One of my favorite ways to fly to London in business class is by positioning to Boston and flying on Virgin Atlantic. Even better, I can get this cheaper by booking it through the Air France site rather than the Virgin Atlantic site. Yes, the surcharges are high at about $700 for a round-trip ticket, but that is pretty cheap to fly Virgin’s business class product. It would cost me more than that to fly economy round-trip with cash. Boston to London on Virgin Atlantic for 70K miles each way isn’t bad.

The other factor for me is that this is a redemption that I can find pretty easily. It’s easy for me to find award availability, and Virgin Atlantic is a great carrier. The trick is to NOT book on the Virgin Atlantic site.

Look at the cost of a business class redemption, especially the surcharges!

Booking on the Air France Site

If instead I book the same flight to London on the Air France site, I can save a TON in surcharges. Additionally, all the flexible currencies are transfer partners with Air France, making it so easy to earn more points/miles to use for this flight.

Finding Availability on Air France

My favorite way to find availability for these flights on Air France is to put Boston as the departure and London as the destination, but leave the dates blank. (Note that you will need a FlyingBlue account and to be logged in before you can perform an award search.) This will show you availability by month. This way of searching works for other routes also. Once you find the cheapest dates, check them out for availability.

Bottom Line

Finding business class flights to London for 70K miles can be difficult. I have had great luck booking Virgin Atlantic flights from Boston through Air France. Boston to London on Virgin Atlantic is a great flight experience and I can find a lot of availability on this flight, even last minute.