December 6, 2023
Getting to Europe on Points and Miles
Pam
I traveled to Greece and Italy this summer, two destinations that are on a lot of people’s bucket lists. So many people want to go to Europe so let’s go over some of the best ways to get to Europe on points and miles.
United Airlines
One of the ways I fly to Europe the most is on United Airlines. Typically, I can find business class seats for about 88K miles one-way. I live in Denver, a United hub, so it is nice to find flights from my home airport. At times, though, if the price is above that, I will position for a flight to a bigger airport.
There are several ways I get these miles. Of course, my husband and I have signed up for the card_name and the card_name. We’ve also referred each other in the past to get referral points.
United Airlines is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards®, so we have used points from our card_name to transfer to United in the past. Additionally, you can earn Ultimate Rewards with the Chase Freedom cards and Chase Ink Business cards, so we have had several ways to get more United miles through the years.
I also love United Airlines for flying to Europe because they are easy to book through, they don’t pass on high surcharges, and there are so many ways to earn United miles.
Avianca LifeMiles
When I first started using credit card points and miles, I was just getting card after card. One of the random credit cards I got was the Avianca Avuela Visa Credit Card. I knew it was an airline that traveled to Central America and decided to go for it. It sat around and was never used for a while. Then I realized that Avianca is a member of the Star Alliance, the same alliance that United is. I found that I could find United flights on Avianca Life Miles and fly my normal flights from Denver to Hawaii.
I also used Avianca LifeMiles to book a trip to Greece at quite a savings from my United flights. For only 65K miles plus $72.50 in taxes and fees, I booked a business class seat on Lufthansa (also a part of the Star Alliance) from Chicago.
Points and Miles have made my Greece dreams a reality!
Delta Airlines
Delta is not my favorite airline for booking to Europe, although they occasionally have some great deals with their flash sales. Be sure to sign up to be notified of their sales. I have found a few cheap business-class deals to London when I have been flexible.
Another way to book with Delta SKyMiles® is to book via Virgin Atlantic. You can book the same flights, often for much cheaper.
American Airlines
One of my favorite deals on American Airlines is when you find a Web Special Fare. These special deals can be found when you are doing a web search on select flights and dates for fewer miles than the AAnytime or MileSAAver award level. I found them for our trip to Macchu Pichu and have found several in the past to Europe.
You can see here that it is possible to fly in economy class to London roundtrip for 45K AA miles or 110K in business class. Note that the taxes and fees are higher when you fly through Heathrow and take that into account.
ANA-All Nippon Airlines
ANA is known to be a great roundtrip business class redemption to Europe. You can’t book it on one-way trips, though, only roundtrip tickets. While one-way bookings are not allowed when using ANA miles, you can see two European cities for the price of one by booking open-jaw flights – still for just 88,000 miles total. I could essentially fly into London, take the Chunnel to Paris, and fly back from Paris, and it would be for the same 88,000 miles. That is a huge saving over my usual 178K roundtrip business class on United.
American Express Membership Rewards can be used to transfer to ANA.
Let’s go over how it’s done!
- Sign up for an ANA loyalty account here.
- Click on the ANA Mileage Club area.
- Click on the left side where it says ANA International and Award Partners
- Press the Award Reservations button
- Fill out your desired reservations
I love it when I can see several dates with seats available. From here, I can pick my desired dates and will then see what flights are available.
Picking the top two flights for this demonstration, I found the following – 88K + about $300 in taxes and fees for business class to London. The last time I flew to London, I did ANA from EWR-LHR for 88K roundtrip in business!
I have several American Express cards that earn Membership Rewards®, so I have amassed many points that I can travel on ANA with these cheap fares. AMEX credit cards that will earn points that you can transfer to ANA to get to Europe cheaply on points and miles include:
- American Express® Green Card
- American Express® Gold Card
- Platinum Card® from American Express
- The Business Gold Card®
- The Business Platinum Card®
Iberia to Spain
Before the pandemic, Alex and I had planned to go to Barcelona. We found the best business class seats on Iberia Airlines. 43,000 miles for lay-flat seats is amazing! You can also get there for 34,000 miles on an economy round trip. This is one of the cheapest ways to get to Europe on points and miles!
I had Iberia miles because I applied for the card_name a few years ago. (Remember, I’m the OCD points/miles person). If you want to go to Spain, you might consider it! Alex used Chase Ultimate Reward and transferred those to Iberia to book her flight.
Point.me
If you have transferable points (Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Amex Membership Rewards®, Citi ThankYou® Points, Capital One Venture Miles) and aren’t sure that is the best transfer partner to use, then we recommend using point.me. This site will help you find the best flight available using your points and will provide instructions on how to go about booking it. We have a membership to point.me. It helps us save time when looking to book award travel. There are several other search engines, including Roame, that will also help you find award travel.
Bottom Line
There are many ways to get to Europe on points and miles! These are just a few that we commonly use. Start earning your points and plan that trip to Europe that you have been dreaming about!
Related Posts
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a Travel Mom Squad advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don’t earn a commission. Terms Apply.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Leave a Reply
Advertiser Disclosure: Travel Mom Squad has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Travel Mom Squad and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. This compensation may impact how or where products appear on this site. Travel Mom Squad has not reviewed all available credit card offers on this site.
Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
What is your hotel recommendation at Lake Como?
There are a couple of the Small Luxury Hotels that you can book through Hyatt. I stayed at the Grand Victoria Concept Resort and Spa in Menaggio and it was incredible.
Where were you flying from on the Iberia flight to Barcelona? NY?
I think we were flying out of Boston for that one.