7,731+ Little-Known Options to Europe with Savings of 31% to 59% in Business Class, Using Miles or Cash

What Indiana Jones would do when traveling to Europe

Indiana Jones didn't create treasure maps. He found them.

Someone else did the research – deciphered the ancient text, traced the clues, figured out where X marked the spot.

Indy just had to be opportunistic enough to follow the map. Flexible enough to pivot when the path changed. Smart enough to recognize treasure when he saw it.

That's Upgrade Intelligence in action: If you want something special – the most bang for your buck, the treasure others are missing – you don't reinvent the wheel. You look for existing treasure maps.

You've already found First Class Flyer. You've done well. We've done the research. We've decoded the routes. We've mapped the treasure. Now you just need to be opportunistic with perhaps a little flexibility – unless money is no object and you're happy to pay full price for what everyone else is getting.

The Problem: 250,000 to 500,000 Miles R/T for ONE Seat

For a while now, we’ve all been frustrated trying to find available, cheap premium seats to Europe using miles/points. Most of the pricing we've seen lately on American, Delta, and United is 250,000 to 500,000 miles round-trip per person. If not more.

That's the friction. That's the wall everyone's banging their head against.

But here's where Upgrade Intelligence flips the script: When everyone else is stuck at the same dead end, that's your signal to look somewhere else. Friction isn't failure – it's a redirect. It's the universe pointing you toward the treasure map.

The Treasure Map:
7,731+ Little-Known Options to Europe in Business Class

Despite all the bad news, deals exist – and we've found a fistful.

In some cases, you can get four seats for the price of one on American, Delta, or United, with FCF's research. More on that in a moment.

Business Class awards at 60,000 miles each way have been found on 208 routes for up to nine seats on Air France and KLM through the airline's Flying Blue loyalty program.

60,000 miles each way. Nine seats available. While Delta is charging 250,000 miles for one.

This is Step 3 in the Universal Upgrade Process: Options. Real options. Not fantasy. Not "maybe if award space opens up."

You can easily use an Air France points-to-miles transfer partner to get the miles via American Express, Capital One, Chase, and Citi.

No Miles? No Problem – Here's the Leverage Play

Air France frequently runs mileage sales, usually offering discounts between 45% and 80% – but 80% is as good as it gets with this program. Here's what this means in real terms:

• Regular cost per mile: 3.05 cents
• Discounted price per mile through December 22: 1.69 cents
• Maximum miles you can buy per year: 100,000 miles
• Number of miles you can get with this promo: up to 180,000 miles

flyingblue.fr

Now, let's take it up a notch. If you leverage FCF's Unlimited Miles Purchase Strategy, there's literally no cap on how many miles you can buy – unlocking even more premium travel for less.

Sample Savings Potential When Buying Miles

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This is Leverage Intelligence. You're not hoping for a deal. You're engineering one.

TWO KINDS OF SECRETS
TWO KINDS OF TREASURE

There are two kinds of secret routes – and don't tell anyone about them, okay? This is just between you and me.

Nonstop Secret Routes

Most travelers aren't finding deals between the U.S. and Europe. But look at this: 16 days of Business Class seat availability from New York to Paris in February on Air France (and other months with cheap seats too). Nonstop. For 60,000 miles each way.

When was the last time you saw that on Delta?

One-Connection Secret Routes

These work much like American's lucrative system, which offers better availability on routes with a connection than nonstops.

In other words, where there might NOT be availability of the cheapest Business Class seats between Houston and Paris nonstop, there IS good, cheap seat availability from Houston to Corsica – via that same Air France nonstop flight, just by adding Corsica to the itinerary.

The trick is to know what routes offer cheap Business Class seats. That's the treasure map.

Let's take a look:

Here is the August availability and pricing for ONE Business Class seat from Houston to Paris, 218,000 miles.

But add Figari, Corsica, the popular French island, to your Houston-Paris itinerary, and look at the 17 cheap, 60,000-mile Business Class seats available (and you'll be flying on that same Houston-Paris leg that cost 3.5X more):

Want more?

Like nine cheap Business Class seats? No problem. Time to take your baseball team. There are 16 days in August with nine seats available at 60,000 miles or points each:

Nine seats – for little more than what you see Delta usually charging for one.

This is the treasure. This is what opportunistic travel looks like.

Not in a Major Hub?
No Problem

Good news for travelers outside Air France and KLM's hub cities.

Even if you're not in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York/JFK, New York/Newark, Orlando, Ottawa, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh/Durham, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, or Washington, DC – you're not out of luck.

Delta, their SkyTeam partner, allows seamless domestic connections based on availability to the airline's hubs.

At the same time, Air France and KLM can make it effortless to connect throughout Europe and beyond, based on availability. Plus, Air France allows you a stopover, even on one-way tickets, so you can get multiple destinations for the price of one.

Air France and KLM route map, according to flightconnections.com

More treasure. Same map.

The Opportunity Traveler Mindset:
Upgrade Intelligence in Action

What's an opportunity traveler?

It's someone who flips the script on traditional booking. Instead of picking rigid dates AND a particular destination – and being at the mercy of sky-high fares – this traveler starts with the opportunity first and plans the trip around it.

This strategy, also known as "Not Booking Backwards," puts you in the driver's seat rather than playing the sucker to airline pricing algorithms.

Think of it like hunting for buried treasure – only instead of a map leading to gold coins, it leads to jaw-dropping flight deals. You're not shackled to a predetermined itinerary; you're the savvy adventurer who lets the best opportunity determine where (and how luxuriously) you fly.

This is core Upgrade Intelligence:

• Reality over fantasy: Don't wait for Delta to release cheap seats that aren't coming. Book the Air France seats that exist TODAY.
• Options over rigidity: Step 3 of the Universal Upgrade Process is about having real, leverageable options. We found 7,731+ of them.
• Leverage over brute force: Buy miles at 80% off. Use transfer partners. Engineer the deal instead of hoping for one.
• Friction as friend: Frustrated with American/Delta/United pricing? That friction is pointing you here.

Unless money is no object and you're happy to pay full price for the same seat, this mindset unlocks treasure that rigid travelers never see.

The SiX Secret Routes with nonstop availability to Paris:
Your Treasure Map

What we found…

Availability to/from Dallas

Availability to/from Houston

Availability to/from New York

Availability to/from Chicago

Availability to/from Boston

Availability to/from Washington

Availability to/from Phoenix

Availability to/from Detroit

Availability to/from Newark (EWR)

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These are the 208 routes with over 7,731 cheap Business Class seats – 60,000 miles each way – that are hiding. Some with nine seats available. Some with stopovers included. Some nonstop, some with one connection.

This is the research you didn't have to do. The treasure map you didn't have to draw. The options you didn't have to engineer.

You just need to be opportunistic enough to follow it.

Indiana Jones Didn't Wait for Permission

He saw the map. He recognized the treasure. He moved.

Most travelers are still staring at Delta's 500,000-mile price tag, hoping it'll change. Waiting for award space to magically appear. Staying loyal to an airline that isn't loyal back.

That's fantasy. Here's reality:

You can transfer miles from Amex, Chase, Citi, or Capital One. Or buy them at 80% off through December 22. Or use FCF's Unlimited Miles Strategy to buy even more.

This is the treasure map. This is Upgrade Intelligence. This is Step 3: Options – real, tangible, bookable today.

The only question left is: Are you opportunistic enough to follow it?

Indiana Jones would be.