Best Ways to Book Award Flights to Europe

Europe is one of the most popular destinations to travel to, but with many airlines switching to dynamic pricing, it can be difficult to make affordable point bookings.

If you’re looking to book flights across the Atlantic without draining all your points, this reference guide lists out the best sweet spots, what loyalty programs to search and quick tips so you can find availability.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it focuses on some of the lowest award price options you can book between the United States and Europe in all classes of service.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

First up is Virgin Atlantic, one of the major London-based airlines. A strength of booking with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is that it is a transfer partner of all the major point currencies:

• American Express Membership Rewards
  
• Bilt Rewards
  
• Capital One Rewards
  
• Chase Ultimate Rewards
  
• Citi ThankYou Rewards
  
• Wells Fargo Rewards

The program also has the undisputed lowest award rates for economy-class flights between the U.S. and Europe. And if you want a bit more legroom, Virgin Atlantic offers reasonable Saver fare pricing for premium-economy and business-class fares. The downside is that the taxes and fees for award flight rise for premium economy and to an even greater degree for business class.

Virgin Atlantic operates service to the following U.S. airports:

• New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
• Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
• Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• Miami International Airport (MIA)
• Orlando International Airport (MCO)
• Tampa International Airport (TPA)
• Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)

The carrier’s main U.K. hubs are at the following airports:

• London Heathrow Airport (LHR) – their main hub
• Manchester Airport (MAN) – secondary hub
• Edinburgh Airport (EDI) – seasonal hub

The Virgin Atlantic award chart differs between the East and West Coasts with destinations on the East Coast being priced slightly lower.

Just like with most other Saver fares with other airlines, finding them can sometimes be problematic, but Virgin Atlantic makes it easy for you with its Reward Seat Checker. We made a YouTube video explaining exactly how to use it.

Virgin Atlantic Partner Award Pricing

Virgin Atlantic also has decent economy fares if you’re looking to travel to parts of Europe outside of the United Kingdom. You can book partner award flights using Flying Club points to fly with the following SkyTeam members:

• Air Europa
• Air France
• Delta Air Lines
• ITA Airways
• KLM

Utilizing the SkyTeam partner network, you can travel to the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and other countries in Europe. The typical award pricing is 25,000 to 30,000 points, which is a competitive rate for these long-haul flights.

During off-peak dates, you can find fares for as few as 12,000 to 15,000 points each way in economy class between the U.S. and Western Europe, depending on where you originate. Expect to redeem between 20,000 and 23,000 Virgin points for flights between the U.S. and Eastern Europe.

Just like with most other Saver fares with other airlines, finding them can sometimes be problematic, but Virgin Atlantic makes it easy for you with its Reward Seat Checker. We made a YouTube video explaining exactly how to use it.

Keep in mind that Virgin Atlantic charges $100 for changes and cancellations to your bookings. If your original taxes were less than $100, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to simply forfeit the taxes.

It’s worth noting that Virgin Atlantic business-class fares have high taxes on flights to and from Europe. So if you’re looking for a lie-flat seat, then you’ll want to book with this next airline program instead.

ANA Mileage Club

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is one of the major airlines for Japan and while it isn’t intuitive, its loyalty miles are great for booking flights to Europe. ANA is a Star Alliance member, and we can use this relationship to our advantage.

One downside is that of the major points currencies, only American Express Membership Rewards transfer to ANA. Marriott Bonvoy points also transfer to ANA, but at an unfavorable ratio of 3:1, so we recommend this option only if you need to top up your balance for a redemption.

If you’re ever unsure of what points transfer to which airline or hotel, feel free to use our transfer partner cheat sheet.

Booking with ANA Mileage Club gives you a variety of different airports you can fly from in the U.S. and in Europe. You’ll be able to fly with these airlines to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Istanbul, Poland and more:

• Lufthansa
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines

While Virgin Atlantic was great for economy pricing, it does leave a lot to be desired for travelers who want to fly in a higher class of service, and that’s where ANA Mileage Club shines. You can find a one-way business-class flight from the U.S. to Europe for 50,000 ANA miles.

You also can book economy-class fares for 25,000 ANA miles.

To find awards, begin your search for available space at United.com. Searching on United allows you to take advantage of United’s calendar, which makes the process much more efficient. You’ll then want to find business-class seats with an I fare code. That means that you’re looking at partner award space, which should also be bookable by ANA.

Once you have found the award space on United, you would then search on ANA’s website with the same date and route you found on United.

Be mindful that the typical transfer time for ANA can be two to three days, so it would be wise to have a couple of backup options in case your primary flight selection gets booked while you wait for your points to transfer.

If you end up needing to make changes to your booking, you can make changes for free. Cancellations will cost 3,000 ANA miles per passenger. Taxes and fees also vary depending on which partner airline you book with. They are lower for bookings with Air Canada and United but slightly higher with LOT Polish, Turkish and Lufthansa.

Emirates Skywards

Believe it or not, Emirates Skywards is one of the best deals for economy-class flights between the U.S. and Europe. Typically, airlines fly between their various international destinations and their main hub. So while most Emirates flights connect in Dubai, the airline operates a couple of fifth-freedom routes that don’t touch Dubai at all.

The popular flagship carrier of the UAE operates flights between New York (JFK) and Milan (MXP) and between Newark (EWR) and Athens (ATH). The miles required for both of these fifth-freedom flights start at just 17,500 each way.

You can transfer points to Emirates from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. Award availability is typically plentiful and easy to find as long as you have some measure of flexibility for your travel dates.

To book your flights, navigate to Emirates.com and be sure to check the box for Classic rewards when searching for options.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Last but not least, we have Flying Blue, the joint loyalty program of Air France, KLM and a few other smaller airlines. Booking with Flying Blue is one of the best ways for a trip to Europe because of its wide network of hubs on the continent as well as many family-friendly features, such as 25% off award bookings for kids aged 2 through 11.

To find awards, start your search for available space at AirFrance.us (you’ll need to create a free Flying Blue frequent-flyer account first). Leave the date field blank when inputting your departure and arrival city to bring up the Air France calendar. It will be much more efficient vs. searching week by week. See our YouTube video guide on how to bring up the calendar.

Flying Blue offers these standardized Saver-level award pricing for Air France- and KLM-operated flights between the U.S. and Europe:

• Economy: 25,000 miles one way
• Premium economy: 40,000 miles one way
• Business class: 60,000 miles one way

You can transfer all of the major currencies to Flying Blue, making it really easy to be able to book award flights using this program. There are also transfer bonuses twice or thrice per year, so your points can stretch even further if your travel plans align with one of these promotional transfer periods.

Flying Blue remains one of the best options to book flights to Europe with its combination of predictable award pricing, extensive European network and family-friendly benefits. Booking with this loyalty program also gives you the ability to connect anywhere in Europe for the same mileage rate to maximize your redemption value. Very few airlines provide that level of flexibility and value.

In Conclusion

These four programs offer some of the best value for award flights to Europe, each with distinct advantages, depending on your travel style and destination.

Virgin Atlantic delivers unbeatable economy pricing to London and solid economy rates for European connections. Flying Blue excels with business-class value and family benefits. ANA provides excellent round-trip rates for Star Alliance flights, while Emirates offers sweet spots on specific routes.

Start by identifying your preferred destination and class of service, then check availability across these programs to find the best deal. With transferable points from major credit card programs feeding into all these options, you have multiple pathways to make your European travel dreams affordable.