One of the great things about traveling to Europe with points is how geographically close many of the countries are to one another. Can’t find an award flight to Paris? Well, then book one to Madrid and hop a short cash flight over to Paris. 

That flexibility can make award travel much easier, especially if you want to travel in a premium cabin on the longer flight across the Atlantic, or if you’re flying with a family. (Or both.)

But sometimes the intra-European flights you need for those short connections can be pricey, especially if you are traveling with a larger group or want to check bags. Rising fuel prices in recent months have also affected the prices of flights within Europe. 

Luckily, you can sometimes book these flights with points.  Just make sure you’re aware of the cancellation policy of the airline you’re booking through. European airlines are generally much less generous with their award-flight cancellation policies than U.S.-based airlines are.

Be especially careful if you’re booking through a partner airline. For example, I once booked a short-haul British Airways flight through Iberia’s Avios program from Madrid to London. My transatlantic flight was later canceled, forcing me to cancel this short-hop flight. Iberia doesn’t refund Avios on canceled partner bookings, so I lost those points. It was a small amount of points but still an annoying lesson to learn! 

 

Searching and Booking 

The search process for booking an award flight within Europe works the same as any other award search. First, you need to figure out what airlines fly between the two cities you’re traveling between. I always use Flight Connections or Google Flights for this.  

Next, price out your cash options. If the flight prices are reasonable and you can live with the cancellation policies and checked-bag allowance (or lack thereof), you might just go ahead and book with cash. 

You can always save with a travel credit, such as the $300 annual travel credit on your Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business®. Or you can book through Capital One Travel and use your $300 credit from your Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. If you have any Capital One miles, you can also book directly with the airline and “erase” the charge at a value of one cent per point. (That’s not the best value you can possibly get from Capital One points, but it is a very flexible way to save money on travel.) 

If you’re not satisfied with the cash options, you can then search for award flights and see what makes sense. You generally will not get the outsized value on these short flights that you can get flying across the ocean. But if the goal is to save money, your points can be useful! 

In this post, we’ll look at a few examples of intra-European journeys you might book on points. 

 

Air France from Paris to Vienna 

The first example is one I booked myself. For an upcoming European trip, I needed a flight from Paris to Vienna. The cash price was almost $500 for two passengers. 

 

 

 

Instead, I booked it for 28,000 Air France Flying Blue miles plus $140. Luckily, I already had a small number of miles in my Flying Blue account from previous trips, and American Express® was running a 25% transfer bonus at the time. So I only had to transfer 17,000 Membership Rewards® to Flying Blue to book this flight. 

It wasn’t the best cents-per-point value of any redemption I’ve ever booked, but I was happy to save money on these tickets, take advantage of a transfer bonus, and buy a ticket that included checked bags. 

We love the Flying Blue program for travel within Europe for the same reasons we love it for getting across the ocean. The 25% discount on children’s award tickets applies to intra-European flights, which can add up when traveling with kids. 

Flying Blue also offers monthly promo rewards that can help you save miles if they happen to line up with your travel plans. The short-haul versions of these awards between European cities can be priced as low as 7,500 miles per person! 

 

British Airways from Madrid to London

Avios is another points currency we love for travel to Europe, and Avios can also help you get around Europe. Avios are a shared currency that many airlines use, and you can move your Avios from one participating airline to another. So whatever type of the major points currencies you have, they can become Avios. That also means there are frequent transfer bonuses from one of the points programs to an Avios airline. 

You can sometimes get solid value booking with Avios across Europe. For example, I found a flight from Madrid to London on British Airways that would cost about $195 per passenger for a refundable ticket (minus a fee) that included a checked bag. 

 

Instead, you could book this ticket for 13,000 Avios plus $5 per person. That’s about 1.46 cents per point—not an outsized value, but it could save you some cash! If you could book this flight during a transfer bonus, you could get even better value for your points. 

 

 

Swiss Air from Prague to Zurich

I’ve found Swiss Air to be one of the easier airlines to book via a partner award for long-haul flights, and you can do this for short-haul flights as well. You could use your United MileagePlus miles or Air Canada Aeroplan miles to book this brief hop from Prague to Zurich. You’ll want to check both programs, though in this case, I found a better deal with United. You could pay only 6,000 United miles plus $33.50 for this flight. The cash price for this ticket would be over $200. 

 

 

 

That would get you 3 cents per point for United miles—an excellent value that would really add up if you’re traveling with the family. 

 

Bottom Line 

We love our points for getting us to Europe, but once you get there, they can help you hop from country to country as well. What short flights have you booked with your points? 

 

Related Posts

Five Economy Sweet Spots to Europe

Reader Success Story to Three European Countries

Using British Airways Avios

Finding Last-Minute Flights with Points and Miles