How to Use Points to Fly Business Class to the 2024 Paris Olympics for a Discount

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Are you excited about the 2024 Olympics in Paris and dreaming of traveling there in style? It’s not too late to book! You can fly business class round-trip using points and less than $600. Here’s your step-by-step guide on making this dream a reality, even if you don’t have Air France points.

Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

Rather watch a video than read a step-by-step article? I’ve got you! Check out the YouTube video tutorial above.

Why Positioning Flights Are Your Friend

Before we dive in, let’s get comfortable with the concept of positioning flights. Sometimes, you might not find availability from your home airport. This is where a positioning flight comes in handy. You can take a budget airline on a short domestic flight to position yourself to fly out of an airport that does have business class deals on flights. For example, you book a $200 flight to Chicago and then fly a business-class flight on points that would have otherwise cost you $5,000. The goal is for your main flight over the ocean to be in luxurious, lie-flat business class

Air France Has Business Class Flights Available Around the Olympics

 If you’re wondering if you even can fly to the Paris olympics on points, Air France has a lot of business class points availability, even around the Olympic dates (maybe attendance is lower than they thought?). Air France is one of my favorite airlines to fly – the lie flat experience is so nice and the food is delicious.

Don’t Have Air France Points? No Problem!

You don’t need to have Air France points to book these flights. Air France’s Flying Blue program is a transfer partner of several major credit card programs:

• American Express Membership Rewards (I love earning 4x points on dining with the American Express® Gold Card)
• Bilt Rewards (I fricking love earning points on rent with this card)
• Capital One Miles (I use the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card as my everyday card since it earns 2x points on all purchases)
• Chase Ultimate Rewards (learn more here)
• Citi ThankYou Rewards

Transfer your points from any of these programs to your Flying Blue account, and you’re ready to book.

But how do you find the best deals and which airports are offering these opportunities?

Using Seats.aero for Free to Find Business-Class Flights

One of my favorite tools for finding these deals is Seats.Aero. Here’s how to use it:

1. Visit Seats.aero: This tool lets you select an airline and search across multiple airports, making it easier to find the best deals. Head over to the site and select Air France as your airline.
   
2. Select “North America” as your region: We’re okay taking a positioning flight, so we just want to find business-class availability in our region.
   
3. Type in “CDG” in the Search bar: Enter CDG in the search and look at flights departing from North America. If you want to search for your specific airport, you can type that as well (e.g. JFK CDG).
   
4. Sort by Business Class: Sort the results to show business class availability and find your dates of interest. If you sign up for a Pro account (just $10), you can filter by dates. Tbh I rarely do this unless I’m looking for availability further than 60 days out

Example Flights

From the search results, you’ll find flights for as low as 50,000 points one-way from various North American airports. Here’s a sneak peek of what you might find:

• JFK to CDG on 7/21: 50,000 points + $203.60
• ORD to CDG on 7/23: 50,000 points + $203.60
• SFO to CDG on 7/15: 50,000 points + $203.60

Return Flights

To find your return flights, simply:

1. Swap the regions: This will enable you to search for flights returning to North America.
2. Leave CDG in the Search Bar: Keep Paris as your departure city. If you want to look for flights returning to your home airport by typing it next to CDG in the search bar.
3. Sort by Business Class: You’ll find return flights for around 71,000 points.

Consider Flying Economy (even one-way)

If you’re flexible and want to save even more points, you could consider flying economy. I often fly one way in business, one way in economy. I’m seeing economy available for just 15k points and $64:

Best Hotels in Paris

Wondering where to stay once you get to Paris? I personally love using Agoda to find hotels because they have great discount rates, even compared to other booking sites.

You’re all set to book your luxurious business class flight to the 2024 Olympics using points 😘 Get ready for an unforgettable trip to Paris and please eat all the croissants for me! 🥐🇫🇷✈️

Cheers to your next adventure! ✈️

Like luxury travel tutorials like this one? Upgrade University is (hopefully) coming soon to teach you how to turn your everyday spending into unforgettable vacations, thanks to points

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