2007 Northern Europe

[skandls]

When do the 2007 Europe schedules come out. We want to use our frequent flyer miles. It seems almost impossible unless you know at least a year out. We want to do X or Holland.

[Andy]

When do the 2007 Europe schedules come out. We want to use our frequent flyer miles. It seems almost impossible unless you know at least a year out. We want to do X or Holland.

 

Hello !

 

They will likely be out between April and June of this year. We usually have a few friends here who give us great information (Especially Rick....Thanks Rick !), so keep an eye out on these boards for details when they become available.

[Bruin Steve]

When do the 2007 Europe schedules come out. We want to use our frequent flyer miles. It seems almost impossible unless you know at least a year out. We want to do X or Holland.

We used AA frequent flyer miles for our air when we did the Constellation Northern Europe route this past July...A few notes that may be of help (true for American Airlines, not sure about other airlines but I think they're all pretty similar):

 

You can't reserve a flight until exactly ELEVEN months before the flight (which also means if you're cruising next summer, you can sit back and not worry about those flights quite yet--no one else can book those seats either).

 

[We were very concerned with booking flights early because they allow limited frequent flyer seats on most flights and it's first come first served...and we really wanted to make sure to get the lone daily nonstop home to LAX from Heathrow...]

 

So...If you call to book your flight OVER, you cannot yet book your return flight...But, do not wait...They can put a 30 day hold on your reservation...So, call EXACTLY 11 months prior to your first leg and reserve (don't cash out the miles yet...just have them hold it), then call back 11 months before each subsequent leg and have them amend the booking...

 

Another little quirk is that they allow you to make an additional stop in Europe for the SAME number of miles as a round trip...They have changed the rules a little from the first time we did that and now limit it to certain "gateway" cities: Madrid, Rome, Zurich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris, London, Manchester and Helsinki, if I remember correctly...We look at this as an opportunity to add on a little varied pre- or post-cruise...

 

Rather than cash in our miles for a simple round trip LAX to London, we flew into Madrid a week ahead of the cruise, spent four nights there, then took the next leg Madrid to London a couple of days ahead of the cruise and flew straight home a day after the end of the cruise...The four nights in Madrid were not very expensive at all as we were able to book a four star hotel for 75 euros a night...and food and local transportation was fairly inexpensive...All in all, it gave us a really nice and distinct (very different from the Northern ports) mini-vacation before the cruise...

 

Good luck...

[jsea]

Another little quirk is that they allow you to make an additional stop in Europe for the SAME number of miles as a round trip...They have changed the rules a little from the first time we did that and now limit it to certain "gateway" cities: Madrid, Rome, Zurich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris, London, Manchester and Helsinki, if I remember correctly...We look at this as an opportunity to add on a little varied pre- or post-cruise...

I think the AA rule on this is that it has to be the first European city touched. Meaning, if you flew LAX-LHR-MAD, you could NOT stopover in Madrid, only London. However, if you flew LAX-MIA-MAD, you could.

[poetic license]

I hope they come out in April, so I can book one on my CENTURY transatlantic:D

 

Cheers,