Travel in Luxury: Your Guide to Flying Business Class to France on a Budget

How to Fly Business Class to France for Free

Who hasn't dreamed of meandering from cheese shop to bakery to patisserie as they make their way through the French countryside? Or perhaps you're more interested in the wineries or fashion. Whatever the case, you can have that French vacation of a lifetime without spending a lifetime's worth of earnings on it.

Credit card issuer travel portals

• If you want the simple and quick method, simply collect your credit card rewards then use them in your issuer's travel portal.
• If you want to get more value out of your points, transfer them to a useful airline partner program to turn them into frequent flyer miles.

United Airlines MileagePlus miles

• You'll spend the least amount of cash booking through United. Its website showed decent award availability early next year and so-so availability later this year for business class to France from eastern U.S. hubs.
• The best deals I found cost 88,000 United miles, plus $12.50 to $24.40 in fees. These flights were through Turkish Airlines or TAP Portugal, respectively.

If you do a bit of digging -- and take advantage of a few airline alliances -- you can find a lot of great ways to make it to France for (mostly) free. You'll need to plan ahead, but that's certainly a price worth paying for the trip (and meals!) of a lifetime.