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Europe offers travelers a wide range of possible activities: historical sites, beautiful beaches, culinary adventures, and much more. Diligent travelers might score a deal on paid transatlantic airfare. But for those looking to minimize out-of-pocket costs, points and miles remain an ever-present staple. Great options exist for all cabins of travel, but flying economy class between North America and Europe typically costs the fewest number of points, letting travelers maximize the number of trips taken.
Here are the cheapest award flights to Europe using points and miles.
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The Cheapest Award Flights to Europe
Off-Peak Aer Lingus flights to Dublin, Ireland via British Airways or Aer Lingus Avios
Redeeming Avios for flights on British Airways metal to Europe typically incurs high taxes and fees, therefore ruling out this option for many award travelers. However, flying on a partner airline often skirts these high taxes and fees.
Aer Lingus, for instance, participates in the Avios ecosystem. The geography of Dublin allows travelers to fly directly to Ireland for as low as 13,000 miles + taxes and fees. Search for award space through British Airways, and look for off-peak travel dates with nonstop availability:
Once a travel option is selected, the bottom of the webpage displays the Avios cost plus any applicable taxes and fees. In this case, that cash co-pay comes to a modest $166.20.
Thanks to the British Airways Avios distance-based award chart, one-way, nonstop flights up to 4,000 miles in distance cost the same number of points. That means travelers as far away as the Upper Midwest qualify for the same pricing as the East Coast.
Taxes and fees vary slightly, depending on the exact routing, but the Avios cost remains the same, provided travel is on off-peak dates. Those traveling farther than 4,000 miles need only a marginally higher number of Avios for similar flights. For example, Los Angeles to Dublin spans 5,181 miles, yet British Airways charges just 3,250 extra Avios for such a flight.
This same pricing is available when booking directly with Aer Lingus AerClub, offering slightly lower taxes and fees but the same 13,000 Avios.
A number of bank programs transfer 1:1 to British Airways Avios, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, and Chase Ultimate Rewards. You also can transfer points from Marriott Bonvoy to British Airways or Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus receives points from Amex and Chase, as well. Even better, you can freely transfer Avios between British Airways, Iberia, Qatar, and Aer Lingus accounts.
Travelers should take advantage of any Avios transfer bonus that pops up, regardless of the program, to reduce overall points travel costs. Getting your points into the Avios ecosystem and then moving them into the program you want is accomplished easily.
Related: How To Search and Book British Airways Avios Award Flights
Iberia flights to Madrid, Spain booked via Iberia
There's another Avios participant with attractive economy award prices to Europe. Iberia charges as low as 17,000 miles one way in economy from the East Coast (plus Chicago) to Madrid. Plus, Iberia charges less in taxes and fees than Aer Lingus. The graphic below shows the pricing options for a one-way economy flight from Boston to Madrid, starting at 17,000 Avios + $85.50:
Award redemptions begin at just 4,250 Avios for this route, which stands out as well. For the particular date of these results, the cash cost of the flight is $804. It might seem odd, but the “best redemption” from a cents-per-points standpoint turns out to be the one with the lowest number of Avios!
- ($804 – $235.50) / 4,250 Avios = 13.38 cents per point
- ($804 – $85.50) / 17,000 Avios = 4.23 cents per point
- Put another way, Iberia provides the option of paying $150 for 12,750 Avios, or 1.18 cents per Avios, with this particular redemption.
Still, award travelers typically want to minimize any out-of-pocket costs, and using 17,000 Avios in this situation makes for a great redemption option. For those located on the West Coast, mileage costs are slightly higher at 21,250 Avios.
Along with the option for moving Avios from other programs (discussed above), you can transfer points to Iberia from Amex, Chase, Bilt, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Related: How To Avoid Paying High Fuel Surcharges When Booking Flights with Avios
Air France and KLM flights booked via Flying Blue
Flying Blue offers transatlantic travelers multiple direct options between North America and Europe. Recent program changes standardized the one-way transatlantic economy price at just 20,000 miles.
