Since becoming a traveling nurse practitioner and collecting points and miles, I avoid flying more than 4 hours at a time in economy. My international flights (unless going to the Caribbean) tend to be in business/first class. As many of you have noticed, I fly to Spain quite often. I wanted to share one of my favorite ways to book business class to Europe.
Off season, such as in the fall, winter, and early spring, you can find business class flights from the East Coast of the U.S. to Spain for only 42,500 miles and $50. These are flights through Iberia, which is Spain’s main airline carrier. To fly from Miami to Madrid on business class one way, off season, normally costs at least $1600.
I use points from my Chase or American Express credit cards and transfer them to British Airways. British Airways is a UK airline carrier that partners with Iberia. So, I can use the British Airways miles to book the Iberia flight. By using 42,500 miles, I only have to pay $50 out of pocket. Not bad for a flight that costs more than $1600. Even if you do not want to go to Spain, it is still a good deal to book this flight and then pay an extra $50-100 to go anywhere else in Europe (since traveling within Europe is relatively cheap).
If you are wondering where these points come from, check out my page on travel credit cards. You can easily get double the amount of points needed for this one-way ticket from just one sign up bonus.
