in Japan offer nonstops to the US (aside from maybe Hawaii-bound flights). As far as Tokyo airports go, Haneda is easier from the city center, but Narita will likely offer you more options. Both area easy to get to, but Narita is further out from the city.

That makes a lot more sense now. I only search April since your post only mentioned April. I do still see the AA+AA flights available on their website for 9 May, but obviously a moot point since you already have them.

That's odd that you can't see it anywhere else. I did a spot search of 10 different dates in April on AA.com and can see the AMS-PHL-YYZ route each day (AA 203 connecting to AA 6116). As far as Heathrow goes, to each their own...I know it's not ideal, but I connect through it many times each year and rarely run in to issues.

Oh I definitely understand that Jamaican nationality law has no applicability here, I was just answering the question about if jus soli exists in Jamaican nationality law. Bahamian nationality law could or could not be applicable because of the registration of the ship...Bahamian nationality law does also have jus soli/birthright citizenship, so maybe they're eligible for that too. As a dual citizen, I'm a bit proponent of getting as many passports as you can 🙂 The odds are they're American, sure, but even others (Canadians, Europeans, etc.) could get taken to Miami simply because it's the closest place with the best hospitals.

I believe Jamaica does have birthright citizenship/jus soli. As far as gaining it through your parent(s), I don't think it's necessarily limited to the mother. In some (even many) countries, it is, but I don't believe the US limits it to the mother...it could be the father. https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learn-about-citizenship/i-am-the-child-of-a-us-citizen

TAP's website states that flight, on 10 November 2023, is operated by A321LR neo. While that can be a bit confusing, my understanding of TAP is that the "LR" portion is the important one. In this case, it does look like this flight will have the lie flats. At least, as of now.

I am glad you italicized the could part, because it's definitely a "it's in the rules, but takes a lot to get the airline to enact" kind of thing. I have done throwaway tickets several times throughout the years, even with the same airline, and nothing happens. Doing it once or twice has an almost zero percent chance of getting penalized. Now, if you make a regular habit of it on the same airline, that may start causing penalties and issue. Even that can be a "it depends" kind of thing. For example, if you're booked, say, LHR-ATL-BNA and but want to get off in Atlanta, it's not really an issue because you'll need to claim your bag in Atlanta anyways to clear customs...you just wouldn't re-check it afterwards, and would instead just walk out of the airport with it. Definitely happens with some fares. I believe the "basic economy" fare (or equivalent) on United, Delta, America, Alaska, and Hawaiian all restrict changes/cancellations, even with a fee.

That's no way to live Agreed, I like the smell. Technically still against the rules as the ports are usually US federal property and it's illegal federally. Kind of like bringing it through the TSA at the airport...they probably won't narc you to the cops, but they will likely take it away from you. I mean, so I have heard..............

Sounds like the other guy had a lot more fun being a consumer than you did 🙂

I technically have an office, but between working from home and traveling for work, I am in there like...one day every month or two? They always joke that when they see me, they know it's because something needs to be printed.

My wife and I have a backup plan of each other. It's unlikely both of us will have tech issues with our phones/devices at the same time, so we just share everything and both have a digital copy. We also save all of our travel stuff in TripIt, which doesn't require Internet once it's in there...so that's a good place to keep all of our travel info should we need to pull up confirmations, flight info, etc. I use it for my work travel too (which is extensive) and it has never let me down yet in the 10+ years I've been using it (and is also a great way for my wife to figure out where I am at any given moment on the road).

Here's the guide from the airport website: https://www.torontopearson.com/en/connections/guide?arrivingairline=aca&arrivingdestination=phl&departingairline=aca&departingdestination=vce