Savvy points and miles aficionados know that Flying Blue regularly discounts transatlantic routes during monthly promotions, further reducing the cost of travel. A typical discount is 25% off, though periodically this will be as high as 50%! That means an award redemption coordinated with monthly Promo Rewards costs, at most, 15,000 miles one-way.
Very modest taxes and fees make this a particularly attractive award redemption, as well. Plus, flight distance does not factor into award cost, so those located on the West Coast will find these awards particularly useful.
Another notable aspect of Flying Blue awards is that travelers can add on additional flights at no extra cost, provided they stay within Europe. For instance, Seattle to Paris costs 15,000 miles, but the final destination might be Krakow, Poland instead of Paris. Programs like British Airways, which price by the segment, would charge more for a second flight, but not Flying Blue. This deal is further sweetened by the fact Flying Blue allows stopovers, meaning you could visit both Paris and Krakow during this trip.
For those short on miles, Flying Blue is a transfer partner of all major transferable points programs.
Off-peak Virgin Atlantic flights
Although Virgin Atlantic notoriously passes along exorbitant surcharges for business-class awards, economy awards demand far less cash to book. Better yet, Virgin Atlantic's transatlantic economy award prices stand out as the lowest of any program for standard (read: not “peak”) calendar dates for one-way flights:
- Northeast (Boston, New York, Washington D.C.) to U.K.: 10,000 points
- Midwest & South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Tampa) to U.K.: 12,500 points
- West (Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) to U.K.: 15,000 points
Virgin Atlantic charges the same award cost for flights on Delta metal as on Virgin's own metal, but taxes and fees are actually $75 higher on the Delta-operated flight:
Virgin Atlantic also offers an efficient use of miles for travel on partner airlines across the Atlantic. Skyteam partner Flying Blue (think Air France and KLM) represents another excellent way to spend Virgin Atlantic miles.
Related: Overlooking Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Can Be Costly
Redemption rates begin at just 12,000 points, plus a modest amount of taxes and fees.
Flights from as far away as Los Angeles cost just 3,000 more points.
Just like many of the programs mentioned in this article, Virgin Atlantic partners with all major points currencies at a 1:1 ratio. Pair one of these awards with the frequent transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic to reduce award costs even further. Thus, you can transfer to Virgin Atlantic from Amex, Chase, Citi, Marriott, Bilt, and even Capital One — though you have to transfer to Virgin Red first with Capital One.
Related: How To Consolidate Transferable Points for an Award Ticket
Select Star Alliance routes booked with Avianca LifeMiles
Those familiar with the LifeMiles program know how fruitful —and perhaps also how frustrating — award bookings can be. The LifeMiles award chart follows region-based pricing, with clearly defined regional definitions. Flying from United States 1 (East Coast) to Europe 1 (British Isles, Scandinavia, and other select Northern European countries) costs 20,000 miles. All other transatlantic routes cost 30,000 miles.
While LifeMiles publishes an award chart, in practice, pricing doesn't always follow published rates. For instance, a flight between Denver and London should, based on the award chart, cost 30,000 LifeMiles. In practice, far fewer miles are required, often pricing at 21,000 miles:
For what it's worth, United charges far more miles (32,300 miles) through its own program for the exact same flight on the exact same date:
This route highlights just one example of Avianca Lifemiles pricing award lower than published rates. Several other unpublished award sweet spots exist, both in economy class and in premium cabins. Those diligent enough, and lucky enough, to search route after route might find even better transatlantic award pricing than the example above.
Fortunately, Avianca LifeMiles partners with multiple transferrable points currencies: Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou Points, Marriott Bonvoy, and Brex Cash. Check the AwardWallet transfer times page to see how quickly miles should show up in your account for redemptions.
Related: How To Consolidate Transferable Points for an Award Ticket
Bottom Line
Getting to Europe can be quite expensive; thanks to points and miles, it doesn't have to be. Several different avenues exist to save on airfare costs for those seeking transatlantic adventures. No matter what kind of transferrable points prospective travelers collect, reasonable award options exist.
Taking advantage of these economy-class travel options allows you to spend money on other aspects of the trip, rather than just getting to and from the destination. Even better, economy awards cost the fewest number of points, providing the opportunity for more people to join a trip, for more trips to happen, or both!
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