Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
European low-cost carrier Level has expanded service to Boston — and to kick things off they have terrific prices next April, May, September, and October: from $266 round trip from Boston to Barcelona. That fare includes a standard carry-on and seat selection at online check-in. You can of course pay more to check a bag or select your seat at booking, but with the 2-4-2 configuration that Thrifty Traveler reports, there are actually enough decent seats that you might stand a chance of scoring one even if you wait until check-in. There are also solid prices between New York/Newark and Paris on Openskies and between Los Angeles / Oakland and Europe. Read on for some examples.
The Deal
- Nice flight deals between Boston, New York-Newark, Los Angeles, Oakland and Europe from $266 round trip
- A carry-on bag is included with Level
Example Dates & City Pairs
You can find these prices via Google Flights. Here are a few examples:
Boston-Barcelona: $266 RT
This fare is widely available next September and October (which is still a great time to visit Barcelona). It’s also available on select dates in April and May (with early June also available for ~$277). Click the image to go to Google Flights:
Just to show availability, here are September and October of next year:
New York to Paris: $301 RT
The city that never sleeps to the city of lights is on sale next fall (Sept/Oct) from $301 round trip. The majority of availability at that price is in October on Openskies:
You’ll book those flights (as separate tickets) through Iberia and they also come with a free carry-on and personal item. Reading the baggage policy, it wasn’t immediately clear to me whether or not they come with a free checked bag (it seemed so from my read-through, but I found that hard to believe at this price). At any rate, this is a good price for nonstop travel to Paris (though note that this flies into Orly, not CDG).
Los Angeles to Barcelona: $340 RT
Another amazing value is Los Angeles to Barcelona for just $340 round trip on Level. Again, this includes a carry-on and you can pick your seat at check-in (or pay more if you need those things in advance). If you’re traveling light, this is a great price for a long nonstop flight. There is availability in April, May, September, and October. Here are example dates in April:
Oakland to Barcelona: $346 RT
I’m seeing a lot less availability out of Oakland, but there are still limited dates in April and May to fly round trip nonstrop between Oakland and Barcelona for just $346.
Bottom line
Living on the east coast, I’ve long had difficulty justifying the use of miles to get to Europe (unless Tap Air Portugal returns with business class tickets for $408 one-way, in which case I’d be happy to use Ultimate Rewards points next time). Don’t get me wrong — I’d rather fly in comfort courtesy of my miles, but fares like $266 RT from Boston make me think that I can suck it up in the cheap seats for seven hours rather than parting with 100K+ miles. I’d be less excited about nearly 12 hours from Los Angeles — but goodness knows that before I started using points, I never imagined flying any way other than coach and survived to tell the tale of long-haul economy more than once. This sale won’t be for everyone, but for some the price will be right.
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[…] $266 Boston to Barcelona RT; $301 New York to Paris RT; $340 from West Coast (Fall dates still available for $266 RT!) […]
I am wondering whether buying two or three seats for one person in order to be able to stretch out and sleep on a long-haul flight like this would make sense. At these prices, it’s still significantly cheaper than business class. Has anybody tried this or have any ideas on whether it would make sense?
Would be pretty uncomfortable I imagine. You’re also paying $19/hour for that extra seat.