I know that it’s only March (though it feels like June), but most savvy travelers strategize their travel plans months in advance, especially when it comes to booking Ultra-Premium seats on some of the world’s greatest airlines.

To this end, I was looking at award availability on United’s MileagePlus website for November and was impressed by the amount of Swiss(LX) First Class seats available for redemption for their flights from Montreal(YUL) to Zurich(ZRH). Granted that you would need to connect through Montreal, but that is relatively easy to build into your ticket.

Even better is the fact that the seats are available at the Saver Award level which means it only takes 135,000 miles to book a round trip ticket. Looking at random November and December dates, it was relatively easy to find round trip tickets.

Swiss has the reputation of providing travelers the best First Class experience when it comes to travel between North America and Europe, and until Lufthansa’s new First Class product comes online beginning this year, Swiss has no competition! When there is a chance to book tickets for one of the best air travel experiences you can have, I strongly recommend you jump on the opportunity. Remember, Swiss First Class Cabins only have 8 seats, and not all of them are available for reward booking, so when you see availability like this, you book the seats and then plan the rest of your trip around them!

A Look Inside Swiss' First Class Cabin

The beauty of being able to fly to Zurich is that it puts you in the middle of Europe and you can easily fly to most European destinations within an hour or two. This puts places like Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Munich, London, Prague, etc. within easy reach. These cities are often as vibrant and as interesting to visit in the winter as they are in the summer (especially the warmer Mediterranean destinations). An extra bonus for traveling in the winter is that there are few tourists around to impede you and hotels generally have lower rates when compared to peak summer months.

My suggestion is to be proactive. If you have miles burning a hole in your pocket, this is as good a way to use them as any. If you are close to having enough miles, sign up for the various credit card deals out there that offer large miles bonuses (Chase Sapphire or United Explorer if you are a MileagePlus member) and top off your mileage balances. If you don’t have enough miles for Swiss’ Fist Class, there’s plenty of seats available in Swiss’ Business Class which I would say is better than most other airline’s First Class products. To book a round trip Swiss Business Class ticket, it takes 100,000 miles which is a great value when you consider the quality of the product.

A Wonderful Business Class Seat

You’ve worked hard to accumulate your miles. You’ve sat on cramped regional jets, you’ve been stuck in the middle seat surrounded by Sumo Wrestlers, you’ve had screaming babies surrounding you and incessant kids kicking the back of your seat. This is your time! Reward yourself and be pampered! 🙂

I’ve booked my seats, now it’s time to get yours!!!

If you need help finding availability, let me know and I’ll do my best to help you sort out your options!!