American adds new international service: Seoul, Lima, Dublin, and Dusseldorf

Last week there were rumors that American would make some big announcements, including new service between DFW and Seoul, South Korea.  I guess that much has turned out to be true.  Yesterday American revealed plans to start service from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Seoul and to Lima, Chicago to Dusseldorf, and JFK to Dublin.

Here are the details:

DFW to Seoul, South Korean (ICN)

This is probably the most exciting, yet surprising, new route.

Korean Air already provides service between Dallas and Seoul, which in a way might seem kind of odd. It made sense for them to fly here back when their Skyteam partner Delta had a hub at DFW, but that came to an end back in 2005. Despite that, Korean has continued to serve the market.

We have a sizable Korean American community, a large Korean Trade District, and several Korean shopping centers, so I suspect that must account for some of the travel between DFW and Seoul.

There are also many business ties between the two cities. Samsung Telecommunications America is based here. I know several people that work at Texas Instruments that travel to Seoul once or twice a month.

My guess is that American looked at all those factors, and despite the fact that they don’t have any partners in Seoul, decided that it was worth competing for that that route.

Here’s a look at the schedule (source: airlineroute.net)

Dallas – Seoul Incheon
Daily Boeing 777 service effective May 9, 2013
AA 27 Depart DFW 10:30 – Arrive 15:00 +1 day
AA 26 Depart Seoul 17:00 – Arrive 16:20

The most important detail is this: round-trip travel between DFW and Seoul earns 13,682 AAdvantage Miles!

DFW to Lima, Peru (LIM)

American used to fly between DFW and Lima but discontinued service in February 2006. Since then, the only way to get to Lima on American was to travel through Miami, but starting in Spring 2013 they’re bringing DFW/Lima service.

For me personally, this was the most exciting news. We’re planning to take a family vacation to Peru in July and that means I’ll be traveling with a six year old. We were actually thinking about taking (gasp!) United and connecting in Houston (shorter flight time and less chance to have the trip interrupted by a hurricane), so this announcement came just in time.

I doubt that American had my vacation in mind when they decided to bring back the route, more likely it was to increase the connection opportunities with LAN. Here’s a look at the schedule:

Dallas – Lima
Daily 757 service effective April 2, 2013
AA 2193 Depart DFW 17:30 – Arrive 00:25 +1 Day
AA 2194 Depart LIM 02:00 – Arrive 09:15

Chicago – Dusseldorf, Germany (DUS)

This new route will give American and oneworld partner airberlin more connection opportunities in Chicago and in airberlin’s Dusseldorf hub. Service starts in the Spring.

Chicago – Dusseldorf
Daily 767-300 service effective April 11, 2013
AA 242 Depart ORD 17:00 – Arrive 08:15 +1 Day
AA 241 Depart DUS 12:10 – Arrive 14:20

New York JFK – Dublin, Ireland (DUB)

Currently, the only way to get to Dublin from New York is to connect in Chicago or London, and this adds considerable time for what should be a short 6 hour flight. American is making it easier to travel to Dublin from the East Coast.

New York JFK – Dublin
Daily 757 service effective June 12, 2013
AA 290 Depart JFK 18:55 – Arrive 06:55 +1 Day
AA 291 Depart DUB 09:00 – Arrive 11:30

It’s good to see American adding new service and new destinations. It mean more opportunities to earn AAdvantage Miles and to use them!

Photo: Downtown Seoul, South Korea
Credit: Mario Sanchez Prada