Ashlee and I have taken 1 big international trip every year since 2016. For 2019, we’re going to fly business class to Portugal and then head to Morocco! We’ve read amazing things about both countries so we should be in for a real treat.

On our first big international trip, we went to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Singapore. In 2017, we visited London, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, and Amsterdam. We stayed in Italy in 2018 seeing Sacile, Parma, Modena, Bologna, and Rome.

Best Credit Cards To Book Business Class To Portugal

We decided to transfer Amex points to ANA to book TAP Portugal business class flights after researching our options. American Express is a transferable point program joining others like Capital One and Chase.

So what Amex credit cards will help you to book these flights? The Amex Platinum Card and the Amex Gold Card are personal credit cards to consider. The Amex Platinum Card earns 5x on flights booked with the airline while the Amex Gold Card earns 4x at restaurants and US grocery stores.

For business owners, check out the Amex Business Platinum Card and the Amex Blue Business Plus. The Business Platinum earns 5x on flights booked with the airline while the Blue Business Plus earns 2x on all transactions.

All in all, the easiest way to book business class to Portugal is to earn transferable points. These type of points provide you with the most flexibility when the time comes to book your next flight.

How To Book Business Class to Portugal

When you start an award search, it’s easiest to work backwards. In the case of business class to Portugal, look to see which airlines fly between the US and Portugal. Porto (OPO) and Lisbon (LIS) are the major airports in Portugal so check out their wikipedia pages to see what your options are.

TAP Portugal and United Airlines are the 2 airlines that fly nonstop between the US and Portugal. Both airlines are members of the Star Alliance. This means that you can use airline miles for any airline in the alliance to fly TAP Portugal or United.

ANA is also a member of the Star Alliance. You can use ANA miles to fly TAP Portugal or United Airlines from the US to Portugal. We chose ANA because of 2 factors, 1) ANA required the fewest miles for business class, and 2) ANA has low taxes and fees for booking these flights.

So how does the Amex program come into play? Amex has partner airlines that you transfer your points to. ANA is one of these airline partners. With that said, you can transfer Amex points directly to ANA to book a TAP Portugal flight.

For business class to Portugal, ANA requires 88,000 miles. If you want to book business class to Portugal on TAP Portugal or United, you’ll need to have 88,000 Amex points in your account.

How To Transfer Points To Book A Flight

The 5 transferable point programs all have airline partners. In the case of Amex, you can transfer your points to 18 airline partners. Not at all airline partners are created equal, so you’ll want to be strategic about which airline partners to use.

The first step in the process is to search for award flights. Air Canada Aeroplan and United Airlines are the best search engines to use to search for Star Alliance award flights. You’ll find award availability on these websites and then confirm the same availability on the ANA website.

After you’ve found the award flight on the ANA website, you’ll transfer your Amex points to ANA. It’s important to note that it takes 48-72 hours for your Amex points to show up in your ANA account. For our transfers, it took 48 hours for the miles to appear in our ANA accounts.

With the 88,000 ANA miles in my account, I immediately booked the TAP Portugal flight. The reason you’ll want to quickly book the flight is because the award availability may go away. In addition to the 88,000 miles, you’ll need to pay $54 in taxes and fees.

In summary, the easiest way to book business class to Portugal is to be flexible with your travel dates. Business class can be tough to find, so the more flexible that you are, the easier it will be.

Conclusion on Business Class To Portugal

Focusing our spend on Amex credit cards is what made this all possible. Unlike airline miles, earning transferable points offers you the most flexibility. With Amex points, we had 18 airline programs to choose from to book business class to Portugal.

Which programs do you recommend to book business class to Portugal? Please let me know in the comments below or by sending me an email on my contact page.

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