North American Frequent Flyer Programs for Business Class to Europe – Which Is Best for You?

We are starting the guest blog writing series. You come here for the quality content and not for the clickbait crap. First up is Andy Shuman of The Lazy Traveler. I am going to try to stick with the Monday and Friday Buzz aggregator type posts, Sundays with the Best of Web post and will leave Wednesdays for the best guest writing, the occasional repeat post, the once a month blog support/begging post and whatever out of the blue that may come to mind, I don’t know! Always looking for practical award related and out of the ordinary travel trip report content, contact me! Any specific ideas to write about, let me know in the comments!

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North American Frequent Flyer Programs for Business Class to Europe – Which Is Best for You?

By Andy Shuman

Europe is close. Europe is far, far away.

The flying time between New York and Reykjavik or Boston and Dublin is under 6 hours, just like a transcontinental trip. Easily survivable in coach.

Los Angeles to Istanbul? 13 hours. Survivable? Sure. Easily? Well …

My point is not to highlight the virtues of Business Class travel (I don’t think I’d need to convince anyone), but to point out how different Business Class values are. In many cases, you’ll pay the same amount of miles for flying to Europe in Business Class, be it 6 hours or 13 hours, and of course, getting your money’s (miles’) worth is easier with a longer flight.

This part will cover Europe in Business Class with U.S. programs and Air Canada. The second and final part will deal with foreign airlines.

Let’s roll!

Flying to Europe with U.S. frequent flyers programs

American Airlines AAdvantage

1. FFP Type: Region-Based
2. One way redemption at 50%: Yes
3. Miles for Business Class Redemption:

• Own metal: 57,500
• Partners: 57,500

4. Stopover(s) allowed: No
5. Credit Cards:

• Amex Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Citi AAdvantage Cards: Personal, Business, Executive
• Barclays Aviator Cards: Personal, Business

6. Alliance: oneworld

Overview

American Airlines AAdvantage miles are easy to redeem (after you find availability, of course). Most American partners can be redeemed online and getting your seats takes no more than a few clicks. Here are American airline partners you can use to fly to Europe.

• British Airways (huge fuel surcharges, don’t use for transatlantic routes)
• Finnair
• Iberia (moderate fuel surcharges)

Airlines go a long way trying to conceal their own limited routing network while screaming from the rooftops about the total number of routes (with partners). However, there are easy ways to find out the routes for one particular carrier. You can either check the Wiki AA destinations page or check this Flyertalk page and use the PHL Google Flights trick.

The Verdict

American is the least expensive of the U.S. airlines in terms of Business Class travel to Europe, and it’s easy to book since all its European airline partners are bookable on the AA website. However, the award space might not be easy to find, and it adds fuel surcharges (YQ) to 2 partners out of 3 (in case of British Airways, the surcharges are prohibitively expensive).

 

United Airlines Mileage Plus

1. FFP Type: Region-Based
2. One way redemptions at 50%: Yes
3. Miles for Business Class Redemption:

• Own metal: 60,000
• Partners: 70,000

4. Stopover(s) allowed: Yes, within the same MileagePlus defined region (Excursionist Perk)
5. Credit Cards:

• Amex Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Chase Ultimate Rewards Premium Cards – Transfer
• Chase United MileagePlus Cards: Personal, Business, Club

6. Alliance: Star

Overview

The United award engine is not without hiccups, but it’s probably the easiest one to use, and it has no fuel surcharges on any carrier, whatsoever. It also has the largest number of partners to take you to Europe including a few fifth freedom flights:

• Air India (EWR-LHR)
• Aer Lingus
• Air Canada
• Air New Zealand (LAX-LHR, very hard to find availability)
• Austrian
• Brussels
• LOT
• Lufthansa
• Scandinavian
• Singapore (IAH-MAN and JFK-FRA, but Business Class isn’t bookable on United)
• Swiss
• TAP Portugal
• Turkish

You can see all destinations worldwide served by United on this page (make sure to check “Show only destinations served by United Airlines and United Express”).

The Verdict

United Business Class flights to Europe cost slightly more than American on United’s own metal and considerably more on partners, but in terms of ease and availability, it’s hands-down the best program to get you to Europe due to the sheer number of partners to choose from and no fuel surcharges.

 

Delta Air Lines SkyMiles

1. FFP Type: Region-Based
2. One way redemptions at 50%: Yes, but inconsistent, plus one-way flights from Europe add fuel surcharges
3. Miles for Business Class Redemption:

• Own metal: Currently, 128,000 per round trip until Sep. 5, 2019; 105,000 miles per one way afterwards
• Partners: 128,000 miles until Sep 5, 2019; unclear afterwards

4. Stopover(s) allowed: No
5. Credit Cards:

• Amex Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Amex Membership Rewards cards Personal and Business: Transfer
• Amex Delta SkyMiles cards: Gold, Platinum, Reserve

6. Alliance: SkyTeam

Overview

Delta removed its award chart a while ago, so it’s basically “pay what we tell you.” With Delta, however, nothing is easy. The cheapest one-way Business Class flight to Europe is supposed to cost 70,000 miles – this is what it cost before Delta “disappeared” its award chart. However, they recently offered a Business Class flash award sale for 128,000 miles per round trip. The sale is gone now, yet you can still find this pricing until Sep 5, 2019.

