Questions about international air - Charlotte to Europe

[NCteacherlovescruising]

My husband and I have booked a cruise from Barcelona to Rome for June, 2024.  The only time we've ever flown out of the US was a trip to Aruba many years ago so I have numerous questions.

 

I've been doing mock bookings for this June.  We live in Charlotte.  It appears, to purchase premium economy seats, it would save us thousands of dollars to buy round trip tickets to Rome and then fly from Rome to Barcelona for our cruise.  (Yes, we would fly in early)  Is this typically the case?  Is it a major pain for an American to fly from Italy to Spain?  

 

We currently have a Barclays AAdvantage credit card.  We currently have a zero balance and only 50,000 miles, with plenty of credit available on it to put all our monthly expenses on.  Should we stick with this or is there a better card we should look at?  I have looked at the info on Nerd Wallet, but it doesn't give a lot of details.   It looks like their top choice is something I've never heard of, "Chase Sapphire Preferred".  It doesn't say which airlines we can use miles on.  Does that mean you can use it with any airline?  Or a list of them?  I don't see a list.  American flies direct from Charlotte to Rome, which would be convenient.

 

Is Premium Economy on American Airlines much more comfortable than economy?  I want to be able to get some sleep on the long flight.

 

 

[JHLH821]

We flew AA Premium Economy from Barcelona to JFK last September. We were originally booked on BA and flights were changed- My opinion, AA Premium Economy is better than the same on BA. Food and flight attendant service were good, seats comfortable and you do receive Priority Boarding, (group 3 if I recall). Depending on the plane, seat pitch is 35"-38"?   Here are the perks received in this class:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/seats/premium-economy.jsp

 

Since AA and BA are partner Airlines, make sure the planes are not operated by BA, our last experience with them was awful. 

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

  Is it a major pain for an American to fly from Italy to Spain?  

 

 

 

 

American can't fly from Italy to Spain. It can fly from the US to Italy, or from the US to Spain. But it can't fly from Italy to Spain. Legal issues...the same reason you don't see British Air flying from Charlotte to SFO, for example.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

19 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

American can't fly from Italy to Spain. It can fly from the US to Italy, or from the US to Spain. But it can't fly from Italy to Spain. Legal issues...the same reason you don't see British Air flying from Charlotte to SFO, for example.

I was referring to an American citizen, not American Airlines.  it looks like it would be thousands less to buy round trip tickets to Rome and fly from Rome to Barcelona rather than buy a multi city ticket. 

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I was referring to an American citizen, not American Airlines.  it looks like it would be thousands less to buy round trip tickets to Rome and fly from Rome to Barcelona rather than buy a multi city ticket. 

Its probably easier to fly "domestically" in Europe than in the US. Certainly not harder.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

Its probably easier to fly "domestically" in Europe than in the US. Certainly not harder.

Interesting 

[6rugrats]

There is no problem for an American to book this way, and many people do this.

[Trunkabella]

When you say thousands more, are you pricing out two one-way tickets or an open jaw?

[megr1125]

Also it is much too early to get fares for June 2024.  They generally will not be open to book until about 330 days out.

 

Check "multi city" pricing (open jaw but most sites list it as Multi City) and go CLT-BCN and then FCO-CLT rather than 2 one ways.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

16 hours ago, Trunkabella said:

When you say thousands more, are you pricing out two one-way tickets or an open jaw?

multicity

 

3 hours ago, megr1125 said:

Also it is much too early to get fares for June 2024.  They generally will not be open to book until about 330 days out.

 

Check "multi city" pricing (open jaw but most sites list it as Multi City) and go CLT-BCN and then FCO-CLT rather than 2 one ways.

I know. I was looking at fares for this June thinking they would give us a good idea of what to expect. No?

 

That’s what I did. 

[FlyerTalker]

28 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I know. I was looking at fares for this June thinking they would give us a good idea of what to expect. No?

 

No.  What you are seeing is pricing for:

 

A) Flights in June 2023

B) That are still available for purchase in January 2023

C) At prices for purchases in the current time frame

D) That don't include tickets where the fare bucket has already sold out

E) That do not consider the market dynamics for June 2024

 

In other words, you have a VERY rough guide for some of the pricing.  But with no assurance you will find similar pricing for June 2024 flights bought in January of 2024.

 

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

On 1/7/2023 at 4:22 PM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Interesting 

There are many inexpensive options for flying between Rome and Barcelona.  My husband and I lived nomadically for two years (pre-pandemic) and found RyanAir and EasyJet just fine. Just be sure you recognize what you’re paying for. We needed exit row seats (I’m 6’-7” and he is 6’-3) so typically they offered an additional cost bundle that got us the ability to select a seat (exit row cost a little more) and permission to bring our rollaboard into the cabin. 
 

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

There are many inexpensive options for flying between Rome and Barcelona.  My husband and I lived nomadically for two years (pre-pandemic) and found RyanAir and EasyJet just fine. Just be sure you recognize what you’re paying for. We needed exit row seats (I’m 6’-7” and he is 6’-3) so typically they offered an additional cost bundle that got us the ability to select a seat (exit row cost a little more) and permission to bring our rollaboard into the cabin. 
 

