Business Class to Europe under 47K w/ Flying Blue Promo Awards

Flying Blue is out with their promo awards for travel through August 31st, and while the offers are not as strong as they once were, they still offer a solid value on many routes. At just 46,875 miles for Boston to Europe in business class, promo awards remain very competitive if you live near or can position to Boston, New York, or perhaps Mexico or the Caribbean. (Update: Mexico has been removed from the promo awards list)

The Deal

• Flying Blue Promo Awards offer 25% off on select routes between now and August 31st, 2017
• See the Flying Blue Promo Awards page for a full list of routes

Key Details

• Promo awards may not be modified, cancelled, or refunded

Availability and Routes

While the number of routes from North America are quite limited, the value of these awards (and their availability) is quite strong.  Here are the routes on sale from North America:

At 46,875 miles one-way, these awards are priced better than most for business class to Europe — however, Flying Blue does add fuel surcharges of around $220 one-way. Accumulating the miles for these tickets is quite easy — Flying Blue is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi Thank You Points.

Availability looks great between Boston and Paris:

But you certainly don’t have to stop there. You could connect to any Air France destination in Europe. One of the nice things about Flying Blue is that they have a pretty broad definition of “Europe”, including Israel within that broad definition. While availability from Boston to Tel Aviv is much more limited, there are some dates available — and 46,875 miles and $250 is a very good deal for business class to Israel. Here is the same time period as above:

The downside to all of the awards above is that the business class flights I’ve seen out of Boston are on the A330 — meaning an angled seat. I believe you can get a 777 with flat-bed seats on the New York-Paris Orly route, where availability isn’t quite as good as Boston, but not bad:

Finally, if you’re looking to add a few hops to your European trip, there are a number of economy class routes on sale for 6800 miles within Europe.  Each of these prices are valid between anywhere in “Europe” (remember this includes places like Tel Aviv) and Nuremberg, Hanover, Southampton, Manchester, Zurich, Billund, Warsaw, and Montpellier. With some creativity, you could put together a great trip on a limited miles budget. Of course, economy class tickets within Europe can often be pretty cheap – be sure to shop around before booking an award ticket.

Final Thoughts

Be aware that Flying Blue has been known to shut down accounts / cancel awards for people who create a brand new account and immediately transfer in miles to book an award. I’ve also read about shut downs for running too many searches. I created a dummy account that I use to search for availability. I then created a real Flying Blue account long before I planned to book any awards and credited a flight to it before redeeming. Those steps probably aren’t all necessary — but at the very least, I would suggest creating a Flying Blue account sooner rather than later so your account isn’t brand new if you ever decide to book an award with them.

Promo award are also available both from and to a number of other destinations, with may routes between Europe and the Caribbean available in both economy and premium economy class if you’re looking to save some miles and can position for those flights. See the Flying Blue Promo awards page for more information.

H/T: View from the Wing

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