The UK.
Why Award Flights From or Through the UK are Anything But Free
I was just looking at booking a vacation with my girlfriend to Italy next spring. I've accumulated a bunch of American Airlines miles over the years, and it seemed like a great time to cash some in.
So I find flights, dates, times, that all work with my itinerary. 60K miles each on Economy SAAver miles, booked on British Airways through codeshare, connecting through Heathrow.
I get to the next page and it tells me "120,000 miles +$1477".
Uh, what?
Between UK government fees and British Airways carrier-imposed fees, I'd be spending nearly $1500 for my "free" flight. If I booked a similar itinerary (arrival/departures within 2 hrs of original) for cash, with all flights booked as American Airlines tickets rather than British Airways, and with my return coming through Charlotte NC rather than London Heathrow, it would cost only $1900, and I wouldn't have to spend a single mile. If I booked a different routing through miles that allowed me to avoid London on the return but entirely on American Airlines, I could do it for 155,000 miles and only $150 in fees.
Ridiculous! How can BA and Heathrow justify these fees? Why would anyone who doesn't HAVE to go to London dare pay them?
I wouldn't fly anywhere out of the United States