One of the questions we frequently get is how to use miles for business class flights to Europe, which is usually closely followed ”okay, but what are the best flights with miles?”
Continue reading: The Best Ways To Fly Business Class To Europe With Miles
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Just my $0.02 - Royal Air Maroc would make a great addition to this list. They have become my go to for bargain award tickets to Europe, almost always available. A key points:
-They can booked from JFK, IAD or YUL and have an extensive route network within Europe via CMN. They have up to 3 flights daily to JFK, so great connectivity through CMN
-Can be booked for 44K Etihad miles in J via transfer from Amex Membership Rewards. This is an incredible deal
-Incredible award availability ( seem to have 2-3 seats on every flight)
-Above average product: would never confuse them with Qatar, but sure beats any of the European majors. Flat bed 787s for the TATL leg and a proper narrow body business class for the Europe connecting leg (which is more than can be said for any of the majors!)
Everyone likes to complain about British Air and their outrageous surcharges and I'm no exception. However, I recently booked a business class ticket from Seattle to Munich via ORD and LHR and was happy to get any premium award seats for my preferred travel date. My complaint is that even after paying the points and the $500+ in surcharges, they wanted another $95 each to select seats or wait until 24hrs before departure!! I think this restriction should get more press. I call that BS BA!
Another $0.02, Aeroflot has been blocking long-haul partner award redemptions starting earlier this year. And Delta-Aeroflot has ended their mutual redemption agreement starting Aug 15. So it is no longer a valid option for redemption for us based in the US.
Wow. This is an amazing post. Probably the most useful I've ever seen on here (thought don't get me wrong, a lot of the content is interesting even if it's not directly applicable to me). Hopefully other continents follow later?
Bookmarked !! I would like to hear more about RAM mentioned in the comments, I have heard about it a couple of times but not many people sharing actual experience booking it...
Had no problem booking AC J using OZ points. 40,000 transferred from Marriott with no fuel surcharges.
Odd as well that you neglect Canadian departure points given it opens up many more options, esp. given you include Air Canada.
@ Stanley -- Interesting. Hadn't heard that, will dig into it, thanks for the heads up!
I'd add Air Tahiti Nui to this list also, if only for their nonstop LAX-CDG flight.
Great post. You missed Condor. Hard product is not great compared to others on this list, but there is award availability.
I second that on Condor. Hard product wasnt great, but the food was kind of shockingly abundant and good.
Also, I hear that Air Serbia no longer has the "true" business class intra-europe. Apparently they've stripped those seats out and now have a similar product to what LH/AF/BA, etc offer - just a blocked middle seat.
@Tiffany There is a discussion thread on flyertalk about this development: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1895438-skymiles-redemption-aeroflot-disappeared-3.html
Also I have personally tried to book an SU award earlier this year using skymiles. Although the website shows seats but neither the website or phone agent is able to book that. Would be great to see a post regarding this issue!
Good post, but even if visiting Eastern or Southeastern Europe, Aeroflot and Turkish aren't the most practical options, in terms of how much extra time you would be wasting, however good their product is.
@ Brian -- I didn't list all destinations for all carriers, just highlighted availability trends where I thought they were particularly relevant. Are there carriers that only operate between Canada and Europe that I missed?
The fuel surcharges thing with Asiana is interesting -- do you mind my asking roughly when you issued that ticket?
@ Thomas @ Jason -- I can add it, I just generally feel like even under the most generous definition of "best", there aren't many good justifications for using miles on Condor. The award rates through Alaska are very high, and their paid fares are very low, so it's not a great value in most cases.
@ Abe -- You can read more about booking Royal Air Maroc and the experience in these posts of Ben's:
• https://onemileatatime.com/redeem-miles-royal-air-maroc/
• https://onemileatatime.com/redeem-etihad-miles-business-class-royal-air-maroc/
• https://onemileatatime.com/ram-business-class-787-review/
@ Sam -- It's a great redemption, I just didn't include it because the line had to be drawn somewhere, and I arbitrarily decided that should be flights that "touched" Europe first after leaving the U.S. or Canada. Otherwise we'd be including nearly every airline, and this is already too long!
Alaska is a BA redemption partner.
They also have the best chart for BA F of anyone... isn’t BA F the world’s best business class? 😉
@ Stanley -- Yeah, I was just able to get an agent to read me the memo. It has...very little information, so not sure I can make a post about it just yet. Oy!
Tiffany, are you still finding 70K one-way Delta business class awards over the Atlantic? For a while now it has seemed that the cheapest price is 86K one-way, no matter the date. Which is both ridiculous on its own and also completely nonsensical given that partners are still 75K, but I haven't seen a single 70K award in quite a while (at least for booking flights that operate in 2019).
