Guide to Flying to Europe On Points

Europe is the first place I ever redeemed my credit cards points! And flying to Europe is oneu of the most common goals I hear (neck and neck with Hawaii). There are so many options for airlines, points, and alliances — and taxes and fees vary greatly. Use this guide to help you figure out which strategy works best for you.

If you’re new to booking flights with points, be sure to check out this overview for important background information. You can also sign up for our free course. You’ll want to be sure you understand how to find the best routes, price compare with Google Flights, how to search for available flights, and how to leverage transfer partners and airline alliances.

April 2026 updates:

Virgin Atlantic has significantly increased fuel surcharges to/from London.

British Airways now offers the lowest taxes and fees of any airline when booking a round trip to London.

September 2025 updates:

As of September 16, 2025, the transfer ratio from American Express to Emirates has changed. The current rate is 5:4. That means if you transfer 5,000 Amex points to Emirates, you will receive 4,000 Emirates miles.

August 2025 updates:

The United excursionist perk has now ended.

Earn More Points

Each airline option I list in this article has more than one credit card that can earn you a welcome bonus and the points you need to fly to Europe. This article is already long enough without listing out every single card you could get for each of these programs to earn points.

So how can you figure out how to earn the right points? First step: get my free airline transfer partner guide — inside I have a chart that shows which kinds of points transfer to which airlines. Then work backwards! Let’s say you figure out that you want to fly on United but you want to book via Aeroplan (this article explains exactly how to do that).

You can look at the chart in my Travel Points 201 guide and see that American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, and Capital One miles all transfer 1:1 to Air Canada Aeroplan. Then you could browse my Best Offers page, where I list all my favorite current offers–to see which cards currently have good bonuses and earn those kinds of points.

Pro Tip: Transfer Bonuses

Most points transfer 1:1 when you transfer from a program like Chase Ultimate Rewards® to an airline or hotel. But! Banks run promos throughout the year and certain transfers may offer a bonus. I don’t currently maintain an updaated list of transfer bonuses, but you can find one here.

Routing Tips for Europe

It’s important to take into consideration the flight routes from your home airport, as those options (or lack thereof) can impact which strategy and sweet spots make the most sense for you to focus in on. We almost always prioritize non-stop flights and that influences how we plan our trips and destinations.

This is also important because once you get to Europe, flights are so cheap to hop around Europe on budget airlines like RyanAir or EasyJet. Like as cheap as $20. Because of this, I recommend focusing your strategy on how to get to Europe from your home airport. Enjoy a day or two wherever you land (bonus mini vacation!) and then continue on to your final destination.

If you’re based by a smaller airport, you will likely need to have one stop in order to get to Europe. Check out this overview for important background information on how to find good routes to book with points.

You’ll notice a lot of the routes to Europe are seasonal. From Chicago, for instance, there are only nonstop flights to Rome from about April-October.

If you have a specific destination in mind and your airport has a nonstop flight to that destination — that’s a great way to focus in on your strategy and begin to work out the cheapest way to book that route with points.

Watch Out for Fuel Surcharges

As a general rule, I strive to keep my taxes and fees as low as possible for my award flights.

Virgin Atlantic is notorious for having high surcharges. The tradeoff is that Virgin also offers the lowest point prices to Europe that you can find -starting at 6,000 points one way from the US to London. It could be worth paying higher taxes and fees if you’re only spending a small number of points.

But if you’re trying to keep your out of pocket costs low, then you’ll want to focus on airlines that don’t charge high fees. US based airlines (like United, American, or Delta) typically charge the lowest taxes and fees – starting at only $5.60 when leaving the US.

Top Three Options: Bank Portals, American Airlines, Route Sweet Spots

There are lots of great options for flying to Europe with points, but I wanted to pick a few easy ones here to pull out.

Europe is a great goal to have early on in your points journey because it isn’t that hard to accumulate points to get there — even for a family! What makes the most sense for you may depend on your home airport and preferred routings.

Keep in mind that you can use one airline one direction and a different one on the return. You typically don’t get a discount when booking a roundtrip on points, so it can give you more options when you book one way at a time.

Two notable exceptions to this are Delta and Japan Airlines. You’ll usually pay fewer miles when booking a round trip vs. two one way flights with either of those programs.

