We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Use your miles to fly flat with your champagne filled and your pinkies out.
Who wants to go on their dream holiday to Europe and fly economy? Not I, good sir, not I! You’ve been saving up for a long time, using Miles’ tricks to compile a huge stash of points, and you want to fly like a baller. We get it. We’ve been very lucky to fly in some of the best business class cabins the skies could offer, and we want to show you 5 of our favorite options when crossing the Atlantic. Here are 5 great way to fly business class to Europe with points.
1) SAS Business Class
Star Alliance member, SAS, has one of the most handsome looking cabins. I even did an Instagram story on Fredrik Eklund ( he flies them). These flights will route you through Stockholm ( which is a gorgeous city worth exploring) and can be had for 70k United, 55k Aeroplan, and 65k Singapore. The 1-2-1 cabin provides great seating options whether you’re traveling alone or with your luvvy duvvy.
Pros:
- Gorgeous cabin
- Decent award avail
- Completely Lie-flat
Cons
- It’s a Scandnavian airline, so if you’re not a big fan of their food…you be disappointed.
2) American on their Flagship 777-300ER – featured picture
AA reps arguably one of the best and simultaneously the worst business class across the pond. The seat, or hard product, is a phenomenal Zodiac designed Cirrus seat, but as you’ll see in the “Cons” you can hardly ever find it available with miles. There are times when AA releases waves of availability. When this happens we send out email alerts —-> subscribe to the blog.
Pros:
- Private, reverse-herringbone design
- Great Seat with tons of storage
- Completely Lie-flat
Cons
- LACK OF SPACE
- It’s very difficult to find award inventory on AA’s flagship business class
3) Swiss Business Class “Throne”
As you can see in this post, not all business classes are the same, nor are they even the same within the cabin. Swiss Business Class is a good way to fly across the pond, but it’s GREAT, if you can score a Throne.
Pros:
- great storage
- privacy
- Inventory bookable with 55k Aeroplan, 65k Singapore, and 70k United.
Cons:
- Thrones can’t be reserved at booking unless you pay $200- although you can use this work-a-round
- footwell is small
4) Singapore Airlines Business Class A350 or A380.
Singapore runs two flights to Europe: Houston to Manchester, England and New York to Frankfurt, Germany. Both of these routes offer a great experience with a superb product. In fact, Singapore has eliminated most of their fees which makes their business class option even more attractive.
Pros:
- Huge Seat
- Incredible Service
- Low fees and great availability.
- Singapore Airlines has many transfer partners
Cons
- Few routes
- Many don’t like the “fold down” sleep option as it limits the ability to lounge at near flat angles.
- Space is basically limited to using Singapore miles – not much space released to partners
5) Air France Business Class 777-300ER
One that we would love to try. It has a fantastic reverse-herringbone design, gorgeous design, and many people have love it. At just 62.5k mile transferred into FlyingBlue it poses as a great option, but one downside is the high fees levied on award tix. They can crack $300 one way – ouch!
But if you’re looking for comfort and a swanky ride – this looks legit and is at the top of our list of new cabins to fly in 2018!
Pros:
- Great Seat
- Highly reviewed
- Good space available
Cons
- High surcharges
- Limited routes with the new product
Like our stuff? Subscribe, Subscribe, Subscribe! Either via Email – or follow me or Miles on Insta!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.