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What have I turned into? My family has always flown in Economy. I like to get a lot of trips out of my miles and points.
But last year, I decided to splurge on lie-flat business class seats to Europe for my family of five (which turned into six). We are within days of leaving for that trip, so we haven’t even experienced those business class seats yet.
And now what have I done? I booked flights for another trip to Europe next year. And yes, we’re going in business class seats again!
Air France for the Win
After debating where to begin our 2023 European trip, my family landed on Venice. There are no nonstop flights between Dallas and Venice, so I knew we would have a stopover either on the U.S. side or in Europe before getting to Venice.
We will only have 48 hours to explore Venice, so I decided to splurge again on lie-flat business class seats. Getting sleep on the flight will be important!
I explored many options using miles and points. I wish I could tell you that I got some incredible deal that was made even better with a transfer bonus. But, the reality is that finding five business class award tickets is challenging. So, I picked the deal that was most convenient for us.
I found five seats on Air France for 55,000 miles + $220 in taxes each. The route is DFW to CDG nonstop with a small layover at CDG, and then onto Venice. I love that all 5 of us are on the same flight and that we can check our bags straight through to our final destination. Air France seems to have great award availability from DFW.
To get the miles, we pooled our resources. We had some Air France Flying Blue miles from our BofA Air France credit cards. Plus, we transferred some miles over from our Chase and Capital One credit cards into Flying Blue.
Our Itinerary
Days 1 & 2: Venice
Day 3: Rome
Days 4-10: Greek/Italian Cruise
Days 11-13: Athens/Poros
I still have a lot of planning to do for this trip, but it can wait until we return from our imminent trip.
It takes a lot of miles to get my family of five to Europe in business class seats. But, I had the miles, so why not use them? We’re not planning to fly to Europe in 2024, so this will be our last big miles expenditure for a while.
Anyone else have good luck with award availability on Air France lately?
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How do you plan to visit places in europe? You re visiting venice, rome, cruise , athens … do you suggest any touring company or visting on your own once you r in the respective cities?
@Naga We are taking a cruise that visits several places. We fly into Venice, take a train to Rome, hop on the cruise to see Amalfi Coast, Santorini, Mykonos and Turkey. Then I’m taking a quick flight to Athens at the end of the cruise before returning home.
Just wondering how you plan on flying back to the US?
@Chad We ended up booking Air France for the return flights as well. 🙂
How far out did you start looking? We are looking for next summer and don’t see it open yet for booking. Have a fabulous trip !!
@Beechy Air France and some other international airlines make their schedules available for booking 12 months in advance. Most US airlines are 11 months in advance. I booked about 12 months in advance.
Thanks. I took a quick look and most flights were 340k for 2 R/T from BOS-VCE. Will have to start some practice searches and look at one ways as well.
Business class is so awesome, but now hubby doesn’t want to fly economy anymore! I’ve totally spoiled him! Enjoy!!
@Lynn I’m afraid we will get hooked on it for international flights! Oh well.
Depending on what terminals you’re arriving at and departing from, CDG can be a giant mess. I’m not trying to downplay your achievement but just didn’t want you to expect something comparatively easy like Atlanta or Singapore.
@Christian I’ve heard that about CDG. It’s been 18 years since I’ve been to that airport. We will have Sky Priority for immigration, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.
Im looking to book Business class seats next year to Europe. Air France seems to have the best availability. Does your award ticket include the flight to your final destination or did you book that as a separate ticket?
@Rich It included our short flight from CDG to Venice. 🙂
I found availability from JFK to Istanbul with a layover at AMS for 55k in Business Class. Air France typically has 55k Bus Class deals from JFK very frequently.
@Anthony that’s great!
Nice Job!
@Chris Thanks!