How To Fly to Europe for $99 and a Cup of Coffee

We’ve been learning to play the travel credit card game a bit in the last couple of years, and my husband Matt wanted to share information about our latest undertaking: the American Airlines Aviator Red World Elite credit card. Thanks to Matt for the guest post! We hope you enjoy it. -Cathy

Fun fact: You can fly to Europe, round-trip, for just $99 USD.

$99?!

Yes — and a cup of coffee. Very important. Can’t forget that.

And before the comments come in saying tHiS iS a ScAm (insert SpongeBob meme) — let me be the first to tell you up front that you will still owe taxes and fees on the ticket.

There’s no getting around taxes and fees.

BUT keep reading to the end and I’ll show you some of the cheapest European cities to fly into to keep this one of the cheapest flights to Europe you’ll ever take in your life! (Plus, there isn’t even a referral bonus for us when it comes to this card — we’re really just that excited to share this with you!)

Yes. Really. $99. and a cup of coffee.

Alright — so here are the 3 easy steps you have to take to get this insanely cheap flight to Europe.

• Step 1: Open the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
• Step 2: Pay the $99 annual fee
• Step 3: Make any purchase — I chose coffee in case that wasn’t apparent yet

That’s it! That’s legitimately all it takes.

Do I sound crazy?! Because this feels crazy to me!

Normally when you open a credit card, there’s a big spending challenge that you have to meet in order to get the points. For example with our CapitalOne Venture X card, we had to spend $4,000 in the first 3 months after opening.

But with this card? Oohhh no!

Just buy yourself a coffee, pay the annual fee, and collect those sweet, sweet points.

(insert rubbing grubby hands here)

Opening this card usually has a 60,000-70,000 point opening offer. For some reason, when I applied I only got a 60k offer, but Cathy got the 70k offer 🤷 So we met in the middle and each opened a card — which means we’re each paying $99 for flights to the U.S. from Europe for Christmas this year!

Note: The current opening offer is only 50,000 points at the time of publishing this article, which isn’t quite enough for round-trip to many places in the summer. (Though it is enough for round-trip winter travel, for example.) We’re also hearing rumors that this card is shutting down in early 2026. However, any points that you earn are deposited directly into your American Airlines account, and you don’t have to worry about losing them. 

Even if you *only* earn 50,000 American Airlines points, it’s still a lot of points for almost “free,” so I still recommend taking advantage!

Cheapest Flight to Europe In Summer

Now let me guess – you’re expecting me to you that you’re going to have to fly on terrible red-eye flights, with 37 different connections, uphill both ways, in the snow, because this trick obviously only works if you take the most complicated, indirect path to your destination. Or that you’d have to be in a hub city to make this work.

Thankfully, you’d be wrong 🙂

When we’re not living in Spain, our home base in the U.S. is in Kansas City. While being centrally located has its advantages — trying to get to Europe quickly, for cheap, is not one of those advantages.

Let me give you a few examples of flights someone who lives in Kansas City might take to some popular European destinations — all of which would need fewer than 60,000 points:

• Kansas City (MCI) to Madrid (MAD): 49.5k points ($93 taxes and fees)
• Kansas City to Zurich (ZRH): 49.5k points ($152 taxes and fees)
• Kansas City to Rome (FCO): 54k points ($74 taxes and fees)

And what if you don’t live in Kansas City? You live a bit more… out there.

Don’t worry! You’re still covered!

Tired of the Rocky Mountains in Missoula (MSO) and want to go explore the Alps around Zurich (ZRH)? NO PROBLEM! It will still only cost you 57k points.

Bored with looking at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco (SFO) and want to see the Notre Dame in Paris (CDG) it was inspired by? Bienvenue à Paris for only 54k points!

Live in Traverse City (TVC) and finding Lake Michigan just a little too big? Why not jump over to see the famous Lake Como outside of Milan (MXP), surrounded by the beautiful Alps also for only 57k points.

The fact that I’m able to open a credit card, pay $99, buy myself a coffee, and then get a flight from pretty much anywhere in the U.S. to major cities all around Europe — feels like I’ve discovered something mystical and magical that should not exist.

A true unicorn of travel and credit card deals.

Cheapest Places to Fly into Europe

Some fellow budget travelers might be thinking that those taxes and fees are looking a little steep. Over $100 in taxes and fees?! Depending on where you’re traveling to, that $100 could be a few nights at a hostel and a few meals.

Without going into too much detail, the taxes and fees charged on an airline ticket are determined by a couple of things:

• Departure and Arrival Airports: Each can charge their own facility, security, and passenger service fees
• Countries Involved: Governments impose their own taxes
• Airline surcharge: Some fees, like fuel surcharges, may be charged by the airline itself

Knowing that we’ll be booking American Airlines — which has no fuel surcharge, unlike their European partners — that leaves us to focus on two things:

1. Departure and Arrival Airports
2. Countries involved

So here are some of the cheapest European airports to fly into:

• Dublin (DUB): 54k points and $57 (from Las Vegas, for example)
• Barcelona (BCN): 54k points and $53 (from Kansas City, for example)
• Milan (MIL): 54k points and $60 (from Fort Lauderdale, for example)

I know the next thing you’re thinking is, “Okay, but these have to be on very specific dates, times, etc.” You think I’m cherry picking these flights (which to be fair, is a common practice in the miles and points world).

But once again, I am happy to say that this isn’t entirely the case.

Whether you want to travel this summer or this winter… LOOK AT ALL THOSE CHICKENS!!!

I mean options… look at all these flight options.

Let’s say you can’t stand the Las Vegas heat anymore this summer, and you’re looking to cool down in Dublin… in the next few weeks:

Or maybe you want to finally book that trip to visit some of Europe’s Christmas markets this winter. (Although this theoretical flight is to Madrid, which DOES NOT have a good Christmas market, but it could still be a starting point for other amazing places in Europe!)

Needless to say, if you’re looking for a cheap European getaway — opening this credit card is quite possibly the cheapest way to get to Europe.

 

With the news that this offer has already decreased once, and is likely to completely disappear soon, we’re really glad to have taken advantage while it’s still available.

If you jump on this crazy opportunity — let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear about what trip you discovered.

-Matt

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