Using Your Points in a Bank Portal

I’d say this is the most underrated option by many points enthusiasts. Flight sales to Europe are very common. You can routinely expect to see flights in the $400s. Not all the time, of course, but fare sales often trigger competing fare sales.

To find cheap flights, you can sign up for a flight alert service like Going or set up alerts for free on Google Flights. You can also use the Google Flights Explore feature to search in a very flexible way — this is a search from Chicago to all of Europe for a one week trip in the next 6 months.

If you had the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, and bought a $500 ticket, you’d pay 50,000 points per ticket via Chase Travel℠. That’s a good price, especially because you have incorporated your taxes and fees into your ticket price. Want to stretch your Chase points even further? Pair it with an Aeroplan® Credit Card — more here. With an Aeroplan card, you’d get at least 1.25 cents per point — or more during a transfer bonus. 

Or you could book this on Capital One Travel and you’d earn 5x points for booking via Capital One Travel. That will earn you 2500 Venture miles. Then you could use 50,000 Venture miles to cover the purchase — or even redeem part of the $300 Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card annual credit to help offset the cost.

Keep in mind: booking through a bank travel portal is booking through a third party and any changes need to be made via Chase Travel℠, Capital One Travel, etc. We frequently have used this to book cheap cash fares and haven’t had any serious issues.

Another pro tip: you’ll also earn airline miles on this reservation if you add your loyalty account number to the reservation.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

Stockpile Chase Ultimate Rewards and Capital One Venture miles. If you follow my Three Year Plan, you’d earn enough points just in the first year! And if you decide you want to book another way, you’ll still be able to use these points for other airline options.

• Open cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®. A great option are the Chase Ink family of cards. Level up by pairing these with an Aeroplan card.
• Open cards that earn Capital One miles. 

Using American Airlines Miles

American Airlines uses dynamic pricing which means prices in points can go up and down. But it’s still fairly common to see prices for 45,000 round trip. Sometimes even less! Traveling in peak season may cost more. You’ll want to avoid flights on their partner British Airways, AA charges more in taxes and fees on these routes that British Airways does.

A valuable tool for flexible travelers is the AA Award Map. This map allows you to search for award flights by region based on the number of miles you have available.

Sample Card Strategy for a Family of Four

American Airlines miles are relatively easy to earn via credit card bonuses because you can get them from co-branded cards, plus Citi Thank You points transfer to AA. You’d need about 200,000 AA miles for 4 people to fly round trip from the US to Europe. How can you get that? Earn the following sign up bonuses:

• Cards that earn Citi Thank You points like the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Strata Elite℠ – these can be transferred to American Airlines. 
• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® – 75,000 miles (current as of April 2026). – Each parent can get one of these. That’s 150,000 miles! There’s also a personal version of this card (you can get both the personal and business versions).

Focus on destination sweet spots

Europe has the most quirks of any region when it comes to award pricing. Where you’re flying from and where you’re flying to can make a big difference in the best routes available to you. Because of that, there really isn’t one best option! 

Sweet Spots By European Destination

There are different ways to think about strategy and sweet spots–by destination or by airline. This section focuses on destinations in Europe that have certain airline deals going to them.

Paris, London, Amsterdam, or Edinburgh (on JetBlue) From 8,800 miles + $5.60 one way (going TO Paris is the best deal); 44,600 miles + $93 roundtrip

Best for: Nonstop flights to Paris, London, Amsterdam, or Edinburgh from Boston or JFK

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Citi Thank You points. 

Cost: JetBlue uses dynamic pricing so the miles needed varies depending on the date and destination. The best deals start at 8,800 from JFK or BOS to CDG (one way). Flights to  Edinburgh start at 17,200 miles. London and Amsterdam start around 18,000 points each way. Flights departing the US cost $5.60 for taxes and fees. Fees leaving Europe are higher and vary depending on the airport you depart from.

It’s fairly easy to find cheap flights to Europe with JetBlue. It’s harder to find them on the return. It may be worth booking a one way flight with JetBlue and then returning with a different airline.

Booking Tip: You can often add a connection from your home airport for a reasonable amount of miles. For example, flights from FLL to CDG start at  16,400 miles, SFO to CDG starts at 16,700.

