Cheap Premium Economy Flights to Europe: 3 Ways to Save Big With “Budget Luxury” Options

Want to save $500 to $1k on a premium economy ticket to Europe without needing any points, miles, or deal alerts? Here are a few low-cost strategies you may not realize are available. These options are consistently priced lower than their competitors, so there’s no need to track deals — they just require a little bit of planning and pricing to see if they are worth it for you. 

Why It Matters 

 

✈️ We found great business class and premium economy deals from WAS to London, Paris, Amsterdam, and other cities in the wake of the pandemic while travel was recovering — and we got used to a little luxe. 

💰 But these flights now cost double — or even more — than they did in 2022. They went from about $1200 to sometimes $2200 or more for peak and shoulder seasons. That’s just way too pricy for us. Plus many European airlines are charging extra for advance seat selection, even for premium cabins (yes, even business class). 

🕵️ We found premium economy alternatives that save us at least $500 per trip and don’t require any points or miles or to travel on, like, winter Wednesdays. So what’s the catch? They may add more travel time. And you have to plan carefully to make sure you don’t rack up unexpected costs that diminish the value. Here are our top examples.

👍🏻 Note: Some travelers may simply prefer to fly in economy, especially if you have elite perks like extra space seats, and that’s fantastic. This post is for those looking for a little extra love for a lower price. 

💺 Premium economy (PE) seats do not lie-flat but they are generally more spacious, have a nice, comfy recline, and come with extra perks.

1. French Bee: Newark to Paris

🚂 If Newark is your home airport, this is a no-brainer that will save you a ton. If you live along the NE Regional Amtrak line, it’s also a great option. We picked up an Amtrak train in DC and took it 3 hours directly to Newark Liberty Airport. Amtrak drops you off right at the airport tram, so it’s super convenient.

✈️ Fly French Bee premium economy direct to Paris for only $1k round trip per person. Even if Paris is not your destination, there are tons of trains and budget flights from the city of lights to everywhere in Europe.

Pro Tip: Paris has 3 major airports. I just stick to intra-Europe flights out of CDG or Orly (where French Bee is located) because BVA (where Ryanair is based) is very inconvenient.

💎 The best part of French Bee PE is that it comes with priority through Newark security and Paris security and immigration. At Orly airport, just look for the Access No. 1 signs and scan your boarding pass to skip the big lines. 

🌙 The return flight gets back to Newark late, so you might have to get an airport hotel for the night and catch a train or a positioning flight home in the morning. The plus side is you have the whole last day of your trip to spend enjoying Paris — or you can easily get an afternoon connection back to Orly from wherever you are in Europe to make the 6:50 PM flight home. 

🏨 There are plenty of inexpensive hotels near Newark airport and the free shuttle system is easy to use from the airport and back to the Amtrak station in the morning. We’ve used about 10k Chase points to book nearby options.

🌎 If you don’t live on an Amtrak (or NJ Transit) line to Newark, you can also use this strategy to get to other US airports with French Bee routes: Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles. From Canada, check out flights from Montreal. You can also search for a cheap positioning flight from your home airport to one of these — though Newark seems to have the best prices. Anyway, it pays sometimes to think outside the box. 

💵 For us, this strategy cost about $300 pp extra in transport, hotel, and other expenses — so you have to factor that in. $1300 is a far better fare than most PE deals to Europe but you’ll also have to consider whether you’re picking up connecting flights, trains, or busses and the associated costs. 

⚖️ Sometimes the savings is not worth it — but it definitely is if you’re looking at $1300 vs. $2200. That’s $1800 in savings for a couple or $900 pp. If you’re a family of 4, even a savings of $200 pp comes out to $800. (Yay for travel math!)

2. SAS to Denmark or Sweden

💎 While SAS isn’t a true “budget luxury” airline like the other two in this post, (it’s more of a traditional, legacy airline), it shares some similarities that make it worth comparing and utilizing for this strategy. It’s also not going to be the best PE experience, but it’s better than economy!

✅ This option is very convenient for us because Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) offers direct flights from our home airport, Washington Dulles (IAD) to Copenhagen, Denmark. They also have direct flights from Newark (EWR), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), and San Francisco (SFO). 

