Planning and booking intra-European flights can become quite a challenge as you are presented with many different flight options, and then there is of course the decision of whether to fly or take a train. In general, I fly whenever possible as I’m not the biggest fan of trains, which is why perhaps I’m an aviation geek who loves to be in the air. Regardless, when you’ve made your decision to fly, there are several ways to go about booking and searching for your flight, and even then you will have a bunch of options to select from:
- booking one-way flights on low cost airlines
- booking one-way or return or open-jaw flights on traditional airlines
- redeeming distance-based points, like British Airways Avios
- redeeming region-based miles, like American Airlines miles
- having your intra-European flights be included as part of your larger trip to/from Europe (for example, as part of a stopover)
I’m sure there are many more options of how to plan and book your flights within Europe, but I think those are the most common ways. No one way is wrong or right, but you should always seek the best value and redemption when using miles.
Booking Intra-European Flights on Low Cost Airlines
Low cost carriers dominate the intra-European market. As much as I hate the European low cost airlines, I do thank them for bringing down airfare on traditional airlines between the markets where the low cost airlines fly. Believe it or not, but some airports in Europe are only served by low cost airlines, so if you are flying into a smaller city or town, you may not have much choice.
You can often find flights within Europe for less than $10 on airlines like Ryanair and easyJet, so sometimes it actually might make sense to book a flight with a low cost carrier if the other option is a Lufthansa flight for $300. Remember that with the low cost carriers, they will try to charge you for everything – from checking in at the airport to carry-on bags, anything they can try to get extra money from. It is important to check the rules of each airline when you book your flights, especially if flying on low cost airlines.
Booking Intra-European Flights on Traditional Airlines
You can always book a flight on a traditional European airline, like Lufthansa, British Airways, or Air France, but it will usually cost you more than a low cost flight. Traditional airlines within Europe usually do not price one-way flights at the lowest fares – that means that with these traditional airlines, a one-way flight might often cost more than a round-trip flight. For example, a Lufthansa flight from Warsaw to Frankfurt one-way can cost $150 and a round-trip can be purchased for less than $100 (based on the prices I just checked for a random date), therefore sometimes one-way options won’t be great on these airlines. However, not all traditional airlines price out their flights like this, there are some that do offer cheap one-way flights.
However, if still wanting to fly with traditional airlines due to earning miles or receiving status benefits, etc. you can book open-jaw flights, which will usually price out in a more favourable way. For example, you could book Warsaw to Paris and then Paris to Stockholm on Lufthansa, both flights via Frankfurt. This is an open-jaw and will probably price out better than if you were to book both of those journeys separately.
Redeeming British Airways Avios
The best way to fly around Europe on miles is by redeeming British Airways Avios on oneworld member airlines. This means that within Europe you can fly on British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair, from their hubs in London, Madrid, and Helsinki, respectively. The only downside to this is that there is no oneworld hub in Central Europe, so it might be a bit harder to plan your Avios flights.
Avios flights within Europe start at 4k points + taxes and fees for the shortest flights and therefore redeeming Avios can be a great deal, especially if the revenue ticket is on the more expensive side, which is often the case during summer. With Avios, you also have the option to sometimes pay for your award flight with either more Avios or more money, so you can select which of what you want to pay more.
Redeeming Region-Based Miles
While Avios are the best points currency for intra-European travel, you could also redeem other miles such as those from American Airlines or United Airlines, which are based on regions. United will price out any flight within Europe for just 8k miles if that flight is under 800 miles in distance – so this is an amazing way to redeem for some Star Alliance flights which could be expensive when purchasing one-way. If your flight is longer or involves a connection, then United will charge you more miles, and sometimes it may not be worth it.
If a flight itinerary costs more than 12.5k miles for travel within Europe in Economy Class one-way, then it probably is not worth it. Delta often charges just 10k miles for SkyTeam flights within Europe, which can be a great deal, especially if you are flying something like Athens to Paris to Madrid, which could be on the more expensive side.
Redeeming a Larger Award
You can usually include your flights within Europe as part of a larger award that you booked. For example, United allows you to have a stopover on round-trip award itineraries. That means you can fly from New York to London to Paris to New York and spend as much time as you want in both London and Paris, as one of those is considered your destination and the other a stopover city. Not all airlines allow stopovers.
You could then take side trips from your two cities and eventually return to them when it is time to go back home. You could also book flights as part of an open-jaw, something like New York to London and Paris to New York, without a flight in between London and Paris, which means you can make your own way or book other flights as you desire around Europe.
In Conclusion
There are many ways to book intra-European flights, and most likely the best option will unfortunately be a low cost carrier due to the fact they mostly dominate the European market and flood virtually all routes with insanely cheap fares. The second best option will probably be redeeming Avios or booking a flight with a traditional airline if you can find it for a good price. You should never overpay for flights, so if there is a big difference between a low cost carrier and a traditional airline, ask yourself if the benefits you get are worth the extra amount of money. Remember that most of the cheap tickets on traditional airlines do book into Basic Economy – which likely means no free checked bags and no free seat assignment.
If you decide you do not want to fly, you could always take a train within Europe, but usually for longer distances, a flight is a better option and a more comfortable one – especially if you have elite status or lounge access. Regardless, you will want to visit as many cities in Europe as possible as a majority of them are simply charming, historic, and incredible.