JetBlue Booking Example: JFK-CDG (on JetBlue) 44,600 miles + $93 (roundtrip)

JetBlue Booking Example: BOS-EDI (on JetBlue) 37,300 miles + $181 (roundtrip)

Iceland (on Icelandair booked through JetBlue) 17,000 miles + $102 (one way going TO Reykjavik) 38,500 miles + $241 roundtrip

Best for: When nonstops to Iceland are priced high. Note that round trips on Icelandair are often in the $500s so this usually isn’t a great deal due to the high cost of taxes in addition to points but occasionally this will be a decent option. We’ve included it to be thorough.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Citi Thank You points.

Cost: JetBlue uses dynamic pricing so the miles needed varies depending on the date, destination, and departure city. The best deals start at 17,000 miles each way. Flights departing the US cost $102.20 for taxes and fees. Fees on the return start at 21,500 miles with taxes and fees around $140-$150.

Booking Tip: Icelandair offers more non-stops to KEF that you can book through JetBlue (BNA, PDX, RDU, and SEA, just to name a few), but these start at higher prices. If a non-stop is available from your home airport, it may be worth the extra miles!

JetBlue Booking Example: JFK-KEF (on Icelandair) 38,500 miles + $241 (roundtrip)

London (on British Airways) from 55,000 miles + $203 roundtrip

Best for: Non-stop flights to/from London. British Airways flys 27 routes to/from the US so there are a lot of cities this works for.

Transfer Points From: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Capital one Miles transfer directly to British Airways. You can also transfer from Citi ThankYou® Points, Bilt, or Wells Fargo to another Avios partner and from there to British Airways.

Cost: British Airways uses a distance-based chart, so the price varies based on your route. When flying from BWI, BOS, ORD, CVG, JFK, EWR, PHL, PIT, and IAD to London, the price is 27,500 points each way for off-peak dates and 33,000 each way for peak dates. The taxes and fees on these routes cost $83 to London and $120 on the return.

From everywhere else, the cost is 33,000 points for off-peak or 38,500 for peak dates (each way). Taxes and fees are $83 to London and $170 for the return.

Exception: Taxes and fees when traveling TO London from Boston or St. Louis cost $120-$170 instead of $83.

Notes: For most routes, you’ll pay fewer taxes and fees by booking two one way flights rather than a roundtrip. The only exception is St. Louis and Boston. From these airports, you’ll pay the same amount either way.

We have a full post explaining all the details about this sweet spot to London.

British Airways Booking Example: JFK-LHR (on British Airways) 55,000 miles + $203 (roundtrip)

London (on Virgin) 6,000 miles + $163 (one way going TO London); 12,000 miles + $491 roundtrip

Best for: Nonstop flights to London if you live near an airport that has a Virgin Atlantic flight there and you don’t mind paying high fees to save a lot of points.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Citi Thank You points. Capital One Miles can be transferred to Virgin Red and then moved over to Virgin Atlantic.

Cost: Virgin uses dynamic pricing so the miles needed varies depending on the date and destination. The best deals are saver rates to London which start at 6,000 miles each way in economy, 10,500 points for premium, and 29,000 points for upper class.

Beware that taxes and fees are high. Paying nearly $500 just for taxes and fees won’t often make sense. Because cash prices from the US to London are often in the $400s, you may be better off using another program or using your points to book through a bank travel portal instead of transferring to Virgin. Fees aren’t as high on the outbound flight, so it could be worth booking a one way to London through Virgin, then using another airline program to book the return.

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: IAD-LHR (on Virgin) 12,000 miles + $491 (roundtrip)

Note: At the time of writing $242 GBP is about $328 USD

Ireland (on Aer Lingus) 26,000 + $285

Best for: Nonstop flights to Ireland

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards® or Chase Ultimate Rewards®. Or transfer from Capital One Miles or Citi Thank You points to another Avios partner and from there to use on Aer Lingus. Because Aer Lingus shares a points currency (called Avios) with British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar — if you have Avios with any of these airlines, this route is bookable with those points.

