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Early planners are looking to book their summer trips to Europe for 2014 right now, since award space is loaded 11 months in advance. Our Award Booking Service is currently handling a lot of these requests, and award space in premium cabins is awful at the moment.
But don’t despair, there is award space in business class to Europe for next summer.
Where can you find business class award space to Europe for next summer?
Generally the Star Alliance has better award space to Europe in business class, while I prefer American Airlines miles if booking a trip to Europe in economy class.
But right now, Star Alliance award space to Europe in business class is awful. And United, which generally offers good space on its own planes, is among the non-releasers of business class seats.
Here are some screen shots of award searches for two people next summer on select Star Alliance routes. The route is listed on the top left of each image. Green and blue shaded days on the calendar have premium cabin space. (You’ll note there are almost none of these.)
Not pictured, but no, or very limited, award space: US Airways routes from Philadelphia and LOT space to Poland.
American Airlines
By contrast, American Airlines is currently showing good award space in business class from Chicago and New York to London on flights operated by American Airlines. The good news is that these flights have no fuel surcharges. The bad news is that the seat is angled.
My Take
The award space picture is bleak if the best offering is American Airlines angled-lie-flat seats. United and Lufthansa are generally more generous with their award space, but they’re really holding back from the US to Europe. (United is releasing some space westbound.)
I think the best move is to wait until award space opens up, which it probably will. If you know you’ll be using United miles, you can book economy now and hope to make a change for a $100 fee per ticket to business or first class closer to departure. Or you can just set a flight alert on Expert Flyer now for the flights you want and be ready to pounce if and when seats open.
If the economy continues to rebound, that will put negative pressure on award seats as airlines sell more of their seats. But I don’t foresee months of not having any award seats available in business class to Europe, so let’s wait for the space to open and pounce.
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JFK-IST on Turkish has excellent biz availability if you don’t mind taking the 12.50 PM flight. it adds a couple of hours to the total flight time but if you are flying somewhere in central/eastern europe and want a 23 hr stop-over in IST this could be your preferred option.
Good find!
JFK-IST on Turkish has excellent biz availability if you don’t mind taking the 12.50 PM flight. it adds a couple of hours to the total flight time but if you are flying somewhere in central/eastern europe and want a 23 hr stop-over in IST this could be your preferred option.
Good find!
I hunted and hunted for business class service to Europe next summer on the Star Alliance last weekend. Eventually, I found good availability headed east from Canadian hubs to London Heathrow. For example, (Montreal) YUL-LHR and (Toronto) YYZ-LHR. For the journey back west there was good availability from Amsterdam to Houston or Chicago, AMS-IAH and AMS-ORD.
The difficult to impossible part was how to travel in business class from the Northwest coast on the outbound or return. I wound up accepting a coach class ticket from SFO – EWR in the hopes that business class will open up later and a change fee.
Hope this helps.
I hunted and hunted for business class service to Europe next summer on the Star Alliance last weekend. Eventually, I found good availability headed east from Canadian hubs to London Heathrow. For example, (Montreal) YUL-LHR and (Toronto) YYZ-LHR. For the journey back west there was good availability from Amsterdam to Houston or Chicago, AMS-IAH and AMS-ORD.
The difficult to impossible part was how to travel in business class from the Northwest coast on the outbound or return. I wound up accepting a coach class ticket from SFO – EWR in the hopes that business class will open up later and a change fee.
Hope this helps.
Eastbound business availability for next summer on Star Alliance is still looking pretty bleak any insight if it will improve soon? Particularly, IAD-FRA on LH, or IAD-CPH on SAS?
Hopefully it improves soon, but airlines are selling more seats and releasing fewer award seats as capacity is reduced and the economy improves.
Having booked a few segments of a trip to Europe in economy, I’ve been watching my flights to see if anything would open up in business. There’s even less award space available now than there was in August. Here’s hoping this isn’t a permanent trend.
Me too!
Eastbound business availability for next summer on Star Alliance is still looking pretty bleak any insight if it will improve soon? Particularly, IAD-FRA on LH, or IAD-CPH on SAS?
Hopefully it improves soon, but airlines are selling more seats and releasing fewer award seats as capacity is reduced and the economy improves.
Having booked a few segments of a trip to Europe in economy, I’ve been watching my flights to see if anything would open up in business. There’s even less award space available now than there was in August. Here’s hoping this isn’t a permanent trend.
Me too!