 

Yes, I’ve seen really cheap prices to fly from Rome to Barcelona. 

[FlyerTalker]

34 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Yes, I’ve seen really cheap prices to fly from Rome to Barcelona. 

 

Be sure to check the all-in price, especially if you have a bunch of luggage.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

26 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Be sure to check the all-in price, especially if you have a bunch of luggage.

What’s that?

[CruiserBruce]

17 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

What’s that?

The SLCCs (Super Low Cost Carriers, like Ryanair) list a super low initial price. But then there are all the add ons with fees...like baggage, seat choice, air to breathe (just kidding). So the comment means to figure out the fees you are going to add on, and see if your fare is really cheaper than other carriers.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

11 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

The SLCCs (Super Low Cost Carriers, like Ryanair) list a super low initial price. But then there are all the add ons with fees...like baggage, seat choice, air to breathe (just kidding). So the comment means to figure out the fees you are going to add on, and see if your fare is really cheaper than other carriers.

We will most likely use American Airlines because we can get nonstop round trip tickets from Charlotte to Rome. Or are you referring to our flight from Rome to Barcelona?

[CruiserBruce]

28 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We will most likely use American Airlines because we can get nonstop round trip tickets from Charlotte to Rome. Or are you referring to our flight from Rome to Barcelona?

I was referring to flying Rome to Barcelona. 

[FlyerTalker]

I see no reason to fly between Rome and Barcelona.

 

Just buy an open-jaw (multi-city) ticket with the cruise as the open leg.  The pricing would not be that different to justify the additional ticket - or at least there is no indication that you should do that with flights from CLT.

[fbgd]

21 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

No.  What you are seeing is pricing for:

 

A) Flights in June 2023

B) That are still available for purchase in January 2023

C) At prices for purchases in the current time frame

D) That don't include tickets where the fare bucket has already sold out

E) That do not consider the market dynamics for June 2024

 

In other words, you have a VERY rough guide for some of the pricing.  But with no assurance you will find similar pricing for June 2024 flights bought in January of 2024.

 

Exactly, IMO, this is a futile exercise. 

 

I've a lot of experience buying flights between US Northeast (Washington and New York) and London, having travelled between anywhere up to 7x/year, often at the same time of year, for 20yrs. I honestly don't know how much I'll end up paying for an upcoming summer flight even though I've flown around the same time for the last godknowshowmanyyearsinarow...If I look back at my receipts (albeit not for AA in Premium Economy but usually BA Business/First or AA Business) there's a swing of several thousand dollars between my lowest and highest price.

 

Competition is one of the primary drivers for price and the longhaul low cost carriers are starting to come back after COVID killed a bunch of the bigger ones off. Norse, for example, have opened up a bunch of routes and where they compete the legacies are having to drive their prices way down to either compete or attempt to drive them out of the market. Now, I don't expect Norse to start flights to Charlotte anytime ever but if some other airlines start to go into CLT or the surrounding area then prices could drop. 

Edited January 9, 2023 by fbgd

[Zach1213]

52 minutes ago, fbgd said:

Now, I don't expect Norse to start flights to Charlotte anytime ever 

 

Neither do I, but the moment I saw Icelandair announce Raleigh/Durham (and previously Kansas City), I realized that anything is possible. 

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Neither do I, but the moment I saw Icelandair announce Raleigh/Durham (and previously Kansas City), I realized that anything is possible. 

And I volunteer at RDU and the Iceland Flights are doing pretty good. I hope to fly on them in July to meet our Viking cruise. 🤞.  

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

And I volunteer at RDU and the Iceland Flights are doing pretty good. I hope to fly on them in July to meet our Viking cruise. 🤞.  

 

As someone who really loves the Raleigh area and gets there about once a year (wish it was more), it's great to see the region able to sustain several flights to Europe. I know AA's LHR route is primarily there for cargo (so I've always heard), but I'm glad to see DL bring back their CDG route earlier this year, and then Icelandair of course. 

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

As someone who really loves the Raleigh area and gets there about once a year (wish it was more), it's great to see the region able to sustain several flights to Europe. I know AA's LHR route is primarily there for cargo (so I've always heard), but I'm glad to see DL bring back their CDG route earlier this year, and then Icelandair of course. 

I’m not sure the cargo is as important as it likely was when Burroughs Welcome was headquartered here but no real insight. I often work the info podium near the AA ticket desk and it seems very busy in the late afternoon prior to the LHR flight.  
 

Just an FYI, in addition to the three European destinations, there are now nonstops (seasonal maybe) to Cancun on AA and Jetblue and to the Bahamas on Bahamas Air twice a week. We also have new service from Avelo and Breeze just announced they are opening a crew base here! 

[Zach1213]

15 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

I’m not sure the cargo is as important as it likely was when Burroughs Welcome was headquartered here but no real insight.

 

Pharmaceuticals is what I was told, though I don't remember what company. Someone making pharmaceuticals in the RDU area and shipping them to Europe via AA's LHR route.