Cost: The best deal for Aer Lingus flights is to fly on a nonstop flight to Ireland. Off-peak dates cover 2/3 of the year. Flights are priced per segment and by distance. Due to their distance bands for calculating cost, non-stop flights from the midwest or farther east are the cheapest at 13,000 points each way in economy.

Prices shown off-peak/peak)

• • 13K / 20K for flights 3,000-4,000 miles flown (includes BOS, BDL, JFK, EWR, PHL, CLE, YYZ, IAD, ORD, MSP)

• • 16,250 / 25K for flights 4,001 to 5,500 miles flown (includes (MCO, MIA, SEA, SFO, LAX)

Aer Lingus Booking Example: ORD-DUB (on Aer Lingus) 26,000 Avios + $285

Spain (on Iberia) 32,000 + $209

Best for: Nonstop flights to Madrid and Barcelona

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards® or Chase Ultimate Rewards®. Or transfer from Capital One Miles or Citi ThankYou® Points to another Avios partner and from there to use on Iberia. Iberia, like Aer Lingus, uses the Avios currency for its awards. That means if you have any card that transfers to any Avios partner (British Airways, Iberia, Qatar, or Aer Lingus), you can book this sweet spot.

Cost: Iberia uses a distance-based award chart with peak and off-peak pricing. The key to finding this sweet spot is to plan around off peak dates.

Flights from Boston and New York price as low as 16,000 Avios each way in economy (or 40,500 each way in business).

Flights from Chicago, Miami, or Dallas to Madrid are slightly more. You can expect to pay 20,000 Avios each way. Flights from L.A. or San Francisco cost 24,000 Avios each way.

Booking Tip: Iberia.com has a 30 day availability calendar you can access when you log in and search for award flights.

Iberia Booking Example: JFK-MAD (on Iberia) 32,000 + $219

 

Spain (on JetBlue) 24,700 points and $5.60 (one way going TO Madrid) 62,200 miles and $51 roundtrip

Best for: Nonstop flights to Madrid from Boston or JFK

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Citi Thank You points. 

Cost: JetBlue uses dynamic pricing so the miles needed varies depending on the date and departure city. The best deals start at 24,700 miles from BOS to MAD (one way).  JFK to MAD starts at 30,000 miles. Flights departing the US cost $5.60 for taxes and fees. Fees leaving Madrid are around $50.

Booking Tip: It’s fairly easy to find cheap flights to Madrid with JetBlue. It’s harder to find them on the return. It may be worth booking a one way flight with JetBlue and then returning with a different airline.

JetBlue booking example: BOS-MAD (on JetBlue)  62,200 miles and $51

Athens (from EWR on Emirates): 35,000 + $147

Best for: If you can’t get to Athens from your home airport in one stop, you live near NYC, or want to fly Emirates.

Emirates offers a “fifth-freedom” route from New York (Newark EWR) to Athens. Fifth freedom routes are airline routes that don’t touch an airline’s hubs.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One Miles, or Citi ThankYou® Points

Cost: Saver awards for economy tickets cost 35,000 miles + $147 roundtrip.

Booking Tips: Use the Emirates website to search for and book flights. Emirates opens seats for booking with points 328 days before departure. Book earlier for a greater chance to find availability.

Emirates Booking Example: EWR-ATH 35,000 + $147

Milan (from JFK on Emirates): from 35,000 miles + $143

Best for: If you can’t get to Milan from your home airport in one stop, you live near NYC, or want to fly Emirates. 

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One Miles, or Citi ThankYou® Points

Cost: Saver awards for economy tickets cost 35,000 miles + $143.

Emirates Booking Example: JFK-MXP 35,000 + $143

Manchester, England (from IAH on Singapore): 50,000 + $161

Best for: Departures from Houston — you could connect to other cities in Europe from Manchester. Singapore offers a “fifth-freedom” route from Houston to Manchester, England. Fifth freedom routes are airline routes that don’t touch an airline’s hubs.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One Miles or Citi ThankYou® Points

Singapore Booking Example: IAH-MAN (on Singapore) 50,000 miles + $161

Star Alliance Flight Options

The best way to book flights onto these Star Alliance carriers is not necessarily with their own points and miles currencies. Star Alliance airlines release certain seats to other Star Alliance airlines to allow bookings with points.

