The Ultimate Guide to United Miles: Part 8 – All the Ways to Get to Europe!

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United Airlines and its partner airlines such as Lufthansa fly many routes to Europe.  In general, the United.com award booking page displays many routes to and from Europe, but the website doesn’t always show all available flights. 

If you know which routes are available to get you across the Atlantic, you can search specifically for flights which have award seats available and which may fit your schedule better.

Remember, that you should search segment-by-segment starting with the long-haul segment over the Atlantic to get to Europe.  And then find awards to your destination within Europe and from your departure city.

This post is a very detailed list of all the ways to get from the US to Europe.  Please comment if anything is left out!

The Ultimate Guide To United Miles Index

• Part 1 – Earning Lots of United Miles
• Part 2 – Introduction To United Miles
• Part 3 – Understanding The United Award Chart
• Part 4 – United Award Costs/Fees
• Part 5 – Using The United Website To Book Awards
• Part 6 – Stopovers, Open Jaws And Free One Ways
• Part 7 – Using The ANA Website To Find Star Alliance Award Seats
• Part 8 – All The Ways to Get To Europe!
• Part 9 – The Best Tip For Searching On United.com
• Part 10 – All The Ways To Get To Japan, North Asia & South Asia
• Part 11 – All The Ways To Get To Australia, New Zealand, & Oceania!
• Part 12 – All The Ways To Get To The Caribbean, Central & South America
• Part 13 – All The Ways To Get To India
• Part 14 – North America United Awards (Including Canada And Hawaii)
• Part 15 – All The Ways To Get To Africa

United Miles to Europe

When booking an award from the USA to Europe, there are 3 general steps to follow:

• Find award seats from North America to Europe
• Find award seats from the European gateway (the city where you first land in Europe) to your destination
• Find award seats from your hometown to the North American gateway (the city from which you fly to Europe)

The following list, partly compiled from data from Wandering Aramean, shows which airlines (which you can book with United miles) fly from North America to Europe.

The list is organized by how many flights each airline flies between North America and Europe.  So airlines with lots of flights are at the top of the list!

The Best Tip for Searching on United.com

Don’t forget to change your search results to show you 50 flights (instead of the default) when you search on United.com

Step 1 – Click On “Advanced Search”

Click on “Advanced Search” at the bottom of the award search page.

Step 2 – Change “Number of Flights to Display” To “50”

Click on the drop-down box by the “Number of Flights to Display” and change it from the “Default” to “50“

You will see MANY more flight options this way!

How To Use The Information In This Post

You could rely on United.com to find you awards seats to Europe.  And United’s website is pretty good.  But it is unlikely to find every possible option on using United miles to Europe.

If you’re really commited to finding award seats to Europe and don’t want to hire an award booking service, you could search for award seats on many of the routes below.

The information below will help you find the long-distance flight to Europe.  Once you find the long-distance flight to Europe, you should start searching for flights to your final destination in Europe and then from your US departure city to the gateway (i.e. where the flight to Europe departs from the US).

1.   United Airlines

You can fly on United to Europe from many of its hubs around the USA.

A.  Newark

You can fly from Newark (EWR) to:

• Amsterdam
• Barcelona
• Belfast
• Berlin
• Birmingham
• Brussels
• Dublin
• Edinburgh
• Frankfurt
• Geneva
• Glasgow
• Hamburg
• Istanbul
• Lisbon (Not on map above)
• London-Heathrow
• Madrid
• Manchester
• Milan
• Munich
• Oslo
• Paris
• Rome
• Shannon
• Stockholm
• Stuttgart
• Zurich

B.  Washington, DC (IAD)

You can fly from Washington, DC (IAD) to:

• Amsterdam
• Brussels
• Dublin
• Frankfurt
• Geneva
• London-Heathrow
• Manchester
• Munich
• Paris
• Rome
• Zurich

C.  Chicago O’Hare

You can fly from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to:

• Amsterdam
• Brussels
• Frankfurt
• London-Heathrow
• Munich
• Paris

D.  Houston (IAH)

You can fly from Houston (IAH) to:

• Amsterdam
• Frankfurt
• London-Heathrow

E.  San Francisco (SFO)

You can fly from San Francisco (SFO) to:

• Frankfurt
• London-Heathrow
• Paris

F.  Los Angeles (LAX)

You can also fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to:

• London-Heathrow

2.  Lufthansa

Lufthansa is United Airlines’ main partner to Europe.  They have good availability in Economy & Business class.  However, First Class awards are only available within 14 days of departure, so you may need to be flexible if you want to fly Lufthansa First class!

A.   Frankfurt (FRA)

Lufthansa First Class can be worth waiting for because they have lie flat seats and a special First Class Terminal in Frankfurt.  You can visit the First Class Terminal only if you have a same-day Lufthansa First Class ticket.

