✈ Cheapest Flights to Europe Using Points, 9 Best Hotels for Your Spring Vacation & More From TPG ✈

March 31, 2025

Finding cheap award rates to Europe

by Sean Cudahy, Senior Aviation Reporter

It’s shaping up to be another big summer for trips to Europe, and if you’re planning on hopping across the Atlantic, it’s time to get booking — whether you’re paying for your flights out of pocket or using points and miles.

Here are the airline loyalty programs I regularly check to find the cheapest redemptions:

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: This program regularly offers some of the lowest award pricing between the U.S. and Europe. You may get stuck with a high surcharge on top of the points, but with economy seats to the U.K. running as low as 6,000 points on low-demand days, it can be a steal nonetheless. You can even find lie-flat Upper Class seats for as little as 29,000 points one-way – and it is quite a swanky experience!

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan: Alaska offers some of the most valuable miles of any U.S. airline, TPG has found, trailing only American Airlines AAdvantage miles. Because the carrier uses a distance-based award chart, you can find approachable redemptions even on high-demand days. On the shortest flights between the U.S. and Europe, business-class seats aboard partners (like American) start at 45,000 miles — or 22,500 miles for an economy seat.

I’ve also booked similar economy redemptions for 22,500 miles directly with AAdvantage — but with American’s more dynamic award pricing model, it’s less common that you’ll find a seat at that price.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue: I always check Flying Blue, having scored a 15,000-mile one-way seat to Rome (via Paris) last summer. Sadly, those days are over, but seats still start at 18,750 miles one-way in economy, or 60,000 miles for a lie-flat business seat on either the French or Dutch carrier.

Some more resources for booking that redemption to Europe:

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Photo Credit: ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY.

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