The major options for booking Star Alliance flights with points are via ANA, Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Singapore Krisflyer, and United Mileage Plus. As you’ll see, pricing in miles varies a lot — and even the taxes and fees can vary a lot.

None of these options are particularly exciting, but if you’re flying at peak times, they can offer you a savings. 

Avianca LifeMiles: from 80,000 + $100ish

Best for: Round trip on any Star Alliance carrier.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou® Points

Cost: Avianca LifeMiles typically charges 40,000 miles each way in economy from the US to Europe, but you can occasionally find slightly lower rates. LifeMiles doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges like ANA does (see below).

ANA Mileage Club: from 55,000 + $54

Best for: Flights with United or TAP Portugal

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®. Transfers are not instant; allow 48 hours for your points to post.

Cost: ANA Mileage Club will charge 27,500 miles each way in economy from the US to Europe and 50,000 each way in business class. You will need to make sure you are flying on a Star Alliance partner with low (or no) fuel surcharges as ANA will pass along any surcharges to you (which can be more than $500 on some Lufthansa or Swiss Air tickets!)

This is best for booking on United flights or TAP Portugal. United flights will only be available to book with ANA miles if they are “Saver” awards. You can search directly on United.com and use the 30 day calendar to find flights.

Notes: ANA Mileage Club allows you to book an open jaw. We used ANA Mileage Club, for instance, to book ORD-LHR and then ZRH-ORD on the same ticket.

You can only book tickets with your ANA miles for people “within two degrees” of family relationship.

ANA Booking Example: IAD-AMS (on United) 55,000 + $92

ANA Booking Example: EWR-Porto (on TAP Portugal) 55,000 + $54

ANA Booking Example: STL-FRA (on Lufthansa) 55,000 + $583

Avoid booking Lufthansa with ANA miles! This flight has very high taxes and fees due to fuel surcharges.

Air Canada Aeroplan: 80,000 + $222

Best for: Star Alliance flights, especially if you don’t have United miles and/or can utilize a transfer bonus

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Capital One Miles

Cost: Aeroplan does not pass along fuel surcharges, which gives it an advantage if you want to book a Star Alliance airline like Lufthansa or SwissAir, which does have large fuel surcharges. Aeroplan adds a $39 partner booking fee to any award flight booked with a partner and other fees for some routes. Aeroplan also allows you to add stopovers for just 5,000 miles, which can be helpful if you want to visit a few cities.

We have a complete guide on Aeroplan stopovers that gives you all the info on how to do that.

Booking Tips: It’s easiest to search on United.com for Star Alliance availability to see 30 day availability. I typically search a route and then filter by “non-stop flights.” Look for United awards marked “Saver” — those should be released to Air Canada. Any other Star Alliance flights (like TAP Portugal) that show on United.com should also show on Air Canada.

Aeroplan Booking Example: IAD-AMS (on United) 80,000 + $227 USD

Aeroplan Booking Example: ORD-FRA (on Lufthansa) 80,000 + $222 USD

Singapore Airlines: from 61,000 + $91

Best for: Star Alliance flights with no fuel surcharges like United and TAP Portugal, Singapore Fifth Freedom routes (Houston to Manchester, NYC to Frankfurt)

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou® points

I prefer this option to Air Canada Aeroplan because the taxes and fees are lower. But Singapore does pass along fuel surcharges so you'll want to avoid Lufthansa and Swiss Air. Singapore is a transfer partner for all the major bank "currencies" so points are easy to come by.

Cost: Round trip flights on partners cost 61,000 miles. If you fly on a Singapore fifth freedom flight (Houston to Manchester, NYC to Frankfurt) it will cost just 50,000 miles round trip.

Booking Tips: It's easiest to search on United.com for Star Alliance availability to see 30 day availability. Singapore's website will default to searching their own flights; make sure to toggle "Star Alliance" if you want to see partner flights.

Singapore Booking Example: IAD-AMS (on United) 61,000 + $91

United: from 80,000 + $168

Best for: Star Alliance flights

Transfer points from: Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Cost: United uses dynamic pricing, so prices vary. It's common to find tickets to and from Europe for 40,000 points each way. If you have a United credit card, you get a discount of at least 10% (sometimes more) on every award ticket.

