If you’ve been dreaming of spending your points and miles to fly to Europe in business class later this year, we have good news: United Airlines and Swiss have plenty of seats available at good award prices.
Numerous dates from October 2024 into March 2025 are available in business class for flights on Star Alliance carriers United and Swiss that travel between the U.S. and Europe.
Based on our searches, you can fly nonstop on United and/or Swiss from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Denver International Airport (DEN), Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C., and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Zurich Airport (ZRH). We are also seeing connecting flights available from other cities, as well as similar points and miles offers to Geneva Airport (GVA) from JFK, EWR and IAD on routes operated by both Swiss and United.
The cheapest way to book these flights is potentially with Avianca LifeMiles if you have any points or miles in the following credit card programs:
You can transfer points or miles from each of these credit card programs to your LifeMiles account at a 1:1 ratio.
Right now, we’re seeing award availability for 56,000 to 63,000 LifeMiles each way in business class between North America and Europe without fuel surcharges.
Transfers to LifeMiles are usually instant, but make sure you can see the availability on LifeMiles’ own site before transferring credit card points or miles. Also note that with all programs, transfer delays sometimes can and do happen, so transferring for immediate redemption always carries a little bit of risk.
If you’d rather book with Air Canada Aeroplan, know that that’s also an option. You can if you have:
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- Amex Membership Rewards points
- Bilt Rewards Points
- Chase Ultimate Rewards points
- Citi ThankYou Rewards points
- Capital One miles
Aeroplan only charges 60,000 points for shorter flights (under 4,000 miles) from the East Coast to Western Europe in business class and 70,000 points for most other itineraries from the U.S., and there seems to be plenty of award availability throughout winter for flights from various U.S. cities to Zurich.
There is even a 20% transfer bonus currently available from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Aeroplan, meaning you’d need to transfer just 50,000 to 59,000 Chase points for a business-class ticket each way.
You can also book these flights through the United MileagePlus program; it requires 80,000 to 88,000 miles each way in business class for these flights. Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United at a 1:1 ratio.
If you want to search across multiple dates, United’s “flexible dates” search engine will show you prices for 30 days on one screen so you can see which dates are offered at the lowest prices.
We’re seeing decent availability throughout winter, particularly in January and February 2025.
Related: Is United Polaris business class worth it to Singapore?
Best credit cards to earn points and miles for award travel
The following cards all currently offer strong welcome bonuses with points and miles that you can transfer to your LifeMiles and/or Aeroplan accounts so you can be ready the next time one of these opportunities comes around:
Bottom line
Right now, there is great award availability from U.S. airports to Zurich this winter, just in time to take advantage of what will hopefully be a powder-rich Swiss ski season.
You typically need to redeem your miles many months in advance to score low pricing like this for business class. Luckily, an impressive amount of business-class award seats on United and Swiss is available right now for as few as 56,000 miles each way.