FirstClassFlyer

Make moussaka out of a molehill by leveraging lockdown rates to get the most out of availability to Europe. It’s what FCF is calling The Lockdown Open Loopthrough (LOL).

On April 26 the European Union announced that it would be allowing travelers from the United States who have been vaccinated to enter this summer. However, it wasn’t specific about dates. Is it June 1? August 31? According to the Farmers’ Almanac? Who knows?

Sometimes these announcements are to build anticipation; other times, they serve less-obvious motives, which could include:

To entice more Americans to get fully vaccinated so they can visit – “only” 28% have been and interest is still far below expectations.
With Croatia, Greece, and other EU countries opening up, to encourage travelers not to overlook the other countries for too long.
To have its lockdown cake and its tourism cash too.

Short-Term Bleakness

When travel dropped to 5% of its usual levels back in early spring of 2020, there were lockdown deals to be had across the board. It made perfect sense: 95% of travelers were either afraid to fly or their destination was on lockout and the airlines were desperate for business.

But a year later, Western European countries still aren’t openly welcoming Americans, and it seems like that will be the case for a while longer as they hash out the details of their “summer” opening for vaccinated travelers. France’s President Macron recently said the country planned to start easing lockouts in May, but that sounds tentative to say the least and less likely by the day.

So, What Are the Airlines Doing?

In many instances, we’re seeing airlines “dump” seats on these relatively empty flights to places that don’t want us. They do it by deeply discounting mileage award tickets for those routes. Eye roll. They never offer award seats when and where you actually want them, right?

(Do You Remember) That Surge in September?

You can get a good sense of which way the wind is blowing for airlines by when they offer good mileage-seat availability. Take a look at this picture of Business Class American’s Dallas-Frankfurt non-stop that FCF analysts recently spotted:

Some say a picture is worth 1,000 words. I say a picture will save you 122,000 miles or points on premium flights.

As you can see, American Airlines doesn’t plan on selling many Business Class seats to Frankfurt until September. Business travelers aren’t flying, and leisure travelers usually book around 90 days out.

With that in mind, you could wait to plan a summer trip to see what the EU might do, or you could book Croatia and Greece now, like many are doing. If you’re set on visiting Europe this summer, we have a special treat for you...

“Round, round, get around, I get around” sang the Beach Boys

Since Western Europe is largely closed to Americans (for now), you need a way to get around the lockdowns. As we say here at FCF, if you can’t join them, beat them.

What do I mean by “getting around the lockdowns”? No, it’s not pleading with their governments to open things up and return to normal. It’s using the current award travel availability on nonstop flights to lockdown countries from the U.S., only to make a connection onward, particularly to sunny open destinations Greece and Croatia.

Selah.

Skip to the Good Bit: Lockdown Open Loopthrough (LOL)

Remember skipping stones as a kid? That’s the kind of maneuver we’re seeing here. The first skip is always the biggest, i.e., the one that gets you across the pond. Then the skips are smaller and smaller from there.

So, in this case, skip right on through the lockdown countries and go straight for the gold medal (with miles/points availability at the lowest pricing; more on that in a moment) Dubrovnik or Athens (or Split or Zagreb).

What About “Transiting Through”
a Lockdown Country’s Airport?

In most cases, all you need is a negative Covid test taken within the last 72 hours. More on those rules you will want to know before booking flights:

The European Union’s Re-open EU website is also a rich source of transit rule information. Sample details for transiting through Germany.

How to Save Up to 524,000 Miles to Currently Open Countries

I love that kind of headline. Greece — think beautiful sun-drenched isles, ancient Athens, and delicious souvlaki — is opening as of May 14 to those who are vaccinated, have antibodies, or test negative for Covid. Croatia — think the Dalmatian Coast, Dubrovnik and world-class sailing — was open as of January 26.

Acropolis Now

For Business Class to Europe, American Airlines typically charges a whopping 220,000 miles; Delta, 270,000 to 630,000; and United 310,000. But now, if you book flights via lockdown cities, connecting onward to Croatia and Greece, you can pay as little as:

98,000-115,000 (off-peak) to 133,000-158,000 (off-peak) and just ~$230 to $400 in taxes round-trip booking through Iberia (a savings of 62,000 to 122,000),
106,000 miles and about $550 in taxes round-trip on Air France and KLM--an Amex, Chase and Citi transfer partner (a savings of 100,000 to 524,000 / up to 83% off), and
132,00 to 154,000 and about $125 in taxes round-trip booking through United (a savings of 156,000 to 178,000) traveling with the airline and its partners Brussels, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, SWISS, TAP and Turkish.

Those are some sweetly discounted lockdown prices.

Opportunities Galore via FCF’s Opportunity Treasure Map

Lots of U.S. cities can dial into this deal with airlines from the three major alliances. And as the following good-news FCF Treasure Map shows, availability is spectacular right now on a number of routes connecting via lockdown countries.

