Newbie needs help: Premium Economy or Business Class tickets to Europe (MUC)
Feb 20, 2019, 10:49 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3
Newbie needs help: Premium Economy or Business Class tickets to Europe (MUC)
Hi All,
(Admins. please move if I've put this in the wrong place). I am still learning about the intricacies of miles & points, so forgive my ignorance.
My wife and I have approx. 150k+ Amex MR points and 85k+ Cap. One Venture points. We are looking to do a multi-city trip to Europe in July (12-22). Ideally East Coast, YYZ or NYC to MUC on the outbound and Zurich or Milan back to NYC or YYZ on the 22nd (we have a wedding in Greece on the 20th on an island and there are direct flights from there to Zurich, Milan, etc.).
What would the experts recommend as the best use of points to get Premium Economy or Business RT? I've checked United's site - but I'm not sure I'm correctly understanding their availability levels.
Many, many thanks in advance.
(Admins. please move if I've put this in the wrong place). I am still learning about the intricacies of miles & points, so forgive my ignorance.
My wife and I have approx. 150k+ Amex MR points and 85k+ Cap. One Venture points. We are looking to do a multi-city trip to Europe in July (12-22). Ideally East Coast, YYZ or NYC to MUC on the outbound and Zurich or Milan back to NYC or YYZ on the 22nd (we have a wedding in Greece on the 20th on an island and there are direct flights from there to Zurich, Milan, etc.).
What would the experts recommend as the best use of points to get Premium Economy or Business RT? I've checked United's site - but I'm not sure I'm correctly understanding their availability levels.
Many, many thanks in advance.
Feb 20, 2019, 11:37 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,017
nycelta Welcome to FT
Looking now for 2 x business class awards east coast USA to Eu for July 2019 will usually show nil/low availability. Awards can start to be available from 353/330 days out (depends on ffp). Look for any airport, NYC, BOS, YYC etc to any & all central Eu airports. Wanting specific dates & citys will limit your options a lot.
Look here -->Amex MR Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program?
My wife and I have approx. 150k+ Amex MR points and 85k+ Cap. One Venture points. We are looking to do a multi-city trip to Europe in July (12-22). Ideally East Coast, YYZ or NYC to MUC on the outbound and Zurich or Milan back to NYC or YYZ on the 22nd (we have a wedding in Greece on the 20th on an island and there are direct flights from there to Zurich, Milan, etc.).
What would the experts recommend as the best use of points to get Premium Economy or Business RT? I've checked United's site - but I'm not sure I'm correctly understanding their availability levels.
What would the experts recommend as the best use of points to get Premium Economy or Business RT? I've checked United's site - but I'm not sure I'm correctly understanding their availability levels.
Look here -->Amex MR Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program?
Feb 20, 2019, 11:40 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,584
Welcome to FT!
Neither Cap One Venture points nor (U.S.-based) Amex MR points transfer to UA, so although you might end up on one or more UA flights, you won't be redeeming UA miles to get those flights.
Amex points can transfer to a number of Star Alliance airlines, each of which has its own redemption rates and fees. The mileage quoted to you on the UA website will be irrelevant to you, since you won't be redeeming UA miles. You can use the UA website to search for "Saver" award seats on Star Alliance carriers; such seats should be available for redemption from other Star Alliance programs, like Aeroplan.
You can also check delta.com to see how much Delta wants for the trip. Note that Delta redemptions that originate in Europe have high cash surcharges, so if you are going to redeem Delta miles for a one-way, only do so for the North America-Europe outbound.
Why are your origination options only NYC or YYZ? Can you not depart from other airports in between, like, BUF, ROC, SYR, ITH, or ELM?
Neither Cap One Venture points nor (U.S.-based) Amex MR points transfer to UA, so although you might end up on one or more UA flights, you won't be redeeming UA miles to get those flights.
Amex points can transfer to a number of Star Alliance airlines, each of which has its own redemption rates and fees. The mileage quoted to you on the UA website will be irrelevant to you, since you won't be redeeming UA miles. You can use the UA website to search for "Saver" award seats on Star Alliance carriers; such seats should be available for redemption from other Star Alliance programs, like Aeroplan.
