In mid-March, I found myself with Good Friday off without a trip to go on. As I became spoiled last year by $440 trips to Europe, I wasn’t thrilled by the $1000 coach fares available for a simple weekend trip. With a huge stash of United miles sitting around awaiting a devaluation in hand, I booked an award trip to get there.
I had the good fortune to see Swiss business class availability open up shortly before the trip for my outbound flight, so I tweaked my trip to give myself an extended layover in Zurich before heading to Munich.
While much has been discussed about free one-way trips to Hawaii on coach award itineraries, Hawaii to Europe business class awards have a small step-up from the continental United States from 50k miles one-way to 57.5k miles. Compared to building a standalone, premium cabin award to Hawaii at 40k miles one-way, the add-on was a bargain.
Overall, the air travel for this trip ran 100k United miles and $134 in taxes and fees.