You can fly to Frankfurt (FRA) from:

• Atlanta
• Boston
• Chicago
• Dallas/Fort Worth
• Denver
• Detroit
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• Newark
• New York (JFK)
• Orlando
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Washington
• Mexico City
• Toronto
• Vancouver

B.  Munich (MUC)

You can also fly to Munich (MUC) from:

• Boston
• Charlotte
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Newark
• New York (JFK)
• San Francisco
• Washington
• Montreal
• Vancouver

C.  Dusseldorf (DUS)

You can fly to Dusseldorf (DUS) from:

• Chicago
• Miami
• Newark
• Toronto

3.   US Airways

US Airways is currently still part of the Star Alliance.  But they only have Economy and Business class availability.

A.  Philadelphia (PHL)

You can fly from Philadelphia (PHL) to:

• Amsterdam
• Athens
• Barcelona
• Brussels
• Dublin
• Frankfurt
• Glasgow
• Lisbon
• London-Heathrow
• Madrid
• Manchester
• Munich
• Paris
• Rome
• Shannon
• Venice
• Zurich

B.  Charlotte (CLT)

You can fly from Charlotte (CLT) to:

• Dublin
• Frankfurt
• London-Gatwick
• London-Heathrow
• Madrid
• Paris
• Rome

4.   Air Canada

Air Canada has many flights to Europe, and has award availability in Economy & Business class.

Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner, and many Star Alliance partners fly to Canada, in addition to the US.  So, you can fly to Canada and from there to Europe!

A.  Toronto (YYZ)

You can fly from Toronto (YYZ) to:

• Athens
• Barcelona
• Copenhagen
• Dublin
• Edinburgh
• Frankfurt
• Geneva
• London-Heathrow
• Madrid
• Munich
• Paris
• Rome
• Venice
• Zurich

B.  Montreal (YUL)

You can fly from Montreal (YUL) to:

• Athens
• Brussels
• Frankfurt
• Geneva
• London-Heathrow
• Paris
• Rome

C.  Calgary (YYC), Ottawa (YOW), and Vancouver (YVR)

You can fly from Calgary (YYC), Ottawa (YOW), and Vancouver (YVR) to:

• Frankfurt
• London-Heathrow

D.  Edmonton (YEG), Halifax (YHZ), and St. John’s (YYT)

You can fly from Edmonton (YEG), Halifax (YHZ), and St. John’s (YYT) to:

• London-Heathrow (LHR)

5.   Swiss

SWISS International Air Lines has decent availability in Economy & Business class.  However, it’s very hard to find First Class availability using United miles.

A.  Zurich (ZRH)

You can fly to Zurich (ZRH) from:

• Boston
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• Newark
• New York (JFK)
• San Francisco
• Montreal

B.  Geneva (GVA)

You can fly to Geneva (GVA) from:

• Newark
• New York
• Washington
• Montreal
• Toronto

6.  Turkish Airlines

You can use United miles to book award seats in Economy & Business class on Turkish Airlines.

You can fly to Istanbul (IST) from:

• Boston (not on map)
• Chicago
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• Montreal (not on map)
• New York (JFK)
• San Francisco (starting soon)
• Washington, DC
• Toronto

You can find more award availability from Houston to Istanbul than the other cities.

7.   SAS

You can use your United miles to fly Economy and Business Class on Scandinavian Air Systems (SAS). Scandinavian Air Systems flies to a number of Nordic cities from several American cities.

A.  Copenhagen (CPH)

You can fly to Copenhagen (CPH) from:

• Chicago O’Hare
• Newark
• San Francisco
• Washington DC

B.  Stockholm (ARN)

You can fly to Stockholm (ARN) from:

• Chicago O’Hare
• Newark

C.  Oslo (OSL)

You can fly to Oslo (OSL) from:

• Newark

8.  Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus is not a part of Star Alliance, but is a United partner airline.  You can use your United miles to book flights on Aer Lingus.

A.  Dublin (DUB)

You can fly to Dublin (DUB) from:

• Boston
• Chicago
• New York (JFK)
• Orlando
• San Francisco

9.  Austrian Airlines

You can use United miles to fly on Austrian Airlines in Economy and Business class to Vienna (VIE) from:

• Chicago
• New York (JFK)
• Washington
• Toronto

10.  LOT Polish Airlines

You can also use United miles to fly on LOT Polish Airlines in Economy and Business Class to Warsaw (WAW) from:

• Chicago
• New York (JFK)
• Washington
• Toronto

11.  Brussels Airlines

You can use United miles to fly in Economy and Business Class on Brussels Airlines to Brussels (BRU) from:

• New York (JFK)
• Washington, DC

Note that currently Brussels Airlines award seats do NOT show up on United.com.  So use the ANA website to find award availability and then call United to book these seats.

12.  TAP Air Portugal

You can use United miles to fly on TAP Portugal to Lisbon (LIS) and Porto (OPO) from:

• Miami
• Newark

13.  Singapore Airlines

You can use United miles to fly on Singapore Airlines on the following routes:

• New York (JFK) to Frankfurt
• Houston to Moscow (DME)

14.  Air New Zealand

You can use United miles to fly from Los Angeles to London-Heathrow on Air New Zealand.  But Business Class availability can be tough to find because they reduced the number of flights to London.

Bottom Line

Using United miles to Europe is one of the best ways to fly from the US to Europe.  That’s because there are lots of flights on United and their partner airlines.

And also because United doesn’t charge fuel surcharges for flights from the US to Europe.