And just like that, I’ve booked more business class flights to Europe

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you probably know that my family usually flies in Economy and often stays at practical hotels (like Hyatt Place and Hyatt Regency properties). Last summer, for the first time ever, my family of five flew in business class seats to Europe. (This is how I booked them). It was a delightful, pampering experience. In fact, we are repeating those flights again on Air France this upcoming summer for our trip to Italy/Greece/Turkey.

I’m already in planning mode for 2024, and my family is planning a trip to Portugal over spring break. I’m surprised at how easy it was for me to book business class seats to Europe for the third year in a row! For the flights to Portugal, we are splitting up into two groups of two and flying on different airlines. (My oldest son will be away in college, so our family will be traveling as a group of four instead of our usual five).

2 Seats on TAP Air Portugal Using Air Canada Aeroplan Miles

Last year, I applied for the Chase Aeroplan credit card when the bonus was two 50k flight certificates. I wanted to use those flight certificates sooner rather than later so that I’d have some flexibility with what I do with the credit card go forward.

So, I booked two business-class flights from Chicago to Lisbon for me and my daughter on TAP Air Portugal. The award flights cost 60k Aeroplan miles each plus $55 in fees. (The cash price runs $3279 each). I already had 16k Aeroplan miles on top of my two 50k certificates, so I just needed to transfer 4000 Capital One miles to Aeroplan to complete the award reservation.

The plane is the new A330-900neo, and the business class seats are similar to the ones we experienced on Air France last year. The flight is almost 8 hours long and leaves at 10:15 p.m. so I do believe we will get some sleep on the way to Lisbon.

I plan to book our own positioning flight from DFW to Chicago for the night before.

2 Seats on Iberia Using British Airways Avios

The sweet spot to Europe from DFW is on Iberia nonstop to Madrid. During off-peak dates (which is a lot of dates during spring break and early summer), you can get award seats for a very good price in miles:

Iberia seems to release only 2 award seats in Business and 2 award seats in Premium Economy per flight. So, if you’re flying as a family, you may need to split up in different cabins or flights. But, if you’re ok sitting in Economy, Iberia usually releases 8 seats on this route.

To book these flights, you can transfer points to either Iberia or British Airways (both use Avios). I decided to transfer some Capital One miles to British Airways. Why? If I have any issues, supposedly British Airways has better customer service compared to Iberia. Also, I wanted to use my Capital One miles before my Chase points, and Capital One miles don’t transfer to Iberia (but they do transfer to British Airways). Of course, I could have transferred my Capital One miles to BA and then transferred those to Iberia, but that involves an extra unnecessary step. (My husband and I own the Capital One Venture Rewards card and the Capital One Venture X).

Since my daughter and I were flying in business class, I decided to be “fair” and splurge on business class for my husband and son. I could have booked them for 42,500 Avios + $127 in taxes each from DFW to Madrid and then simply paid around $50 in cash for one-way flights from Madrid to Lisbon. But, I wanted to make this journey easier on them and not have to worry about re-checking in for a different flight during a layover in Madrid. So, I paid an additional 9000 Avios + $22 to tag on the award flight leg from Madrid to Lisbon. Total cost was 51,500 Avios plus $149.60 each. (Cash price for one business class seat currently shows $11,004 each! Gulp.)

Things to Consider

In my experience, award seats for business class book up quickly. I recommend booking them as soon as flight schedules open. Keep in mind that many international airlines open up schedules before U.S. airlines (Iberia and Air France open up for booking ~12 months in advance vs. US airlines at ~11 months in advance).

In my family’s case, we also need to consider how many miles and points we have for flights home. I’m planning on yet another trip to Europe in 2024 for just me, so I need to conserve some miles for that. Therefore, we will likely fly in Economy or Premium Economy for our flights home from Lisbon.

To be clear, I would never pay $3000+ for one seat in business class. But, I will part with my miles to enjoy these same seats at a fraction of the cost!

I don’t have anything figured out for this trip besides these one-way flights. But nonetheless, I’m celebrating!