‼️Bonus: From Newark, you can fly direct to Stockholm, Sweden. I just saw this deal for $1085 rt:

💵 Fares are not as consistently low on SAS as French Bee but they are generally the most affordable option with prices ranging from $900 to $1400 for round trip premium economy fares directly to Copenhagen, Denmark. 

💺 While PE seat selection is free on French Bee (except for bulkhead), you do have to pay on SAS. We paid $55 per seat ($110 round trip) to secure the coveted two seats by the window in a 2-4-2 configuration. That’s not bad, considering British Airways charges about $100 per seat selection. 

📈 While you can get fares for much less, depending on the dates and your flexibility, we paid $1500 rt pp for late August flights, including seat selection. That’s on the high end for SAS but was much less than other options during high season. 

👩‍✈️ The service on SAS is fine but not as great as French Bee — probably because SAS also has a business class cabin, so PE is not the highest priority. But it’s still better than economy, in our opinion, by leaps and bounds. You also have the option of bidding on business class seats, but an upgrade is not guaranteed — so it’s always best to be happy with the cabin you paid for. We did win our upgrade bids on our last trip for $355-$385, and you can read about our experience here.

📸 Copenhagen is a safe, fun, and walkable city with lots of attractions to explore. It is very expensive, though, so it’s always important to cost out your whole trip, not just the flights, when you are planning and budgeting expenses for your travel.

✈️ You may be able to get cheap connections to other spots in Europe on the same itinerary — and since you booked premium economy, you’ll have some perks on the connecting flights. You can also easily get separate budget flights to the rest of Europe from Copenhagen on Ryanair, EasyJet, and other low-cost carriers. 

🚂 You can access much of Northern Europe from Copenhagen by train or ferry. So, it’s is a great launching point for exploring this region. 

3. Norse Atlantic Airways: JFK to Europe

🔍 Full disclosure: We have not flown Norse yet, but we’ve researched it thoroughly and are looking to fly with them next year. 

🌎 You can fly Norse from JFK to several major European cities, though, if JFK is not your home airport, we think it might offer the best value for direct flights to Athens and Rome. 

🧐 Why? Flights to Athens and Rome can be pretty expensive. Other airlines offer frequent deals to London and Paris. Lufthansa is the most convenient to Germany, and SAS is the most convenient to Scandinavia. But it might still be worth researching and costing out the deals to all of Norse Atlantic’s destinations. 

💰 You can get round trip, premium economy fares from JFK to Europe for $800 to $1300. And the seats look super spacious. But you will have to add $150 rt for seat selection. Check out this YouTube video to learn more.

🧐 Some things to think about: JFK is not the most convenient airport, since it’s not located close enough to Manhattan — but you may be able to get cheap positioning flights from your home airport to JFK. Or if you’re looking for a fun adventure, you may want to add a stop in NYC to your itinerary. Check out our blog on Times Square here. 

🚂 When we ultimately go to Athens, we might take Amtrak up to NYC and spend a night in Manhattan with our Hyatt or Hilton free night award before flying Norse from JFK. The taxi flat fee from Manhattan to JFK is $75 during peak hours. 

💵 This option obviously cost more money. But it’s worth it for us to go to Athens specifically because most of our other options are very expensive. So just do your research! 

What Makes an Airline Budget Luxury?

Booking a premium seat on a major airline like British Airways, United, or Delta can cost a lot more unless you’re able to score a deal.

So, how can these airlines stay consistently lower priced? There are many factors: off-peak flight times, a la carte add ons, lean staffing, and scaled-back amenities.

Personally, we can do without lip balm and hand lotion in our amenity kit to save some serious cash!

The Bottom Line

✅ Many factors will determine whether any of these flight options are the best deal for you. You’ll have to weight the additional cost of traveling to and from these airports, as well as the time it takes to get there. But if they are convenient, these options can add some lux to your trip at a really affordable price. We LOVE premium economy and are willing to spend some extra time to get a great deal. 

✈️ Have you flown any of these airlines? Do you think these strategies are worth it? Let us know in the comments. 

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