If you want to fly to Europe this summer (and who doesn’t?!), you might be staring down airfare that’s $1,200 roundtrip or more. When you see sky-high fares like that, it’s time to flex those points and miles.
We’ve found several great ways to use your points and miles for a trip to Italy, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, and beyond this summer – and our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert subscribers have received them all in their inboxes just minutes later.
Five deals that we found in the last month in particular stick out. Right away, you might notice something funny about this list: It’s mostly business class.
That’s not a mistake, and it’s not just us being bougie, either. It’s actually a normal trend we see this time of year, especially when using points and miles. The summer months are slower for business travel, which means business class is usually priced much more competitively and is made available more frequently for booking with points and miles, too.
Summertime flights to Europe aren’t just for those with means – they’re for points and miles people like you and me! Here are the five best ways to use your points to fly to Europe this year.
Delta Nonstops … Booked with Delta Partners
If you’re hoping your SkyMiles will take you to Europe this summer, you better have millions of them…
When cash rates are eclipsing $2,000 roundtrip and Delta is charging 200,000 SkyMiles or more, it’s time to get creative if you want to fly the Atlanta-based carrier to Europe. If you’ve got a stash of Virgin Atlantic points, for example, you could book a fare that looks like this instead.
Since Virgin points can be transferred into your Flying Club account from … well, almost anywhere … they’re incredibly easy to earn without ever flying the U.K.-based airline. American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Bilt, and even Wells Fargo are all transfer partners with Virgin Atlantic. This means that if you’ve got a popular travel card like the *amex gold*, the *chase sapphire preferred*, or the *capone venture* in your wallet, you might already have access to Virgin points and not even know it.
So with any of those points you can book the flight above to Rome, or even Delta’s new nonstop to Sicily (CTA).
But it’s not just these two routes where Virgin points will help you out. Many Delta flights can be booked this way. Check out this recent deal we sent to Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers for a little more inspiration.
Saving a bundle by booking Delta flights through Virgin Atlantic isn’t your only option, though. You can also turn to Air France/KLM’s FlyingBlue loyalty program, to save big.
Read more: This is Now the Best Workaround to Book Delta Flights for Fewer Points
To snag these flights, you’ll need 60,000 Virgin points or from 44,000-69,000 Flying Blue miles, which price Delta flights slightly different. Either way, it’s an absolute steal compared to the SkyMiles rates on these flights, which are borderline offensive.
Finally, if you want to save even more, consider flying Air France or KLM themselves – both airlines offer some sweet deals on their own flights as well.
These nonstop flights to Paris (CDG) or Amsterdam (AMS) from these five U.S. cities are about as cheap as you’ll find in points and miles – and travelers in Austin (AUS) and Boston (BOS) could book peak summer flights on these airlines, too!
Air France Biz Class … From Canada
Air France/KLM Flying Blue offers some sizzling economy points and miles rates, but points to spare, you should really be looking to sit in the front of the plane instead. Lately, it’s been hard to book these flights using points and miles flying from the U.S. to Europe – the best fares are gobbled up so far in advance that you’ll have to pay SkyMiles-like 100,000-point (or more) rates most of the time.
But north of the border, there aren’t as many travelers with the points needed to book these business class flights to Europe. This means it’s significantly easier to find points and miles availability to fly business class from airports like Toronto (YYZ), Montreal (YUL), Quebec City (YQB), and Ottawa (YOW).
Read Next: Air France Business Class Review on the 777
This latest example from Ottawa (YOW) had yet another amazing sweetener: It was a part of Air France/KLM Flying Blue’s monthly “Promo Rewards” sale. Every month, Flying Blue discounts certain routes by as much as 50%. In this case, you could fly business class from Ottawa to Rome for just 45,000 points each way.
If you want to fly lie-flat to Europe for that few points, consider booking a positioning flight to Canada to make it happen.
And much like Virgin, you can transfer points to Flying Blue from every major bank.
Iberia Biz Class to Spain & Beyond (Book Fast!)
OK, maybe I’m just excited about this because I recently got back from a trip flying this awesome business class seat on Iberia’s brand new A321neo…
I fell in love, and now my bias is showing. But I promise, just a few days ago, we found a way to book this exact seat for some of the lowest rates you’ll ever see.
Iberia flies this particular business class (pictured above) from Boston (BOS) and Washington, D.C. (IAD), and the Boston flight even had some summer dates available!
I would measure to guess, if this availability still exists, it’s mere hours away from evaporating, so jump on it now!
You can also fly Iberia’s older business class to and from Miami (MIA) during the summer. For the rest, you’ll have to settle for the off-season, but you can get these seats for just 29,000 points each way if you take advantage of one of the current transfer bonuses listed below!
TAP Air Portugal to Lisbon & Beyond
TAP Air Portugal is one of the best airlines you can possibly fly to … well … Portugal in lie-flat business class. Whether it’s on one of their smaller planes or in the big business class cabin on the A330-900, TAP is a sweet ride.
Plus, if you move fast, there are some peak summer dates available flying TAP for just 60,000 points through Air Canada Aeroplan – or these 69,000-point rates with Avianca LifeMiles!
The best summer dates are available on the Boston (BOS) to Porto (OPO) route. And as you can see, Aeroplan and LifeMiles are easy to earn thanks to transfer partnership with each of the major banks.
And if you don’t have bank points, your United miles could book you into these seats, too! But it will take more of them…
Finnair to Scandinavia & Northern Europe
Italy, Spain, and Portugal are summer hot spots, but nobody celebrates summertime like Northern Europeans. Why wouldn’t you want to go where the weather’s mild and, in peak season, the sun seemingly never sets?
And better yet, you can do it in a seat that looks like this…
Finnair is an airline you probably don’t think about often, but thanks to their new fancy business class seats, we think you should.
When you use Finnair Avios (which are combinable with British Airways and Qatar Avios, as well as transferable from Capital One), you can book these seats for just 63,000 Avios each way this summer.
You can use Cathay Pacific miles, too!
And you don’t have to just visit Helsinki (HEL) to fly Finnair, either. Leveraging their network, you can fly to the fjords of Norway, Copenhagen (CPH), Lapland, Poland, and more!
While most travelers aim for the same old destinations, fly Finnair to someplace incredible this summer in style!
Bottom Line
When cash prices are high, like they always are when flying to Europe in peak summer, it’s time to use those points and miles to book your trip.
This year is no exception: It’s way more cost effective to use your points and miles to fly to Europe than it is to pay with cash – especially if you want to fly lie-flat business class.
