Hello all,

My wife and I are thinking of going to Paris this June. I would like to fly business or first class if possible and I have the following points:

UA 108K
Delta 120K
US Air 150K, wife has 130K
AA 110K, wife 50K

Chase 110K

Any thoughts on how to book flights and hotels? Thanks!

It's late to be seeking award flights to Europe, especially for two people who wish to fly (presumably together) first or business class to a popular destination like Paris. But here are a few things to keep in mind.

1) Both UA and AA offer one-way awards for half the miles of a roundtrip, while DL and US charge the same amount in miles for one-way and roundtrip miles. (DL is changing its policy in 2015, but that's too late to help you now.) Looking to use AA miles in one direction and UA in the other may increase your options.

2) Until March 30, US miles can be redeemed for travel on US, AA and UA and other members of Star Alliance, such as LH, LX and OS. Beginning March 31, those miles cannot be used to book travel on UA or other Star Alliance members (with some exceptions), but can be used on AA's partners in Oneworld, such as BA, AB and IB. BA has prohibitive surcharges on award travel, but AA and its other partners are more reasonable. (IB award flights cannot be booked online, but require a phone call.) The fact that US is about to switch alliances may afford you more choices, at least for the next couple of weeks.

3) If you can't find award flights to Paris, you might consider flying to nearby airports such as AMS, BRU or even DUS.

4) If need be, taking separate flights and/or flying economy (at least one-way) might increase your likelihood of finding award seats.

Thanks for the tips.

US Air has some flights in Envoy class for 100K points each way. Yikes. I was hoping for less than that. Looks like I'm a little late.

Anything business class available at saver level on United (regardless of what United charges) is bookable with US Airways miles for 100K round trip until 3/30 (book by 3/30, travel dates can be up to 11 months after). Search on united.com, as usairways.com does not show partner availability (United, Lufthansa, Brussels, Swiss, Turkish, etc).

Also, if you can get to London, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Berlin, or Madrid (maybe a few others with direct routes to Paris on oneworld airlines), you could use BA Avios (via UR) to get you to CDG pretty cheaply.

I can get to CDG using AA miles and flying BA. However, the surcharges are ridiculous.

Nice idea for your trip ^ However, exceedingly late to get non stop business class for summer travel.

Two suggestions: 1) sign up for expertflyer to get alerts for availability that pops up and 2) If you find anything even close to your dates on AA or UA, book it. You can change dates free if flights for your exact itin open up for preferred dates.

Paris in early June was great last year. Started to get very crowded in the middle of the month. I think it was both because school was out and possibly a fashion week. My business class ticket was using AA miles on Air Tahiti Nui (CDG-LAX)

Can you get there using AA miles and flying IB? You will need to phone AA to find out, but the surcharges will not be ridiculous.