Delta often charges more than 50% miles for one-way travel, so it’s best to book round trip. Besides, by booking a round-trip flight, you’ll avoid fuel surcharges that Delta adds for flights originated in Europe. You can download the Delta route map to Europe (including the SkyMiles partners) or check the Wiki page for Delta destinations worldwide. Delta’s partners to Europe are as follows:

• Aeroflot (moderate fuel surcharges)
• AirEuropa (huge fuel surcharges)
• Air France/KLM
• Alitalia
• Virgin Atlantic

The Verdict

The Delta award space to Europe this summer is pretty good, especially from New York (to multiple destinations) and from Seattle to Paris or Amsterdam. However, even when you book round trip, your one way cost is 64,000 miles – the most expensive of all domestic frequent flyer programs (and it’s apparently getting worse).

 

Alaska Air Mileage Plan

1. FFP Type: Region-based, partner-dependent
2. One way redemptions at 50%: Yes
3. Miles for Business Class Redemption:

• American: 57,500
• British: 60,000 (ridiculous fuel surcharges!)
• Condor: 55,000
• Emirates: 105,000 (LOL)
• Finnair: 70,000
• Icelandair: 55,000 (50,000 to Iceland) and up to $300 fuel surcharges

4. Stopover(s) allowed: Yes in hubs, up to 1 in each direction
5. Credit Cards:

• Amex Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Bank of America Alaska Mileage Plan card Personal and Business

6. Alliance: none

Overview

• Alaska doesn’t fly to Europe, and, in all honesty, I’m just listing this option for the sake of thoroughness. Up to 2018, Alaska used the old pre-devaluation American Airlines award chart, with lower, 50,000-mile Business Class redemptions to Europe, but even then you were better off spending valuable Alaska miles on ultra long-haul flights like Asia, Australia or Fiji.

The Verdict

Nowadays, there are very few reasons to use Alaska miles for Business Class redemptions to Europe unless:

• You want to utilize Alaska’s excellent stopover policy: one in each direction
• You must fly nonstop, Condor can take you to Frankfurt (albeit in an angled-flat seat) from somewhat underserved markets like Las Vegas, Seattle, and seasonally Anchorage, Baltimore, Fairbanks, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Pittsburgh, and Portland (OR)
• You can find availability with Alaska miles, but not other programs

Air Canada Aeroplan miles

1. FFP Type: Region-based
2. One way redemptions at 50%: Yes
3. Miles for Business Class Redemption:

• Western Europe (Europe 1): 55,000
• Eastern Europe (Europe 2): 57,500

4. Stopover(s) allowed: Up to 2 on a round-trip ticket
5. Credit Cards:

• Amex Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Amex Membership Rewards cards Personal and Business – Transfer
• Capital One Venture and Spark Miles – Transfer
• TD Aeroplan Visa Signature card

Overview

• Air Canada Business Class rates to Europe are not especially cheap, and Air Canada adds fuel surcharges to its own flights and some partners. However, there are still many Aeroplan partners you can book to Europe without the dreaded YQs, like Brussels, SAS, Swiss, TAP Portugal, Turkish, and United.
• The Air Canada redemption rates are quite mediocre, but its saving grace is up to 2 free stopovers. That’s a very generous feature in its own right, allowing you to get a mini round-the-world trip on just one round-trip redemption. Check this Flyertalk thread to get some creative ideas for your next trip.

The Verdict

• Air Canada Business Class redemption rates are nothing to write home about, but they are very competitive if you compare them to the U.S. FFPs. As such, Air Canada, being a Star Alliance airline, can be a great alternative to United if you’re one of many poor souls who have been kicked out of the Chase 5/24 club. In addition, Air Canada offers up to 2 free stopovers on a round-trip ticket – an incredible value if you have some serious go-time.

Let’s recap

Please keep in mind that when things go beyond numbers, rating airlines is a very subjective undertaking, and this attempt is no exception at all.

The Cost (miles):

• 55,000 miles
  • Air Canada to Europe 1
  • Alaska – Condor and Icelandair
• 57,500 miles
  • American
  • Alaska – American
  • Air Canada to Europe 2 – 57,500 miles
• 60,000 miles
  • United own metal
  • Alaska – British
• 64,000 miles
  • Delta (until Sep 4)
• 70,000 miles
  • United – Partners
  • Alaska – Finnair
• 105,000 miles
  • Alaska – Emirates

The Cost (Fuel Surcharges)

• United
• Delta (U.S. originated)
• American
• Air Canada
• Alaska

Ease of use

• United
• Delta
• American
• Air Canada
• Alaska

Availability (personal opinion)

• United
• Delta
• Alaska
• Air Canada
• American

NEXT WEDNESDAY: Foreign FFPs for Business Class seats to Europe

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