Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
As reported by First Class Flyer, there is a fantastic airfare sale on a number of airlines between Washington DC and Greece and between Chicago and Sofia, Bulgaria – though there may be other departure and arrival points available. I think by far the most exciting prospect is that you can fly on British Airways for as low as $1410 round trip and earn a lot of Alaska Miles (elites may earn more than 40K).
That’s a rare price indeed for transatlantic business class. Considering the extra bonuses Alaska is offering on premium cabin travel on British Airways, the value of the miles earned makes this a no-brainer if you’re looking to get to Europe.
How to stack discounts
Most of the info you need to stack this is laid out in Extreme Stacking British Airways, AA, and Iberia flights. The short version of the story is this: round trip flights from Washington DC to Athens are on sale for prices in the $1700’s from tomorrow through the end of the schedule on most days. Here is a look at availability this month and next:
The story is similar through next June. Flights entirely on British Airways are ringing in at $1768:
And note that it’s not just Athens — I see similar prices to Mykonos and Corfu. Alternatively, Chicago to Sofia, Bulgaria rings in at about $140 more.
But you are able to stack savings on that. First, use the AARP discount (costs $12 to join, no age requirement – I finally joined last night) good for $200 off the price shown above. Then, add coupon code CARDOFFERU for Chase cardholders to save an additional 10%. See that post linked at the top of this section for more detail on these great discounts. After both AARP and CARDOFFERU, I see the $1410.74 round trip price shown at the top of this post. Note that the code CARDOFFERU worked fine for flights this fall, but I received errors when trying to use it for travel next spring and summer (despite the fact that the discount has been extended through 12/31/18).
Earning a return
As you may know, Alaska is offering big bonuses for traveling in paid business or first class with a number of airlines, including British Airways. Here is the earning chart for flights on British Airways, before any elite bonuses.
In the example routing at the top of the page, the longhaul segments are in “I” class, and the intra-European segments are in “J”. That means you’ll earn 250% mileage flown on the transatlantic portion of your trip and 350% mileage flown within Europe. A flyer with no-status would therefore receive about 28,000 Alaska MileagePlan miles if crediting the flights shown here to Alaska. As an MVP Gold member, I would qualify for an additional 100% mileage flown for a total of about 38,000 redeemable miles. Top-tier MVP Gold 75K members would earn even more! Those are great returns on a relatively cheap business class ticket.
Bottom line
These are some fantastic fares for transatlantic business class and availability is currently wide open through the end of the schedule. To stack the AARP and 10% off promotions, you would need to book directly through British Airways (using the link from your AARP account), meaning that you are not going to be able to use the pay-with-points rebate (unless you get a 1-time exception, but I would doubt that at this point). If you’re looking at flights towards the end of the schedule, keep in mind that Alaska could change earning rates at some point, though I’d suspect that the current rates will stick through at least the end of this year.
H/T: First Class Flyer.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Me neither. Checked for May 2018 both Chicago to Sofia and Washington to Athens, and fares look to be good amount higher.
Hi Pam & Al,
Unfortunately, airfare sales this good usually last a few hours at most. We posted this one about 16 hours ago (and First Class Flyer actually had it out yesterday), so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was gone by noon. If you aren’t yet subscribed to instant post alerts via email, I suggest signing up for those if airfare sales are of interest to you since they usually require quick action. You can manage your subscription options here:
https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/
Another great option is to follow us on Twitter and enable notifications there so that you can receive a phone notification when we post something new.
Anybody have luck with this? What dates did you choose. I cannot make it work!
[…] the heels of this morning’s terrific airfare sale for British Airways business class, Secret Flying is reporting an absolutely amazing airfare […]
[…] H/T: First Class Flyer via Frequent Miler […]
Great find.. I did one earlier this year from IAH-ZRH but credited to AA to maintain my executive platinum. But I have Alaska Gold too and I told myself I’d get off the AA hamster wheel next year so I may try to get Alaska to match me to MVP 75K.
What’s the westernmost European destination that anyone has found? Trying to get close to Zurich.
In your examples of transferring miles to AS, would any of these miles be elite-qualifying for AS status?
Never mind! “Base miles earned and class of service bonuses count towards Mileage plan elite status.”
Never mind on the second question. Found that answer
Is it any Chase card or just the Bristish Airways Chase card? If not using a Chase card could this be booked with Amex membership rewards?
In Greg’s experience, any Chase card has worked. He has the details in that post I linked to about extreme stacking British Airways, AA and Iberia.
These flights may be bookable via Amex, but you then have to give up the $200 AARP discount and the 10% Chase discount. Still could be a good deal.
[…] Via Nick Reyes Washington Dulles to Greece is bookable under this deal from $1410 roundtrip in business class (also Mykonos and Corfu as well). Chicago to Sofia, Bulgaria is bookable for about $150 more. […]
If you use carfofferu code di you need to pay with a chase card? Would rather pay with amex plat. Thx
Yes, you’d need to pay with a Chase card.