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Athens Bonus

You can fly nonstop to Athens from New York/Newark with Emirates in Business and First Class. Although we didn’t find any summer award space in First Class, we did find some gems early next year. First Class on Emirates to Athens? Who could refuse that? Or, fly Emirates nonstop Newark-Athens in Business Class all year long + 2022.

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Travel Later this Year Bonus

Although we didn’t find any lockdown summer award availability on Iberia’s crazy-low 63,000 mile/point award ticket to Madrid, we did find some gems in Business Class later this year. Check out our special report here for opportunities.

Best Delta Deal in Town Bonus

We found some gems on Delta routes using Virgin Atlantic with summer and all-year availability. See our special report here for availability.

A Tale of Two Travelers

For 24.58 years, FCF has advocated being an Opportunity Traveler. What’s that? Well, most of us have a long list of places we’d like to go, for the first time or the 17th. Opportunity travel means to opt for the premium, third-of-the-price option to the places currently offering it. As opposed to having your mind locked onto one destination and paying whatever they’re asking to get there, often 2X to 6X more. Put the stone in your hand, not the airlines’, and control your destiny. More comfortably, of course.

See you up front.

*Months in black at least one seat available; in blue at least two seats; in green at least four seats.

[["Mileage Program","Route","Depart","#colspan#","#colspan#","Return","#colspan#","#colspan#","R\/T Price for These Months"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","#rowspan#"],["Air France\/KLM Flying Blue","Atlanta-Athens","","July<\/span>","June,<\/span> July","","July<\/span>","June,<\/span> July","106,000"],["#rowspan#","Boston-Athens","","June to Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","Aug.<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","June, July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Chicago-Athens","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Las Vegas-Athens","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","","","July, Aug.<\/span>","July","","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","New York-Athens","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","","June, July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Miami-Athens","Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","July<\/span>","","","July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","San Francisco-Athens","June, Aug.<\/span>","June<\/span>","July<\/span>","Aug.","","June, July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Washington, DC-Athens","June<\/span>","June","July, Aug.<\/span>","","Aug.<\/span>","June, July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Boston-Dubrovnik","Aug.<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","July<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","","July, Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Chicago-Dubrovnik","June<\/span>","","July, Aug.<\/span>","June<\/span>","","July, Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","New York-Dubrovnik","June<\/span>","","July, Aug.<\/span>","","","June,<\/span> July, Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Miami-Dubrovnik","Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","Aug.<\/span>","","July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","San Francisco-Dubrovnik","","","July<\/span>","July<\/span>","","","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Washington, DC-Dubrovnik","June","","July, Aug.<\/span>","","June","July, Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Atlanta-Split","June, July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","","July<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","June<\/span>","June<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Boston-Split","July<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","Aug.","June,<\/span> July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Chicago-Split","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","June","","July, Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Las Vegas-Split","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","Aug.","","June, July<\/span>","","","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","New York-Split","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","","June, July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Miami-Split","Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","July","July, Aug.<\/span>","June<\/span>","July","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","San Francisco-Split","Aug.","Aug.<\/span>","July<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","July","June<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Washington, DC-Split","June,<\/span> July, Aug.<\/span>","June","July, Aug.<\/span>","Aug.","June,<\/span> July,<\/span> Aug.","July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Atlanta-Zagreb","","June, July<\/span>","June, July<\/span>","","July<\/span>","July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Boston-Zagreb","","June, Aug.<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","June, July<\/span>","June to Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Chicago-Zagreb","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Los Angeles-Zagreb","June<\/span>","","","July<\/span>","","June<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","New York-Zagreb","Aug.<\/span>","Aug.<\/span>","June, July<\/span>","","","June to Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Miami-Zagreb","July, Aug.<\/span>","","","","June<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","San Francisco-Zagreb","June to Aug.<\/span>","June, July,<\/span> Aug.","","Aug.<\/span>","","June, July<\/span>","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","Washington, DC-Zagreb","June<\/span>","July<\/span>","July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","","Aug.<\/span>","June, July,<\/span> Aug.<\/span>","#rowspan#"]]

[["Depart","#colspan#","#colspan#","Return","#colspan#","#colspan#","R\/T Price for These Months"],["4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","#rowspan#"],["Dec., March<\/span>","","Jan., Feb.,<\/span> March","","Jan., March<\/span>","Jan., Feb.,<\/span> March","135,000"]]

*Months in black at least one seat available; in blue at least two seats.

[["Depart","#colspan#","#colspan#","Return","#colspan#","#colspan#","R\/T Price for These Months"],["4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","4 to 8 Days Per Month","9 to 12 Days Per Month","13+ Days Per Month","#rowspan#"],["June","July, Dec.<\/span>","Aug. to Nov., Jan. to March<\/span>","July, Sept.<\/span>","June, Oct. to March<\/span>","","90,000"]]