Wild card: Egyptair. Pretty good availability, even for 3-4. I find their seats comfortable and service good. Best of all you can use your layover to see the pyramids! 55k with Aeroplan if you have a <24 hour layover to Europe 1.
@Tiffany — last week (online) but have been seeing this pretty regularly as of late.
Very informative post, thank you, will definitely be bookmarking. Look forward to more like this to come.
Since you are mentioning even those carriers with only 1 transatlantic flight (ET, 9W); I think you missed mentioning Air India's LHR-EWR route. Its actually more useful than ET's LAX-DUB route for example.
I was on the phone with Aeroplan 2 weeks ago regarding booking a Business Class Award Ticket to Europe. I asked if it was possible to use SAS, with whom I have EBS. I was informed that for a while now, Aeroplan is not able to see SAS flights for points, nor book them. Not sure if it's an ongoing issue, but as far as I was made aware, SAS was off the table when it came to an Aeroplan reward, at least at that point.
You can use Alaska on AA and BA.
Alaska does allow Icelandair but finding business awards using Alaska can be tough.
You can and may be should use Turkish miles for flights on Turkish. I've just booked a flight to TLV from BOS in Business for 47k miles. That flight was not available on United or Aeroplan.
Great article! Just one suggestion, add a button to return to the table of content after every airline, makes it easier to go back to the table of content to look at multiple airlines.
@ Bob -- Yes! Forgot to do that! Has to be hand-coded unfortunately, but will try to get to it soon.
Fab article! In the sea of post's that are just recycled and old news from "flyertalk" , post's like this one remind a lot of us why we started reading this blog in first place!
This is so comprehensive, great post!
It would be great to see some kind of "best of" within this list itself - lowest points, lowest fees, best experience, best for west coasters/east coasters - really anything to help get through the volume.
Thank you, this is useful. It would be even more so if you listed the routes served by each airline. That's the thing I find myself researching every time I'm trying to find TATL availability, since I generally search by segment.
@ dbeach -- That would be nearly impossible for me to keep updated, but Wikipedia is a fabulous resource for that, and is what I use!
Delta charges whatever they want. BTW, if you fly out of MSP where there is no competition good luck finding the numbers you have in your post. Just did a random search for June 2019 and prices are way north of 300,000 miles for a round trip MSP-AMS.
This. Is. The. Best. Article. On. Availability.
Seriously, most articles just say how you can get some place in business class on points (ahem, Hawaii) but they don't call it like it is (which for Hawaii for example, is a Hail Mary!). Thank you Tiffany. After following this and other sites, I've figured most of what you wrote on my own, but for people new to this, this is perfect!
@ Tiffany — Understood - of course you had to draw the line somewhere. But CMN is just ~300 miles from LIS, so almost Europe. Also I would argue probably a more useful connecting point from North American cities than IST, which is a good 3 hours flying time east of many western European destinations (thereby requiring backtracking). Think this is a terrific post regardless.
I might have a quibble with using BA and Alaska miles... your options for Europe using Alaska miles are:
- Condor
- Finnair
- Icelandair
- British Airways
- American
That's it. You've excluded Condor and Icelandair for reasons of low value (which I get, though if you're getitng 2+ CPM for redemptions and Lucky says AS miles are only worth 1.8 CPM, there's an argument for it), and American too (I don't quite get that, but whatevs- AA TATL availability is a bad joke most of the time anyway, so it's kind of a angels on the heads of pins argument anyway).
Finnair means a) quirky availability and b) for common Western/Southern Europe destinations like the UK/Ireland/France/Italy/Spain/Greece, a two to four hour backtrack in European business class. Oh, and 10k extra miles over BA, so at Lucky's valuation, you're spending $180 of cash value in extra miles. Yeah, you avoid fuel surcharges... but if you're buying Alaska miles anyways... you're spending cash, right?
I don't think it's unreasonable to assert that BA is probably the most available/reasonable option for premium TATL to and from Western Europeif you're using AS miles, given that BA J and F are pretty available year-round and there's a smaller premium for BA F than any other BA partner.
Also, you don't HAVE to use the AS free stopover in LHR and get gouged for UK APD... say, add on a free one-way trip to Hawaii and Mexico from an AS gateway (though this is beyond the scope of your article). That also adds value compared to other BA partners (like AA) or Avios (connections add miles required).
Alaska is arguably weaker right now in Europe than any alliance-affiliated program, though, though if Aer Lingus comes online and there is some ex-DUB connection availability to/from Europe, that improves some. (I hear there isn't much of that, though.)
