Europe is one of the most popular travel destinations for many of us living in the United States, and there are many flight options. On the other hand, there is competition for desirable flights, and award availability is dependent on multiple factors, including specific origin and destination airports, travel dates, planning horizon, types of points and miles available, number of travelers and desired class of service.

For individuals who want to use American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book travel between the U.S.

If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to figure out the best ways to search for awards on Oneworld airlines, keep reading for some guidance and tips. We’ll address approaches to make searching easier and find good uses for your points and miles.

Oneworld Alliance Overview

The Oneworld Alliance, along with SkyTeam and Star Alliance, make up the world’s three major airline alliances. Travelers have much to gain from understanding how these alliances function since they provide a global network of flights, allow passengers to earn and redeem miles across member airlines and provide elite benefits across the network.

If you’re looking for a solid, do it all travel card, then American Express Platinum Card® should be on your radar. This one card brings you great airport lounge access, hotel status, and more.

Let’s keep it short, because there’s a lot to get into with this great card and we’re going to take a deep dive into everything you need to know about the Platinum Card®.

The Basics of The Platinum Card from American Express

Before we dive deep into the perks of the Platinum Card®, we need to go over all the basics.

The American Express® Gold Card, with its high reward rate in certain spending categories, is one of the best rewards cards to hold for dining and travel lovers.

The card’s elevated welcome bonus is enough to book a flight in business class on multiple airlines.

Let’s talk about Avios.

Three airlines—Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia—use this rewards currency, yet they’re separate award programs. Same, same, but different. And, because the programs are different, they also use their own award charts and follow their own rules.

Although there are three loyalty programs that use Avios, in this article, we’ll focus on two: British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.

We've got good news for you to begin your Friday with today! American Express Membership Rewards now transfer to British Airways and Iberia Avios at an improved rate of 250:250.

Previously, the transfer rate was 250 Memberships to 200 Avios (1:0.8). Personally I'm quite excited about the change in ratio. I love distance-based Avios for booking short hops that otherwise wouldn't make sense to redeem miles for, but also for sweetspots like Iberia Business Class between Brazil and Spain that I flew at the end of May for just 42,500 points.

Fly a flat bed to Madrid for 25,500 Avios and low fuel surcharges this spring. Economy awards start at 12,750 Avios + $71 or 3,200 Avios and $181 one way.

Iberia is offering a 25% discount on economy and Business Class awards booked by today (2/14/17) between Madrid and:

Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago, Zurich, London, Vienna, Moscow, Bogota, Medellin, Johannesburg, Panama, Shanghai, Mexico City, Lima, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, and Havana

The discounts to/from the USA must be flown by June 14, 2017 with blackouts dates including all of April;

I've been hopping around Europe for the last few months with flight that I've booked a variety of ways:

Barcelona, Spain to Leipzig, Germany (cash, Vueling)
Prague, Czech Republic to Belgrade, Serbia (Etihad Guest miles, Air Serbia, Anatomy of an Award)
Belgrade to Tivat, Montenegro (cash, Air Serbia)
Sarajevo, Bosnia to Zagreb, Croatia (cash, Croatia Airlines)

Now I have two more flights coming up from Zagreb to Spain and back for a quick trip.

Membership Rewards used to transfer 1,000:1,000 to British Airways Avios, but the rate was cut to 250:200 on October 1, 2015.

Through the end of the year, though, you can temporarily get the old 1:1 rate through a two-step process.

Transfer Membership Rewards 1:1 to Iberia Avios during the current 25% transfer bonus.

Transfer Iberia Avios 1:1 to Brit

I'm on record saying that I don't think the British Airways devaluation from last month is a big deal. Only Business and First Class awards went up in price, and the vast majority of good Avios redemptions are short, direct, economy awards.

Well there's another good part of the "devaluation" that I haven't covered yet: the introduction of cheaper off peak awards on British Airways and Iberia flights. Here's the new award chart that shows off peak award prices next to peak award prices.
New Award Chart
Off peak awards are only possible on British Airways and Iberia flights.