Award Alert: Summer Availability to Italy from 55K in Business

Updated: July 18, 2025, 10:09am CDT

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Table of Contents

Award Deal — Details
Best Ways To Book
Final Thoughts

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Despite what you’re told, it’s not too late to book that trip to Italy (or elsewhere in Europe!) this summer.

The team at Upgraded Points just found availability on several routes from the U.S. during the busy summer travel period — here’s how you can book.

Award Deal — Details

Flights to Europe — especially to Italy — are notoriously expensive during the summer. You can expect to pay north of $2,000 for flights, and most likely, you’ll be sitting back in economy!

Instead, consider redeeming points and miles with this great award deal we found. There’s plenty of availability to Rome this summer through February 2026 from the East Coast and Midwest:

Class: Economy and business
Routes: Charlotte (CLT), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), and Philadelphia (PHL) to Rome (FCO)
Airline: American Airlines
Cost: As low as 27,500 points (economy) and 55,000 points (business class) and $18 in taxes & fees
Dates: July 2025 through February 2026
Seats: Up to 9 passengers in economy; up to 6 passengers in business

To search for available dates, you can use a tool like Seats.aero, which provides a big-picture overview of a range of dates and routes.

Seats.aero FCO Awards business — Image Credit: Seats.aero

The cheapest way to book these flights is with the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, which costs just 55,000 miles one-way from many East Coast cities, including Chicago and Dallas.

For example, you can book this nonstop flight from Chicago to Rome (FCO) for 27,500 miles and just $18.10 in taxes and fees. If you prefer to fly in a bit more comfort than economy, you can also book business class flights to Italy for just 55,000 Alaska miles.

Alaska AA J award Rome — Image Credit: Alaska Airlines

If you have a large stash of American Airlines miles and prefer to book through American’s AAdvantage program, you can snag the same flight for 27,000 miles in economy plus $5.60. However, business class redemptions are pricier than Alaska’s for the same flight, starting at 70,000 AA miles.

AA awards to Rome — Image Credit: American Airlines

Hot Tip:

This award alert is perfect for anyone planning a trip to Italy in July or August 2025, with up to 6 business class seats available — enough to bring the whole family along.

Best Ways To Book

The best way to book these business class awards is by redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles.

You can earn Alaska miles by using an Alaska Airlines credit card, shopping through the Mileage Plan Shopping portal, dining at restaurants that participate in Mileage Plan Dining, flying with Alaska’s Oneworld partners, and more. You can also transfer points from Bilt Rewards (1:1) or Marriott Bonvoy (3:1).

If you want to redeem AAdvantage miles, remember that you can transfer Bilt Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio. Otherwise, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a less desirable 3:1 rate, or purchase AAdvantage miles with up to a 35% discount.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been eyeing a trip to Italy this summer and have the miles ready to go, it’s not too late to lock in a high-value redemption for your summer getaway. Just don’t hesitate — award space like this is snapped up quickly, especially for peak summer travel.