Finding an affordable way to fly to Europe in June, July, and August can be a challenge. Even just for an economy seat, you might be staring at $1,200 to $2,000 roundtrip fares. Why? Because you’re running that search alongside 20 million other Americans doing the exact same thing.
June, July, and August—what we call the peak summer months—are a pricing nightmare for travelers and a dream for airlines, charging millions of passengers four figures each. That kind of demand swells airfare prices and leads many travelers to tuck their tail and run before even getting started.
But don’t give up just yet: I’m here to show you that there are ways around it. As always here at Thrifty Traveler, we love aiming for sweet spots—the nooks and crannies of travel booking where you and I can beat the airlines at their own game.
Here’s where to look when booking a summer trip to Europe in 2025.
Using Cash? Aim for August
We search for summertime airfare to Europe every single day at Thrifty Traveler Premium, and when we find it, we always send it to our Premium flight deal alert subscribers. Those subscribers already know what I’m about to tell you: The vast majority of cheap summer fares to Europe can be found in August.
It’s not a new trend, but it is shifting slightly. Where August fares used to pop up in the last two weeks of August (when many families are already back to school and can’t travel), we’re seeing that timeline creep up little-by-little. In the first few weeks of August, there’s some value to be found, too.
Take this Scotland deal, for example.
We rounded up some of the lowest fares to Inverness (INV) and sent them to subscribers at all of these airports (and more—there’s only so much room on the screen for my screenshots here!) And what we found was that most of these fares included some rare August availability that crept into the first week of the month even.
Just a few days prior, we dug into some low fares to the Faroe Islands and found August availability there, too! The best fares were in October on this deal, but the August fares were only slightly more.
Baltimore (BWI), Chicago (ORD), New York City (JFK/EWR), and Washington D.C. (IAD) flyers could snag these during August, for example.
These are two of our latest examples, but I’ll give everyone a prediction: This trend is just getting started.
As spring progresses, the airlines tend to drop August fares even further and to more destinations when they see demand is softer in that month. If you have a trip in mind for this August, I’m giving you permission to hold out hope! The low fares will come—and we’ll send them to our Premium members as soon as they do.
Use Those Points & Miles
While you can hit August and make out just fine when booking summertime fares, if you want to fly in June or July, you’ll need to break out those points and miles you’ve been hoarding.
We’ve found several ways to use points and miles to fly to Europe this summer, but the hits just keep coming. Ireland, anyone?
These nonstop flights to Dublin (DUB) flying Aer Lingus are a perfect way to use your Alaska miles—and only 35,000 of them roundtrip!
This widespread sale is the perfect way to snag those hard-to-book June and July flights that probably cost more than $1,200 in cash right now.
We also found a perfect way to use your Delta SkyMiles this summer, too. Flying Delta’s nonstop flights to Iceland (KEF), you can use as few as 38,000 SkyMiles roundtrip (or less if you have the TakeOff15 discount with a Delta credit card) to fly to the land of the midnight sun!
Flying Blue points, which you can transfer in from Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Wells Fargo can be used to book many of these nonstop flights as well. Your choice!
And while we’ve got our Flying Blue tab open in your browser, check out some of the other ways you can fly to Europe using these valuable points.
If you fly Air France or KLM themselves, you can fly nonstop to Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG), or to dozens of other European cities for as little as 38,000 points roundtrip when there’s award availability. This is the perfect way around that $2,000 fare to Europe. Those points aren’t doing you any good in your account. Take an expensive flight and make it free(ish) instead!
When cash rates go sky high, your points are your savior when it comes to summer flights to Europe. Don’t let those points sit around for another year. Book something incredible this summber instead.
Business Might Be Best
Over the last few years, an undeniable trend is taking hold when it comes to Europe flight deals over the peak-summer travel season: The best value is going to be in business class.
It’s more points, sure, but you get soooo much more when you fly business class. Don’t dread your journey, make the journey part of your vacation in a seat like JetBlue’s Mint Suites.
This is an airplane seat that will go for thousands and thousands of dollars this summer. But when you use points and miles, the rate always stays the same with Qatar Avios (transferable from Amex, Citi, Chase, and more!).
And these swanky suites fly to several U.S. cities as well, giving you more options to use your points on these fabulous flights.
Here’s another sneaky workaround to fly fancy to Europe this summer: Look at airlines and destinations you might not have thought of. Finnair’s direct flights to Helsinki (HEL) fits that bill perfectly.
We loved this Finnair business class seat when we flew it recently (and yours truly just booked it for himself and his family later this year, too!) … and it comes at an insane value.
But better than the low 63,000-point rate is the availability: July and August, baby!
From all of these Finnair cities, you could book summertime flights to Helsinki (HEL) and beyond to the list you see right above this sentence. Some of those destinations, while lesser-tread than Italy and Greece, offer some of the best sights in Europe at the perfect time of year.
Western Europe—specifically London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Spain—usually get all the love from travelers, and are therefore hardest to book.
But every now and then…
Out of nowhere this month, Air France added a few extra flights per week to its New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) route, which opened up a ton of points and miles availability to book business class seats to Paris.
And look at the available dates! That’ includes some of the best travel dates of summer, too.
Finally, I have to sprinkle some love on our neighbors to the north. When it comes to points and miles business class flights, Canadians have it good. Because there are fewer credit card options for Canadians, they don’t gobble up points and miles award space as fast as we do here in the States. That means there are amazing opportunities to fly lie-flat if you can get to Canada first.
This fare example came from a deal flying Air France business class from Ottawa (YOW) to Europe from just 45,000 points each way! This fare to Rome (FCO) was a perfect example … in late-July no less!
No points? No problem! You can also find cheap cash rates flying from Canada to Europe. As an example, we recently sent Premium members this British Airways Club Suites business class deal from Toronto (YYZ) to Florence (FLR) in July for $1,906 … just a few hundred more dollars than the price of economy.
Bottom Line
To avoid four-digit airfares flying to Europe this summer, you’re going to want to aim for the three major sweet spots: August, points and miles, and business class.
To get the best deal, a flight at the end of summer, using your points and miles for maximum value, or even flying in the front of the plane are your best bets.
