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Europe is one of the most popular (and competitive) award travel markets. The good news: there are plenty of incredible sweet spots in both business and economy if you know where to look and which programs to use.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the best ways to fly to Europe using points and miles, highlight top redemptions, and show how Roame makes it easy to find them, compare options, and book

Best Programs for Booking Flights to Europe

1. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic offers the cheapest award flights to Europe – if you can find the space. Flying Club has dynamic award pricing for travel on Virgin Atlantic, which offers some great deals on the lower end.

While redemption rates on SkyTeam partners can be pretty good (e.g., Air France-KLM), the best deals come on Virgin Atlantic's own flights. You can find one-way flights between the U.S. and London for as little as 6,000 points in economy, 10,000 points in premium economy, and 29,000 points in Virgin Upper Class.

Watch for taxes and fees though, which are especially steep flying out of London.

Virgin Atlantic is a 1:1 transfer partner with American Express, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and Citi.

Roame SkyView search for Virgin Atlantic flights to London
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Cabin
2. Air France/KLM Flying Blue
Flying Blue is the loyalty program for both Air France and KLM, which offer solid deals on direct flights to/from Paris (CDG) and Amsterdam (AMS) from most major US airports. Availability can come and go in waves, set an alert on Roame to be notified when the availability you are looking for opens up!
While the price was recently raised from 50,000 miles, business class award flights now start at 60,000 miles, still a terrific deal. If there is availability to CDG or AMS, you can often find connections to other cities such as Nice, Venice, and more for no additional cost.
For economy flights, you can typically find greater award availability and fly for 25,000 miles each way.
Keep an eye out for Flying Blue's monthly Promo Rewards, where select routes are discounted by 25%, making the award prices an even better deal.

Air France is a 1:1 transfer partner with American Express, Bilt, Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Ramp, and Wells Fargo.

Air France business class cabin
3. Aeroplan (Air Canada)
Aeroplan is best for Star Alliance awards with lots of flexibility and partners. You can fly between North America and most of Europe for 60K–80K miles for business class. 

Aeroplan has consistent award pricing with their zone-based award charts, a huge set of airline partners, and no surcharges on many carriers. This often gives Aeroplan the best mix of availability, points price, and fees of any airline program.

Bonus Sweet Spot: Lufthansa First Class is available to partners only within ~3 days of departure and costs 90K-100K Aeroplan points one-way between the U.S. and Germany.

Aeroplan is a 1:1 transfer partner with American Express, Bilt, Capital One, and Chase

4. Iberia Plus Avios

Iberia Plus Avios is a great option to find direct flights to Spain from the US from just 34,000 Avios, with pretty solid award availability.

Iberia operates flights from ORD, IAD, BOS, LAX, MIA, JFK, SFO and DFW to its hub at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD).

Flights are priced based on distance and whether your travel falls on peak or off-peak dates. From JFK, BOS, IAD and ORD, here's what a one-way business-class flight goes for:

  • Off-peak dates: 34,000 Iberia Plus Avios and about $120 in fees
  • Peak dates: 50,000 Iberia Plus Avios and about $120 in fees

For tickets on Iberia from the rest of the US airports mentioned above, they start at 42,500 Avios for off-peak pricing. Still a great deal for flying to Europe in a lay-flat seat.

Iberia is a 1:1 transfer partner with American Express, Bilt, Chase, Capital One,  Ramp, and Wells Fargo. Plus, you can transfer points from any other Avios program to Iberia (British Airways, Aer Lingus, Finnair, Qatar).

Iberia business class cabin
Honorable Mentions
While the above are some of our favorite redemptions, there are plenty of other good ways to get to Europe with points, including:
United MileagePlus
Decent availability to Europe with no surcharges, but often more expensive than Aeroplan for the same flights if you can find availability on partners. Still a solid option for flexible flight options and a lot of availability,
British Airways Avios
Great for short-haul Oneworld routes (especially Iberia). However, long-haul business to London have high taxes and surcharges, greatly limiting redemption value.
Emirates Skywards
Fly JFK–Milan or EWR–Athens in Emirates business for 87K miles or first class for 102K miles one-way. A fun way to get to Europe in style—with showers, if you're lucky.
Turkish Miles&Smiles
Fly from the US to Istanbul, Turkey for 40,000 points one-way in economy or 65,000 points in business class.

How to Find These Awards

Roame helps you find real award availability across dozens of airline programs, with filters for transfer partners, cabin class, alliances, and more. You’ll see how many points each redemption costs, which partners to transfer from, and whether it’s bookable online—all pulled directly from airline websites.
Let’s say you’re looking for business class flights to Europe next month, you can:

  • Set your origin (e.g. JFK or United States), destination (e.g. Europe or a specific city), dates (up to a 60-day window with SkyView), and desired cabin class
  • Filter based on points price, fees, airline loyalty programs, transfer partners (e.g., Amex, Chase, or Bilt), plane type, and more
  • Roame will quickly surface award space from over 23 airline loyalty programs, allowing you to easily search across many programs, saving you hours of manual search
  • If you don't see the availability you are hoping for, you can set an alert with Roame and receive a notification when flights that meet your criteria are surfaced
Roame SkyView search to Europe

Fly business class for the price of economy

Learn more
Tips for Booking Europe on Points

  • Start planning early, especially for busier periods like peak summer
  • Avoid departing from London if you want to skip heavy UK airport taxes
  • Be willing to take positioning flights—JFK, BOS, IAD, ORD, ATL, and MIA often have the most deals
  • Compare across programs—Roame lets you see which partner (e.g. Flying Blue vs Virgin) offers better value for the same flight
  • Use flexible currencies (Amex, Chase, Bilt) for more options
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re chasing a 34K Iberia business class seat to Madrid or aiming for Lufthansa First from JFK, there’s no shortage of ways to fly to Europe using points and miles. The key is knowing which sweet spots to target—and how to actually find bookable space.

Roame simplifies the entire process: surfacing real award availability, providing flight availability alerts, showing you how to book, and helping you compare the best deals side by side.

Try your first search at roame.travel and unlock your next European trip on points.

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