Notes: United miles do have some perks to booking with them. The United website is very user-friendly with easy ways to search and sort awards. United doesn't pass along fuel surcharges or tack on extra fees. 

United Booking Example: IAD-AMS (on United): 80,000 points + $168  (72,000 + $168 for cardholders)

United Booking Example: ORD-FRA (on United) 80,000 miles + $174

oneworld Flight Options

The sweet spots with the oneworld alliance tend to be for using airline miles to actually book on that airline rather than a partner. The top options are Aer Lingus and Iberia sweet spots listed at the top of the article. Or using AA miles when you find good pricing. 

Japan Airlines offers decent pricing for flights on some of its partners, including American Airlines and Air France.

Avios (Aer Lingus & Iberia)

I covered both Aer Lingus (to Ireland) and Iberia (to Spain) up above! Scroll up to those destinations for more information.

American Airlines: From 45,000 points + $60ish

Best for: Flights on American Airlines

Transfer points from: Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to American. You can also earn American miles through co-branded credit cards and their two shopping portals (AAdvantage Shopping and Simply Miles).

Cost: American Airlines uses dynamic pricing, so prices can vary. You can often find flights for around 21,000-27,000 AA miles each way.

Booking Tips: It's easiest to search on AA.com to see 30 day availability. If you have a certain route you are searching, you can find the cheapest date in a 365 day range at SeatSpy. SeatSpy also seems to pull the partner flights on British Airways, so watch out for taxes!

British Airways flights booked through American usually have high fuel surcharges. You can see in this example that the AA flight is 6,500 points more, but $226 lower taxes.

American Booking Example: DFW-FCO (on AA) 72,000 + $68

Sometimes seasonal or more desired routes will price higher. In this case, it is 72,000 miles to go to Rome round trip.

Cathay Pacific: From 54,000 points + $181

Best for: Using transferable points to book onto an American Airlines flight 

Transfer points from: Points from American Express, Capital One, Citi, and BILT can all be transferred to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles at a 1:1 ratio.

Cost: Cathay Pacific uses a distance-based chart. The longest distance caps out at 41,500 Asia Miles each way for partner awards, which means all economy round trips will cost a max of 83,000 miles plus taxes. Cathay Pacific passes on large fuel surcharges on award tickets, so watch out for those.

Booking Tips: Go to Cathaypacific.com and under flights choose "Redeem flights". You'll need to sign in to search. It's easier to find availability when searching one way at a time.

Cathay Pacific Booking Example: JFK-CDG (on AA) 54,000 + $181

Japan Airlines: From 45,000 points + $169

Best for: Round trip flights on partners like American, Air France, and Finnair (Air France is not part of the oneworld alliance, but Japan Airlines does have a partnership with them).

Transfer points from: Bilt transfers to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank at a 1:1 ratio. Capital One transfers at a rate of 2:1.5. That means for every 2,000 Capital One points you transfer, you’ll get 1,500 Japan Airlines miles.

Cost: Japan Airlines prices its partner awards by distance, so longer flights cost more. Flights from the US to Europe start at 23,000 points each way or 45,000 points for a round trip.

Taxes and fees are reasonable. But vary depending on where you’re going and what airline you fly.

Notes: The mileage price is based on the total distance flown, not on the distance per segment, so roundtrip flights are usually cheaper than booking two one way tickets. For example, a flight from Dallas to Rome falls in the 4,001-6,000 mile range. If you book the trip as two one way tickets, you would need to pay 37,000 miles each way (74,000 total). But a round trip ticket for the same trip falls in the 10,001-12,000 mile range. The price for that is just 50,000 miles total.

For some flights, the difference isn’t as noticeable. For example, a flight from New York to Paris is 23,000 points each way or 45,000 miles when booked as a round trip.

Japan Airlines offers a nice feature where you can book multiple destinations all on one ticket. For example, you could fly from New York to Paris, Paris to Zurich, Zurich to Rome, then Rome to New York, all on one ticket. Because pricing is based on total distance (not per segment) this can be an affordable way to see multiple destinations on the same trip.

