
This review is part of a trip to Germany.
- Lounge Review: Admirals Club Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal D
- Flight Review: American Airlines First Class – Boeing 777 Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Frankfurt (FRA)
- Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Frankfurt Airport
- Lounge Review: JAL First Class Lounge / Sakura Lounge Frankfurt (FRA)
- Flight Review: American Airlines First Class – Boeing 777 Frankfurt (FRA) to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
- Lounge Review: Admirals Club Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal A
I was planning again a trip to Germany during the holidays and started doing some research. American Airlines was the chosen airline for that trip because I have some System Wide Upgrades (SWU) left. They would expire end of the year if I don’t use them. Originally the plan was to book a trip from Seattle to Munich or at least from Seattle to Frankfurt and from there on Lufthansa to Munich.
To apply the System Wide Upgrade, I called the American Airlines Reservation Desk and started to work with them to look for flights. I was flexible on the travel dates but we couldn’t find a date where I could be confirmed for an upgrade from Economy Class to Business Class. The agent told me I can book a flight and get on the wait list but that’s a huge gamble if I won’t get the upgrade confirmed. I did some more research after our conversation and found a cheap business class fare from Dallas/Ft. Wort to Frankfurt. I called back the Reservation Desk of American Airlines and they were able to confirm me for a First Class upgrade if I buy Business Class. They could confirm me as well for my flight back from Frankfurt to Dallas. The price for the ticket was just under $3,000 USD. Now I had to get from Seattle to Dallas. One option was to add this leg to the existing reservation to Frankfurt. This would also apply the SWU to this flight but after talking to an agent, the price for the whole trip would now be $9,000 USD. No, thank you! I decided to go with a separate ticket, also on American Airlines to requalify for Executive Platinum status. The one-way ticket in Economy Class was roughly about $200.
Early this year I got lucky and American Airlines was able to also book a ticket on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Munich in Economy for only ~$300 USD more including baggage fees. This time, if I wanted to add a ticket to Frankfurt, they wanted $3,000 USD from me. To much. I decided to buy a separate round trip ticket in Economy which was roughly about €210, plus baggage fee for my two bags. Which turned out to be €125 after getting one bag light enough. Now I was set for a trip in long haul First Class to Germany.