Flights to London can differ depending on your departure city. Some will be direct flights and others will be connecting flights. Connecting flights can be great especially if there is a fun lounge to explore during the layover. Just like there are tons of different flights, there are tons of different ways to redeem points and miles to London. Some redemptions are better than others. Let’s explore the best use of points and miles to London so you don’t have to check every single transfer partner.

Ways to book:
Air France/KLM Flying Blue
American Airlines
ANA
Etihad Airways
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue is the loyalty program of both Air France and KLM. Like American Airlines, Flying Blue has dynamically price awards. The final price will depend on route and date of travel. But that doesn’t mean the Flying Blue program isn’t useful.

Here’s what you should expect to spend your miles for a one-way.

Now adjust your expectations because remember Flying Blue award flights are dynamically priced. You can often find business class award for less than the above quoted prices especially during off-peak travel. Taxes will fluctuate based on which airline the flight is with.

Flying Blue is a transfer partner of both Chase, American Express, Citi, and Capital One.

American Airlines

While American Airlines publishes an award chart, redemptions can come in many different amounts. Even then awards are dynamically priced. You might find the same route with different departure times for different points. Even more confusing is that flights with American Airlines’ partner airlines are a different price.

AA also offers unpublished web special awards. If you see one of those for less than what is published below, it’s an even better deal! You can expect to have a lie-flat seat during the Atlantic crossing for all first class and business class redemptions.

Here’s what you should redeem your miles for based on class of service. Prices are quoted as one-ways.

The biggest obstacle to getting a good redemption with American Airlines will be carrier-imposed surcharges. Luckily this only applies to partner redemptions and British Airways is the only partner that flies to London from the US. These taxes get higher for business and first class point redemptions. You can expect taxes and fees in the range of $260 – $637. You’ll need to factor in these taxes for any points redemptions.

American Airlines points are best earned through their credit card partnership with Citi and Barclays. Through November 2021, you can transfer Citi Thank You Points to AA. You can also earn AA miles through shopping portals and dining portals.

ANA (All Nippon Airways)

All Nippon Airways is a Japanese airline. It might seem counterproductive to book through an airline that doesn’t fly to London from the United States. They do have partners in the Star Alliance that do.

Here’s what how many miles roundtrip flights to London will cost you.

If economy flights are more your style, then you don’t want to redeem with ANA. But the business class redemption is solid and you’ll be getting to fly United Polaris. While you’ll also be able to find awards with other Star Alliance partners such as Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, you’ll pay more in taxes and fees.

ANA is a transfer partner of American Express.

Etihad Airways

While Etihad isn’t a member of any major airline alliance, they do partner with many different airlines. American Airlines is one of those partners. These redemptions are actually better than booking directly through American Airlines for each class of service.

The biggest issue with Etihad redemptions is finding award space. You’ll need to work some to find these. Best way to find them is by looking on AA.com and finding saaver space. There are also award booking services that can find the space for you. Then calling Etihad with the flight information. You can transfer from American Express and Capital One while on the phone.

United Airlines

Like American Airlines, United uses dynamic pricing for flight awards. When searching for award flights, you’re looking for saver space. The everyday awards will generally be almost twice as much as the saver ones. Don’t waste your miles.

Here’s some good redemptions for one-ways.

United miles are pretty easy to earn as they partner with Chase.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has some of the lowest point redemptions on this list. The biggest problem is like British Airways they have high carrier surcharges. Focus on the other options on this list before Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin also has a region-based award charge. This means that the United States is split into different regions for different redemption amounts. Premium and Upper Class are premium economy and business class respectively. These prices are for one-ways.

You’ll also find different amount depending on if your travel dates fall into peak pricing.

You can transfer into Virgin Atlantic from Chase, American Express and Citi.

Bottom Line

There are many different ways to use points and miles to London. Some are better than others and you’ll always need to watch how much taxes are. In addition to taxes, some of these airline charge additional surcharges for fuel. With these airlines, it might only cost a bit more for a cash fare. All that said, there are some great deals for point redemptions to London. There are loyalty programs that you can book through, but you’ll be spending a ton of more miles for this one trip. Make sure you are ready to run award searches before you it comes time to redeem.

Questions about using points and miles towards flights to London? Ask them in the comments.