Booking Tips: You must have an account with Japan Airlines for 60 days before you can redeem miles. If you are transferring points from a credit card, this drops to 7 days. You can only book for yourself and direct family members.

Japan Airlines Booking Example: PHL to AMS (on American) 45,000 points + $169

Note: 26,770 JPY is about $169 USD (at the time of writing).

Japan Airlines Booking Example: JFK to CDG (on Air France) 45,000 points + $194

SkyTeam Sweet Spots

SkyTeam partners in Europe include Delta, Flying Blue (AirFrance and KLM), and Virgin Atlantic. Delta pricing is extremely variable. If you find a fare sale, you might get a great price on a round trip ticket.

Flying Blue offers stable pricing at 50,000 points round trip — but taxes are on the higher side.

Virgin Atlantic can be great for getting TO London, but high taxes on the way home. 

But on the plus, it's common to see transfer bonuses from credit card points to both Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic. 

Delta: from 52,000 + $89 (varies a lot)

Best for: Flash sales on Delta and flexible dates

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards® (you will pay an excise fee on transferring these from Amex to Delta, for 50,000 points it costs $30)

Cost: Delta pricing is the most volatile of all the U.S. airlines. You can see the same dates for flights to Paris from both Chicago and Detroit fluctuate from 52,000 to 124,000 round trip. There can be some great deals on Delta — sometimes Flash Sales will have round trip tickets to Europe as low as 32,000 miles round trip! But they aren't predictable. If you want to book on Delta, you may find more consistent pricing by booking via one of their partners.

Delta also typically gives a hefty discount when you book round trip versus one ways on their own flights.

I'll use an extreme example in this section to illustrate that Delta's pricing is not linked with which seats they let partner airlines book into– which means you can sometimes get a great deal–but just not with Delta Skymiles directly.

Delta Booking Example: DTW-CDG (on Delta) 235,000 + $89

For these dates, the price comes out to a whopping 235,000 Delta Skymiles + $89. Note that I looked for partner availability first and then went back to Delta to see how they were pricing this route.

Flying Blue (Air France & KLM): 50,000 points + $220

Best for: Nonstop flights to Paris and Amsterdam when you can use a Promo Award. Or – use a free stopover in Paris or Amsterdam and continue on to your final destination. Also good for Delta flights.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Capital One Miles or Citi ThankYou® Points

Cost: 50,000 points + $220 in taxes. Sometimes promo awards will cost 25% less. 

More details on how to book Flying Blue Promo Awards can be found in this article here.

Booking Tips: Flying Blue can also be used to book on Delta flights. Personally, I'd use the Virgin Reward Seat checker [you need to edit the search bar for your exact route] to find availability. Then go back and plug that info into Air France to see if you can find matching availability.

Air France Booking Example: DTW-CDG (on Delta) 59,000 + $89

This is the exact same flight as above but instead of costing over 200,000 miles, it is 59,000 miles + $89. I left the AirFrance flight on the screenshot as well to show you could have chosen an Air France return flight and paid fewer miles but $57 more in taxes and fees.

Virgin Atlantic: from 12,000 miles + $350 (or 60,000 + $90 on partner)

Best for: Flights to London from the US. Round trip or one way Delta flights to Europe.

Transfer points from: American Express Membership Rewards®, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, or Citi ThankYou® Points. Capital One miles can be transferred to Virgin Red and from there to Virgin Atlantic.

Cost: Virgin Atlantic pricing on taxes and fees can be wildly different than on Delta or Air France. This varies also whether you book round trip or one way. Virgin has switched to dynamic pricing for it's own flights. Rates start at 6,000 each way to London. Taxes to London are around $73. Taxes departing from London are a lot higher, around $277.

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: DTW-CDG (on Delta) 60,000 + $90

Round trip flight comes to 60,000 points + $90 for this route when booked as a round trip. So this is essentially the same as Flying Blue.

But oddly, when it is broken down into two one-way tickets, the taxes on the flight from CDG to DTW go way up!

Virgin Atlantic Booking Example: IAD to LHR (on Virgin) 12,000 + $350

Pricing is the same whether you book a one way or roundtrip ticket. In this case, it may make sense to book a ticket TO London with Virgin Atlantic, then depart from a different city to save on taxes and fees.