You can also check delta.com to see how much Delta wants for the trip. Note that Delta redemptions that originate in Europe have high cash surcharges, so if you are going to redeem Delta miles for a one-way, only do so for the North America-Europe outbound.
Why are your origination options only NYC or YYZ? Can you not depart from other airports in between, like, BUF, ROC, SYR, ITH, or ELM?
Feb 20, 2019, 11:58 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3
Yes, absolutely we can travel from ROC, BUF, SYR. I only checked UA's site as I saw that I needed to look there first for available Saver awards and found very little.
Welcome to FT!
Neither Cap One Venture points nor (U.S.-based) Amex MR points transfer to UA, so although you might end up on one or more UA flights, you won't be redeeming UA miles to get those flights.
Amex points can transfer to a number of Star Alliance airlines, each of which has its own redemption rates and fees. The mileage quoted to you on the UA website will be irrelevant to you, since you won't be redeeming UA miles. You can use the UA website to search for "Saver" award seats on Star Alliance carriers; such seats should be available for redemption from other Star Alliance programs, like Aeroplan.
You can also check delta.com to see how much Delta wants for the trip. Note that Delta redemptions that originate in Europe have high cash surcharges, so if you are going to redeem Delta miles for a one-way, only do so for the North America-Europe outbound.
Why are your origination options only NYC or YYZ? Can you not depart from other airports in between, like, BUF, ROC, SYR, ITH, or ELM?
Neither Cap One Venture points nor (U.S.-based) Amex MR points transfer to UA, so although you might end up on one or more UA flights, you won't be redeeming UA miles to get those flights.
Amex points can transfer to a number of Star Alliance airlines, each of which has its own redemption rates and fees. The mileage quoted to you on the UA website will be irrelevant to you, since you won't be redeeming UA miles. You can use the UA website to search for "Saver" award seats on Star Alliance carriers; such seats should be available for redemption from other Star Alliance programs, like Aeroplan.
You can also check delta.com to see how much Delta wants for the trip. Note that Delta redemptions that originate in Europe have high cash surcharges, so if you are going to redeem Delta miles for a one-way, only do so for the North America-Europe outbound.
Why are your origination options only NYC or YYZ? Can you not depart from other airports in between, like, BUF, ROC, SYR, ITH, or ELM?
Feb 20, 2019, 10:51 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)
Posts: 6,776
The new, soon to be launched DY (Norwegian) may fit your needs which is a direct ATH-JFK flight. I believer your Cap1 would be used to reduce the cost of such tickets and the Premium product, while not a business class product is reviewed as decent. That would leave you looking for just 2 1-way tickets which in awards can help out a lot.
Feb 21, 2019, 12:26 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3
Terrific feedback and I didn't know about the ATH-JFK route. I just read The Points Guy favorable review of their Premium product. What did you mean about using the CAP1 to reduce the cost? i.e. Instead of transferring the CAP1 points, instead buy down the cost of the flights directly within CAP1?
The new, soon to be launched DY (Norwegian) may fit your needs which is a direct ATH-JFK flight. I believer your Cap1 would be used to reduce the cost of such tickets and the Premium product, while not a business class product is reviewed as decent. That would leave you looking for just 2 1-way tickets which in awards can help out a lot.
Feb 21, 2019, 1:16 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)
Posts: 6,776
I am not a Capital One Venture card user so my knowledge of redemptions is limited but one of the good value redemptions seems to be you purchase the flights you want on your Cap1 card and then apply the points as a purchase eraser at $0.01 per points.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/rewa...-hassle-miles/
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/rewa...-hassle-miles/
Terrific feedback and I didn't know about the ATH-JFK route. I just read The Points Guy favorable review of their Premium product. What did you mean about using the CAP1 to reduce the cost? i.e. Instead of transferring the CAP1 points, instead buy down the cost of the flights directly within CAP1?