I might be missing something, but on the United section she mentions that anywhere in US to anywhere in Europe for 60k miles. Home airport is SFO and Whenever i check United’s website, I see standard business award fares for 155k one way or 70k saver. How do I get these for 60k?!? Overall, great post
@ eponymous coward -- You're exactly right, and it's a huge weakness in the Alaska program. I would use their miles to Asia, or for BA First as you mention, but their business class redemptions are pretty abysmal to Europe right now.
So yes, BA is a good option if you have to use Alaska miles to Europe, but I would posit that the better approach right now would be to accumulate different miles entirely if Europe is a travel goal.
@Tiffany -- great guide!
I just booked a R/T on Alitalia next year (JFK-MXP, MXP-FCO-JFK) for 80K transferred from Amex and minimal surcharges. I took them last year and actually it was pretty great. I almost booked one way at 48K but then realized that booking a R/T gets you a 16K discount.
That's a damn good deal considering 80K MR points is the same as a one-way in Delta.
@ Ryan -- You're probably seeing availability on partners (you're usually only going to find SFO>LHR space on United a day before travel). If you're on United the entire journey, the saver rate is a bit lower.
Yeah, 'cept I live in Seattle and thus have AS miles, and like to do Europe travel during summer, and plan it in advance. BA is an actual option for this, probably more so than anything else unless you can hold your breath and wait for LH F inside of 14 days off of your favorite *A program.
The other problem I find is that USA domestic availability for connections turns to garbage for most alliance programs (UA/AA/DL). If I am buying positioning flights to avoid fuel surcharges and get LH F or OS J... I'm still spending cash.
For what it's worth, I'm 2-2 the last two times getting AA and BA home from Europe using AS on RTW "keep going West" summer itineraries (I am usually blending AS miles and AV miles for this- the advantage being USA-Asia-Europe-USA is easier in summer than USA-Europe-USA).
A recent development - TAP awards no longer have fuel surcharges when booked through Aeroplan.
@tiffany I'm a loyal omaat reader so I've read all of those 😉 thanks anyway....
They are from quite a while ago so maybe some readers have recent experience finding space/booking on RAM ?
@ abe -- Nothing has really changed, as far as I know. We book it pretty consistently 🙂
"The exception (on AA) is the New York JFK to London LHR route, which has an acceptable amount of space."
Just searched JFK-LHR June thru August 2019. Not a single Saver J seat all Summer on a non-stop flight. 2 seats available several days a week mid July thru August, but only if you transfer, say AA Eagle LGA-RDU, then non-stop RDU-LHR. Or New York area to CLT, or ORD, and then on to LHR. So then you can fly non-stop RDU/CLT/ORD right? Nope, if you don't take that connecting flight first, AA won't give you the LHR flight. Lots of availability in August from RDU, but only by stopping in CLT or PHL. What kind of nonsense is that? 🙁
@ Robert Hanson -- Yep, it's nonsense. The JFK > LHR route is generally better most of the year, but all bets are off over peak summer (though there's a chance if you're booking far in advance). Completely ridiculous approach to loyalty over at AA these days.
@Tiffany I'm busy with a move and work right now so haven't had a chance to read this. But I've bookmarked it and am anxiously awaiting diving in. This is AWESOME! Thanks for working so hard on this.
I agree with Santastico
If you’re locked into a Delta Hub life is hard
It’s typically 150,000 ONE WAY for J MSP-Europe in summer. Often more
I’d love a post about miles redemptions from fortress hubs like ATL, MSP, DFW, MIA etc
We always position. It’s worked every time except right now (MSP-JFK position flight 2 hours late and JFK-ZRH flight left EARLY. Ugh
Then again perhaps there are no posts about it because we have no options
Regarding BA — don’t leave out the $116-$140 (or more?) to choose your seat in advance (per seat).
@ OR97 -- Or just don't pay that, and wait until check-in, which generally works okay enough.
@ Santastico @ JRMW -- I feel ya! I'm in Spokane now, so "we always position" is a way of life. Typically aiming to redeem miles outside of the fortress airline alliance can be a good strategy (though MSP is extra tough). Like there's usually good Star Alliance space out of the Delta and American hubs, SkyTeam often has good space out of Miami and Houston, etc.
@Tiffany - Absolutely brilliant post, these kind of articles are a reminder of why I visit OMAAT daily! One thing I would add however, is that there is a pretty quirky redemption on Jet Airways using the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - 40,000 miles one way on Business with minimal taxes (~$50) from Toronto-Amsterdam. Definitely worth a look!
Thanks Tiffany!
Quite a detailed article that obviously took a lot of time and effort. Will be a "go to" for me from now on.
Wow. That is impressive Tiffany!
There really are so many ins and outs with the various programs to consider, including those you have to call to book and the variations in how many fuel surcharges there are.
Thanks for the emphasis for is left coasters! Europe be far away...
Thanks for such a great post @Tiffany! I'm not even based in the US but it's still great to have one post with so many options compared and listed together. It's so easy to use. Well done.
