Originally Posted by
Megascott
First time posting here, so I hope I'm in the right spot! I'm trying to plan our honeymoon in late September. We live in Denver, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to get to Paris in business class. It's proving...difficult.
I have a little over 200k Amex points and a little under 100k Chase points. We only really need business class on the way out so that we have some chance of arriving rested (plus it'll be a nice way to start the honeymoon). Definitely don't need to use Denver as the departure airport. We can get wherever it makes the most sense to depart.
Award costs for business class seats seem to be crazy (~400k points on most airlines), so I guess I have a few questions:
- Does it make sense to book economy tickets and then pay for a business class upgrade on the flight out? (no clue how much that would cost)
- Am I looking in the wrong places for business class awards redemptions? Any tips there?
- Any departure city/airline recommendations?
Any info would be appreciated! Thank you!
Some thoughts...
- Booking an economy ticket and paying for a business upgrade isn't going to be a very reliable way to get business. You might be able to pull that off, but those upgrade possibilities might not come until a day or two in advance.
- You might want to consider looking for cash tickets from Canada, which can be cheaper. If you're flexible on timing, I'd recommend waiting to see when fares are posted to the Premium Fares thread from the US to Europe. You may want to find a good business fare and then use your points to position to/from that fare in the US/Europe.
- The best award availability/pricing with your points would likely be with Virgin Atlantic, which offers business flights from the US to LHR for as low as 24K points per person (as an example, I'm seeing that price from MCO to LHR on 5/8). You can stop in London and then continue on to Paris using British Airways miles for relatively cheap. There's also a few hundred dollars in fees, though.