Eventually you will find yourself on everyone's Paris travel list. It's a place that lives up to its reputation of being an architecture, food and overall experience of being in a place where beauty runs in the family. Right now, however, the ability to get there in a lie-flat business class seat is more attainable than it's been in a long time, with plenty of awards available and a transfer bonus that does some of the legwork for you when it comes to how much you need to spend.

It is possible to get business class seats from a variety of U.S. cities to Paris Charles de Gaulle, at 48,000 points per leg of the trip through Air France-KLM's Flying Blue loyalty program. It's not a one-off or a glitch, but a stretch that lasts from 2026-06-01 through 2027-03-01 and it has up to five business class seats on some flights. That level of availability is indeed unusual for anyone considering a group getaway or a family holiday to Europe.

The Award: What's on offer, what's it worth?

The flights are on Air France metal, and are available for booking via the Air France-KLM shared loyalty program, called Flying Blue. These direct transatlantic routes have a standard business class seat redemption cost of 60,000 Flying Blue miles for one-way tickets, a pretty good value for a lie-flat seat on the Atlantic.

However, it's here where math gets even more interesting. Currently, American Express is offering a transfer bonus of 25% of Membership Rewards to Flying Blue, which will expire on June 30, 2026. Which means that you'd need to transfer only 48,000 Amex points to pay for the award, but the bonus miles from the transfer fill the gap. In effect you're getting a 60,000-mile business class ticket for 48,000 membership rewards points.

The cost of the taxes and fees for the business class award is about $348 one way, which is a bit high for transatlantic awards but is reasonable by the destination and the carrier. Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, New York JFK, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington D.C. have an option of departure that is both widely distributed and easily traveled without a complicated routing.

The economy is also worth a look

The economy side of this alert is also worthy for those who want to stick to their points balance or want to get the most out of their limited budget to save money. Inside the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, seats from East Coast and Midwest cities are coming in from as little as 12,000 points one-way, taxes and fees are now nearing $165. So it's not the same as a lie flat seat but at this price level it is an excellent value for transatlantic travel and enough points to be used again and again.

Now you know how to book, you can now unlock your book

The suggested booking route is to fly first class on a business class ticket via Flying Blue, where the bonus on the American Express card will be the biggest asset in saving points. For those who don't have enough Membership Rewards points, or wish to top them up, Flying Blue offers transfers from a myriad of the larger programs. Flying Blue's transfer options will vary depending on your ticket type and the airline you're transferring to.

• American Express Membership Rewards they are currently actively offering a 25% transfer bonus until June 30, 2026, so it is an obvious choice to go this way.
• All three cards offer the option to transfer Ultimate Rewards, ThankYou Rewards, miles or Bilt Rewards, each with a standard 1:1 ratio.
• Other transfer options for those who have balances in those programs: Wells Fargo Rewards, Rove Miles, and Marriott Bonvoy.

Flying Blue is one of the easiest programs to rapidly rank up when you are in need of miles thanks to the multi-program option. The advantage of using a tool as efficient as Seats.aero is that you can look for seat availability in multiple dates and routes at once without getting into the booking process, just to see once you're ready to book.

If you're flying with Air France business class, you will receive these furnishings

This is a great point value and a great experience on the other side, too. Air France business class is truly a great product: the airline flies A350s and Boeing 777-300ERs on transatlantic routes, with both having fully lie-flat seats with a well-thought-out cabin layout. The food and beverages service are consistently very good at the level of other large European carriers and the overall product is what a carrier that takes the premium cabin seriously should look like.

Unlike some of the more common award travel bookings, this is one of the more unusual things you'll find for award travel. Five lie-flat seats on the same transatlantic flight, in the same programme is hard to come by and it can unlock the sort of group holiday normally reserved for a lot of flexibility or even several bookings via different loyalty programmes.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

While the price may be the most important factor when choosing a transfer bonus, the one with Amex to Flying Blue expires on June 30, 2026. Flights can be made until March 2027 so there's a reasonable window available to plan the trip without needing to rush off the planes.

Note: the availability of these awards may change. This depths level isn't necessarily sustainable as more travellers discover and book this space, especially the multiple business class seats per flight. The nitty-gritty information to help you is to check for availability and book a move sooner rather than later.

The Bottom Line

One of the better transatlantic award opportunities out there today is Air France business class to Paris from 48,000 Amex Membership Rewards, which is offered thanks to a 25% transfer bonus period that peaks on June 30, 2026. From eight major U.S. cities, this alert is available through March 2027, and on select dates there are up to five business class seats. This is a truly perfect time to begin booking a trip to Paris if it's been on your list.