What IS a cheap business class fare to Europe?

Years ago Virgin Atlantic and British Airways would run these incredible business class fare deals to Europe. At one point, a round-trip between San Francisco and London in VA’s Upper Class came in around $1,480. At the time, I thought “Why would I pay for this when I can use miles?” Those were abundant days. Credit card companies didn’t restrict sign-up bonuses, manufactured spending was in its prime (5x on Vanilla Reloads at Office Depot…sigh).

Now that so many hotel and airline programs getting devalued, more people are turning to cash back rewards. The idea of paying for a business class ticket isn’t so outrageous to me anymore.  But what is a “cheap” business class fare? 

Lately, I’ve been getting these travel deal emails from Travelzoo. They’re offering business class fares to Europe for as low as $2087 (San Francisco to London). Interestingly enough, the East Coast fares are more expensive ($3,060 for Miami to Athens). Usually, it’s the reverse. So is this a good deal?

The way I determine whether a paid business class fare is a good deal or not is by comparing how much manufactured spending I’d have to do on a cash back vs. mile-earning credit card. In the case of Travelzoo’s $2087 business class fare, it makes more sense to redeem cash back than miles…depending on the currency you use. Let’s compare a few different rewards programs:

Alaska Airlines

The cheapest round-trip business class fare in the Alaska Mileage Plan program clocks in at 100,000 miles. That fare is good on Icelandair between the U.S. and Iceland only. Flights to the rest of Europe will set you back 115,000 miles round-trip. 

That would take $100,000 – $115,000 worth of manufactured spending through the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card. Meanwhile, you’d have to spend $104,350 on a 2% cash back card to earn enough for that $2087 business class fare Tripadvisor is advertising. Depending on where you decide to travel, Tripadvisor’s business class fare might work out cheaper.

Amex Membership Rewards

Amex Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to several programs, including Virgin Atlantic, Etihad, Flying Blue, Air Canada and All Nippon Airways. ANA has one of the cheapest awards to Europe out there: 88,000 miles round-trip. That’s just $88,000 worth of non-bonus category spending.

If you have a card like the Amex Everyday Preferred, which pays out a 50% bonus every billing cycle where you manage to complete 30 transactions, you’ll need just $58,666 worth of spending.

Earn your points through the American Express Gold Card and you could earn the miles you need after $22,000 spent at grocery stores. That is WAY less than the amount required to earn $2,087 worth of cash back. Whether Amex’s RAT team is onboard with that is another story…

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Chase partners with several airlines with offer award flights to Europe. Air France/KLM Flying Blue offers round-trip flights ranging from 115,000 – 140,000 miles round-trip. As you may have guessed, the lower redemption rates are for flights between New York and Paris, while flights out of SFO have higher redemption rates.

Singapore Krisflyer and Virgin Atlantic are distance-based programs, so the number of miles required depends on where you’re traveling to/from. A one-way Upper Class ticket between San Francisco and London costs as few as 67,500 miles and $624. Out of New York City, you can expect to pay 47,500 miles.

United has moved to dynamic pricing, though you can normally find round-trip business class flights for 70,000 miles.

How do these award rates stack up against Travelzoo’s business class fare? There are two factors that could tip the scale in either direction: Taxes and credit card category bonuses. Taxes can be quite high with programs like Virgin Atlantic and even Flying Blue.

The high redemption rates can be overlooked with category bonuses. For example, you can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards at an accelerated rate by manufactured spend with cards like the Chase Ink Plus (5x at office supply stores) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (3x points during the first year).

So while some of these redemption rates may initially seem high compared to those of a 2% cash back card, you should factor in category bonuses to get a more accurate picture.

Citi ThankYou points

Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to Avianca Lifemiles, Etihad and Flying Blue, to name a few. Etihad requires just 100,000 miles round-trip for a business class seat between the U.S. and Europe. Note, that award is on American Airlines flights, which are limited.

Avianca Lifemiles requires 126,000 miles round-trip for a business class ticket to Europe and flights can be easily booked online.

Citi’s ThankYou point-earning credit cards don’t offer the biggest category bonuses.  You can earn 5x on travel and restaurants with the Citi Prestige Card (but do you really want to?) and the Citi Premier Card offers 3x at gas stations.

If you can make use of those category bonuses to churn gift cards, earning miles for business class travel to Europe would be preferable over Travelzoo’s airfare sale.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, a good business class fare to Europe is one that works out cheaper using cash back rewards vs. airline miles. Not everyone uses manufactured spending to earn miles though. Those people usually have a value assigned to each airline currency. I’ve seen this range from 1.4 – 2.1 cents per miles. The best way to determine whether to redeem miles or not  is to compare the paid fare with the value of the miles they’re redeeming.

You’ll want to keep in mind the cost of award taxes, the potential miles and elite benefits you could earn from revenue fares. Plus, the amount of spending you’d have to do (inclusive of category bonuses) in order to earn enough points vs. cash back to cover the flights.

What’s the most you’re willing to pay for business class airfare to Europe?