Thanks again 🙂
Am just a low level awards flyer and new to this site. Something strikes me as curious. Why is TPG big on Alaska Air and this site and following comments don't seem to be. Exhibit A - Alaska is partners w Aer Lingus and is not even mentioned. No need to answer. Just a comment.
@ Pamela Gould -- Welcome! I can't speak to why TPG promotes a certain airline or not, but they have a large team of analysts and editors directing their content, so they probably have a good reason!
In our case, while Alaska and Aer Lingus have announced a partnership and reciprocal earnings agreements, it's not yet possible to redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles for flights on Aer Lingus.
But that's a good question, and I appreciate you asking so thoughtfully!
You rock Tiffany, as always. The amount of detail in this post is like no other.
@ Sam ... Or anyone
Royal Air Maroc does have great availability. There are 2 seats on most days. I am wanting to know if more availability tends to open up closer to departure or once these two are booked. It's not a popular route so I havn't seen much info about this... any insight?
Tiffany, I sincerely enjoy your posts! The tone and added random humor are always spot on, great job!
I was an Exec Plat agent with AA in RDU reservations up until a few years ago and unfortunately your points there are pretty valid. Of course the focus here is premium cabin travel, just a reminder there is consistent low-milage Y availability on RDU-LHR. Finding low-milage J is and has always been next to impossible, which will only get worse when the JFK based 772s used on the route get Premium Economy at the expense of J seats.
Brilliant post - I too have bookmarked it.
Is there any chance that you could add Miles & More miles required to the Star Alliance redemptions?
There might be some value in an article (I would suggest joint by authors on both side of the pond) about which FFPs it can most often make sense to join even if one does not live near their country.
E.g. Although in Europe, I have credit card points which can convert to Delta, Singapore etc.
I have heard Alaska, Aegean and Avianca.
Superb post. Part of being able to get places with miles is knowing which airlines use which points currencies.
You could potentially turn this post into one of the "Tips and Tutorials" posts.
@ Bagoly -- I would probably not recommend Miles&More for transatlantic redemptions outside of Lufthansa. They charge fuel surcharges even for carriers that wouldn't have them otherwise, so it gets very expensive very quickly, and you lose the benefit of extra availability on LH carriers.
Thank you for the terrific article!! Agreed @Ryan I have looked for a variety of tickets to Europe on United and almost never find the Saver awards, it is almost always the higher 70-90,000 "everyday" awards. (I have to connect since I live in Austin and this may factor in). But what is INTERESTING as heck to me is to see how to use United miles to fly Lufthansa because LH just announced they are starting flights direct from Austin to Frankfurt in May 2019! Hazzah! Final thoughts re United over water: almost all the flights to Europe on United are the horrible 2x4x2 business class- you have to look hard for the legacy Continental planes and you can almost forget about real Polaris since they rotate maybe two of those planes randomly between US-EU and US-South America routes.
'United MileagePlus charges 60,000 miles in business class from anywhere in the U.S.' Hello, Hawaii is also in the US, and United Mileage Plus charges between 65K and 75K from here to Europe in business, usually with good availability, but often 'mixed cabin'. You can get it for 70K on Delta if you find a lucky spot on their Russian Roulette award chart, and I got one for 70K last year on AA, 8 months ahead, from Zurich, maybe because it was a new route, don't see anything these days.
"Typically" Brilliant post!
For anyone who has not heard Tiffany speak at an FTU or Chicago Travel Seminar she can only write but is a funny and entertaining speaker.
All I can find for an award ticket in business class on Turkish Air on their own website is 105,000 each way. Am I missing something?
Tiffany, great post. I have used your info for several great bookings. So let me give back, based on my most recent booking using ANA miles, 88,000 roundtrip. The ANA website will often not show you the best routings with lowest surcharges, especially if it is two stops. So when I entered BOS-PRG, PRG-BOS into the search engine, it returned a bunch of one-stops, recommending Lufthansa in both directions, with $1400+ in fees. So I compared to the United website and found an outbound on Air Canada, BOS-YUL-FRA-PRG. Combined with a PRG-LIS-BOS the ANA website did show, the fees dropped to $195! When I tried to book this on the ANA website, I kept getting error messages, but when I called ANA customer service, the agent was able to book what I wanted.
Similarly, the ANA website would not show me an outbound on a different day of BOS-LIS-VIE-PRG on TAP/OSS, with fees just a few dollars more than the AC/TAP combination. I should also mention that the fees on Turkish Airlines are not that bad, about $200 each way. TAP appears to be virtually no more than Air Canada in terms of fees.
The crucial thing is to search on United or Aeroplan to find out the true availability of saver level seats on routings ANA won't even suggest.