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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