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Fly AA Flat Bed Business Class from Europe for 55,000-70,000 miles each way (and only 45,000 miles for London to Boston flights). While it's also possible to fly to Europe, we recommend flying a European airline to Europe, because in the event of delays you may be eligible for EC 261/2004 compensation. You're potentially eligible for this delay compensation on all commercial flights (regardless of operating carrier) that depart the European Union, but only on European airlines on flights to the EU.
If wanting to avoid high taxes/fees, we also recommend avoiding flights that depart out of London, because of the high Air Passenger Duty (APD) that is applied to flights departing the UK, which is greater for business/first class tickets.
Available Flights
The best availability for these AA flights is January-April 2025, although there are a few dates in July, August, and/or September for some routes:
- London LHR to Boston BOS: these awards are only 45K Alaska miles, with good availability January-April 2025, but as noted above, there are high taxes on these awards due to the UK's APD, so the award costs 45K Alaska miles + $339
- Frankfurt FRA / Munich MUC to Charlotte CLT
- London LHR to Chicago ORD
- Paris CDG to Chicago ORD: a few August 2024 and April 2025 dates
- Venice VCE to Chicago ORD: a few August and September 2024 dates
- Frankfurt FRA to Dallas DFW: a few August and September 2024 dates, more availability January-March 2025
- London LHR to Dallas DFW: a few July and August 2024 dates, more availability January-April 2025
- Paris CDG to Dallas DFW: best availability January-March 2025
- Barcelona BCN to Miami MIA: a few January-February 2025 dates
- London LHR to New York JFK: a few July-August 2024 dates, best availability September 2024-May 2025
- Madrid MAD to New York JFK: best availability in January 2025
- Milan MXP to JFK: a few November-December 2024 dates; best availability February-April 2025
- Amsterdam AMS or Paris CDG to Philadelphia PHL: best availability January-March 2025
- London LHR to PHL: a few January-March and May 2025 dates, best availability in April 2025
- Zurich ZRH to PHL: best availability January-April 2025
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How to Book
If you have American AAdvantage miles, flight awards are 54,000-88,000 miles each way, depending on route and date. We recommend using Alaska Mileage Plan miles, which are 45,000 miles (between London and Boston) and otherwise 55,000-70,000 miles depending on route.
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Where to Stay
There are inexpensive flights and convenient city to city trains in Europe, making it easy to get around to other destinations after securing transatlantic flights. Among our favorite European luxury hotels: Cheval Blanc Paris; Park Hotel Vitznau in the Lake Lucerne area; Caruso (a Belmond hotel) in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast; Villa La Coste in Provence; Masseria Torre Maizza (Rocco Forte) in Puglia; the Dolder Grand outside Zurich; Ballyfin in Ireland to name a few.
Here's our Dolder Grand video review:
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HT: Thrifty Traveler
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