This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired. For more information check out our Advertising Disclosure. You don't need hundreds of thousands of points to fly to Europe and back for free (or nearly free). Sometimes, all you need is need 40,000. Maybe even less.

We often hear from travelers with just a handful of points and miles wondering if they have enough to book that dream trip or not. Some assume you need points balances close to 100,000 to make a trip work. They've probably been staring down airfares in the $1,000s and have decided that points and miles are their only hope.

I've got news for the more points-poor travelers out there: You probably have enough points to make a Europe trip work.

Here are two slick examples flying to London (LHR) in 2025: One on Delta Air Lines (above) and one on American Airlines (below). In both cases, you don't need more than 38,000 points to book roundtrip flights. Yes, even all the way from Honolulu (HNL)!

And it gets even better than that. In some cases, you can fly Delta roundtrip from just 24,000 miles or fly fancy Emirates to Italy or Greece from just 35,000 points, too.

Don't rule out a Europe trip just because your points and miles balance is low. You might be closer than you think.

Read next: No Bonus, No Problem: How to Keep Earning Points Without a Welcome Offer

Delta SkyMiles from 31K RT Travelers with Delta SkyMiles might see sometimes see sky high rates just to fly economy to Europe and back, but if you hold out for a SkyMiles flash sale, you could easily get there for less than 40,000 points.

Delta occasionally slashes rates on flights within the U.S. to Europe and elsewhere. Sometimes these sales are advertised; other times they’re secret – but we find them anyway and send them to our Thrifty Traveler Premiummembers.

We have a full guide to booking with Delta SkyMiles that you can use to find low fares. And we break down exactly how to do it for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members in every deal we find, too.

We sent this flight deal to our members a few days ago and it included hundreds of U.S. cities with roundtrip fares to Europe under 40,000 SkyMiles.

We're not scraping the bottom of the barrel with destinations, either. Just look at all the European cities that Delta put on sale all at once.

It's even better if you have a co-branded Delta SkyMiles American Express card in your wallet as most cardholders get 15% off award bookings, meaning you could book these flights for even fewer miles!

Read More: Our 10 Best Delta SkyMiles Deals

American AAdvantage Miles for 38K RT If you have American AAdvantage miles instead of Delta SkyMiles, you can book a very similar dealbut it's even better!

The incredible part about using AAdvantage miles to book roundtrip flights to Europe, is that the lowest fare is Main Cabin, giving you free seat selection, a carry-on bag, a checked bag, and the ability to change or cancel your trip and have your miles redeposited in your account.

Look at all of these American Airlines cities that got in on these 38,000-point roundtrip rates.

And like the Delta deal, there are some heavy-hitter European destinations included in this deal. Swiss Alps? Ireland? Spain? Italy? It's all there!

And, you can book these fares open-jaw, meaning you can fly into one city and out of another. You get two cities for the price of one!

Read Next: The 11 Best AAdvantage Deals We've Found

Fly Delta with Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic Points from 24K RT Want to fly Delta, but don't have SkyMiles? You're in luck. You can get even more value by booking Delta flights through their European airline partners: Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Booking through those partners, you can get deals like this.

For just 30,000 Flying Blue miles roundtrip, you can book Main Cabin Delta flights. That's about 10,000 points fewer than if you used SkyMiles, and you get a refundable fare. Win-win!

Think you don't have Flying Blue miles? Think again. If you have been earning credit card points with Amex, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Wells Fargo, you can transfer them to Flying Blue to book flights to all of these destinations.

You can find rates like these during Flying Blue's promotions to any one of these cities thanks to Air France and KLM's huge flight networks.

Read our full guide to booking award tickets through Air France/KLM Flying Blue!

Similar savings – and awesome, flexible Main Cabin fares – can be found through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, too.

Read next: Save Your SkyMiles, Book Delta Flights Through Virgin Atlantic

When you use Virgin Atlantic points, you can book flights to Europe from just 15,000 points each way, or 30,000 points roundtrip.

You can transfer points to Virgin from nearly all the major banks: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and Citi. If you transfer your points over to Virgin during one of its frequent transfer bonuses, you can get it as low as 24,000 points roundtrip, too.

Booking from Minneapolis (MSP) is the sweetest spot because you'll only pay around $90 in taxes and fees, while travelers in other cities might see taxes and fees of $200 0r more.

If you want to fly Delta Main Cabin, you won't find cheaper points and miles redemptions than when you book through Flying Blue and Virgin.

Read more: Save Points When Booking Flights: Transfer Them to an Airline Partner

Emirates to Italy or Greece from 35K Miles RT Bare with me herebut you can fly a Middle Eastern airline between New York and Greece and Italy nonstop. And those flights can be super cheap when you book with miles.

Emirates flies nonstop from New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP) and from Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH), giving travelers with Italy or Greece on their bucket lists a super luxurious airline option.

Read next: The Weirdest Airline Routes in the World & How to Book Them

If you can transfer 35,000 Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, or Citi points over to Emirates Skywards miles, you can book these flights roundtrip, too.

Read Next: Our Emirates Economy Review

Bottom Line You don't need hundreds of thousands of points to get to Europe and back, you only need 40,000 to fly airlines like American, Delta, and Emirates across the pond.

These are some of the best and easiest ways to fly roundtrip to Europe this year or next even if your points balance is low.