Wanting to book a Europe trip over xmas...

[gdaypikachu]

Hi everyone,

So I've managed to accumulate around 1 mill amex points over the last year or 2 and wanted to take a nice break over the holidays to Europe. What is the best way to go about redeem it for some kind of a flight? (not too worried about business and premium etc) just wanted the most value (at this peak time).

I have looked at Qatar, seems no availability, Velocity seems to have availability (via Qatar..) for around 700k points for 2 people

Does that seem reasonable? And if it is available on velocity site, does it mean the ticket is all good? So I can safely transfer the points

Or is there possibility better options for Europe around this time,

Thanks, and i appreciate any help I can get!

 

[Dr Ralph]

I assume this is for 2026. If looking for 2025 you should have booked a year ago.

 

[Coops1]

Probably not the best use of points. 700k points at a very very base rate of 1c, means your paying $7000(in value) plus $1000+?? in taxes for 2 return in economy .

An example on Singapore Airlines for Business Class, would be 261k in points and $400 total return for 1 person in business. If flights were available (dont think your in luck)

 

[RooFlyer]

I don’t know of all the airlines you can transfer AMEX to, but if they are AMEX partners, I would also be looking at Turkish, Singapore, Thai, Air Canada ( aeroplan has a lot of good partners) but you will need accounts in those schemes.

A good way to go would be to get yourself a cheap paid economy seat to say Singapore, KL or Bangkok and look for business flights out of there. Much more plentiful than out of Australia and also there are more Airlines to choose from e.g. Oman Air, Finnair.

If you’re looking for this Christmas, you might get lucky with economy, but if it’s 2027, look between 11 and 12 months out and you might jag a couple of J seats out of Asia.

 

[burneracc]

I have looked at Qatar, seems no availability

This threw me a little. Qatar is one of the best for reward seats.

When you say no availability - where exactly in Europe are you looking? If you have some flexibility, there is plenty of availability, but if you are deadset on "Paris" then your options are going to be more limited.

FYI for two people, flying business return tickets on Qatar, it's going to cost 720k ascent points. Economy costs half that. Is it worth blasting that many points on economy tickets via velocity? Potentially for you, it might be, but for me I'd hold out for business class tickets at the same cost.

Anyway, a quick search for availability to Berlin early next year yields the attached image. With a bit of planning, you should be able to get great value out of your stash of amex points.

FYI - qatar transfer ratio drops from 2:1 amex -> avios to 3:1 in around a months time, so transfer points over before that change if you intend to redeem on Qatar.

 

[elanshin]

Are you sure the velocity you saw was award seats and not pay anytime with points? That might explain why you see nothing with qatar and "seats" with velocity as they're not award seats.

Also yes looking for 2025 Christmas is going to require some miracle to find now or some very creative routing with whatever shows up.