Small towns, big cities, beaches, swank, and 10+ hour business class flights on two of Europe's best airlines: this trip has got it all.
I've always thought Monaco was, like, the coolest. A micronation supported and surrounded by one of the most influential countries in the world, home of the world's billionaires, with an amazing climate and cool architecture... I once looked up how much condos there cost, and was very discouraged when I realized that I would never be able to afford to live there. But that doesn't mean it hasn't remained on my travel bucket list.
That was the first thought when deciding where our summer 2023 trip would be. I knew if we went to Moncao, we'd have to visit Nice, as well, since that's the major airport nearby anyways. But after planning a trip to Dubai, the Maldives, and Singapore in 2022, that wouldn't be enough to constitute our major trip for the year. So where else would we go?
My first thought was how to get there and back. I looked mainly at Air France/KLM, British (certain planes only), and Turkish Airlines for crossing the Atlantic. First up was some metal research: what planes does each airline fly to which US destinations? (TIP: this type of research might seem really tedious when all you want to do is go on vacation and relax, but personally, the last thing I want is to think I'm flying one of the best options in the sky, only to have an outdated older version from the same airline. You can avoid a huge disappointment with just about a half hour of research, which is totally worth it!)
Air France is pretty consistent, and with one of the destinations being Nice, they're a more likely option than their compatriot KLM. Air France has some older and lower-quality long-haul planes, but for the most part they aren't used to serve the US market at all (thanks to us picky Americans). British Airways and Turkish have a couple different planes flying to the US, however, and not all are created equal near the pointy end. A Turkish Airlines 777 might arrange their business class cabin in a 2-3-2 layout, where you have a flat bed, but are trapped away from the aisle by another passenger's bed. However, their 787 has a newer business class cabin in a 1-2-1 configuration, where every seat has direct aisle access, for undisturbed sleep and more privacy. British Airways is even worse; pick a flight with the wrong plane in business class, and you might be in a 2-4-2 cabin, with 4-abreast middle seats that alternate facing forwards and backwards, as compared to their newer options with a similar 1-2-1 to the top-rated premium cabins.
Images: airfranceklm, britishairways, turkishairlines
Once I researched where each of these planes flew, I had three main flight options to choose from: British Airways between our home airport of Phoenix and London Heathrow, with optional connections to anywhere in Europe; Air France between LAX or SFO and Paris to maximize flight time and minimize positioning time, and again connecting to just about anywhere; or Turkish airlines between DFW and Istanbul. Air France has similar planes (Boeing 777) on most US flights, but a short connection in LAX with a longer business class cabin experience was a goal. British Airways fortunately uses their newest and best plane, the A350, on the Phoenix - London route. And Turkish connects through a beautiful new Istanbul airport and has some of the best rated food of any airline. The best US connection option that their preferrable 787 exclusively flies to is Dallas. Most other US cities are served partially or completely by older and less-desirable planes.
I ultimately decided against Turkish because of award pricing and destinations. I was really having trouble finding well-priced award tickets in business class, and didn't have enough points to transfer to them for full-priced awards. The only points I have that can transfer Turkish Airlines miles are Capital One Venture Miles, and I only had enough for one, not two full-priced award tickets. In addition, Kristyn and I both have a TON of bucket list destinations on the Mediterranean between Nice and Istanbul, like Rome, Naples, the Amalfi coast, Dubrovnik, Athens, Tunis, Sicily, and Istanbul itself. With so many places, we'd feel like we somehow were doing it wrong if we barely touched them on this trip. So, one of these days, there will be another Europe trip with Turkish Airlines and Türkiye playing major roles.
Image: britishairways.com
Therefore, we decided on flying British Airways in one direction, and Air France in the other. The last thing to decide was one destination in the middle. We were looking at a 10 to 16 day trip, which is about right for 3 or 4 cities based on how Kristyn and I like to travel. With Monaco and Nice, that would leave 1 or 2 more destinations we could potentially include. Given that one of our travel legs would use British Airways, and they allow stopovers on award tickets, we planned on a short 2 night stay in London at the beginning or end of the trip. That left one more destination, roughly between Monaco and London. In the end, we decided to visit Zurich in the beautiful summer months, and it's perfectly located to be easily accessible by Train from Monaco, and flight to London. Kristyn has never been to Switzerland, and I haven't been there in at least 20 years (aka I don't remember a thing about it).
Images: wikipedia or self
So which way would we go? I researched award pricing for some sample dates next summer with both airlines, searching on Air France's website for their award availability, and on British's site for theirs. Air France had cheaper saver awards on almost every day of the week, while British Airways calls Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday "peak" days during the summer months. Beware, because there is a huge difference between on-peak and off-peak! Air France costs 80,000 miles per person one-way off-peak (a Saver award), but 300,000 otherwise, and British was about 78,000 per person off-peak, and 93,000 on-peak. Because of that, for maximum trip length, I decided we would do Air France from the US to Europe on a Friday, and then British Airways home two Wednesdays later for a total 12 day trip.
Now, you might be wondering how I possibly have enough British Airways Avios and Air France Flying Blue miles to book these tickets - after all, they would cost over 150,000 points per person! But fortunately, British Airways is a transfer partner of Chase UR points and Amex MR points, and Air France is a partner of those two plus Capital One VM. At the time of booking this trip, we had a combined 150,000 MR points, 280,000 UR points, and 125,000 VM. In addition, I took advantage of two limited-time transfer bonuses to maximize the value of our points. First, Chase had a 30% bonus when transferring to British Avios in July, and then Capital One had a 20% bonus when transferring to Air France. Travel Tip: transfer bonuses usually rotate every month, and are a fantastic way to get even more value!
My 125,000 (x1.2) Venture Miles transferred to become 150,000 Flying Blue (Air France) miles, and then I added another 10,000 miles transferred from MR points to get the total 160,000 points we'd need for two one-way tickets. Then, I used 120,000 Chase UR points (x1.3) to become the 156,000 British Airways Avios we'd need for the return tickets. We were collectively spending 255,000 flexible points for this redemption, which amazingly, was only about half of our total balances. Remember, that's "only" 127,500 points per person for round trip business class flights. I say "only" because there are even cheaper redemption options out there to get to and from Europe, but I'm pretty happy with this one.
The cash-back value would have been $2,550, which really highlights why one of my ten credit card commandments is never to redeem flexible points for cash back. They are worth so much more! The flights for the LAX to Nice leg were about $5,500* per person, or $3,000 for the cheapest comparable option. And Zurich back to Phoenix is astoundingly about $9,900* on British Airways for the exact same routing, or again about $3,000 for the cheapest alternative in business class. At a minimum, the flights would have cost $12,000* for the two of us, but instead will cost 255,000 points plus about $1,600 in taxes and fees (British Airways has pretty hefty fees in and out of London). Using the oft-mentioned formula for redemption value, ($12,000 - $1,600)/255,000, we're getting a value of just over 4 cents per point for the cheapest possible alternative, or over 9 cents per point for the cash rates on these exact flights. It's not going in the hall of fame for best value ever, but it's fantastic overall, especially considering its value compared to cash back.
* - The cash values referenced were from a few months ago now when this trip was booked. Values may not remain the same as prices fluctuate, but the overall value range of 4-9 cents per point should still be a good estimate.
So four destinations are set! Nice, Monaco, Zurich, and London. We would need four hotels! Stay tuned for more about those, as well as trip updates and more
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