GREAT DEAL: Business Class Fares Between Germany & San Diego/San Jose From €1,265 Roundtrip!

---

TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.

---

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published. For more details please see the advertising disclosure found at the bottom of every page.

---

It’s been a very good start to the new year if you’re someone looking to book Business Class fares out of Europe. The British Airways sale is still going strong out of London, Qatar Airways has a few great deals on offer right now out of Scandinavia and the BA fares to Los Angeles that were around on Monday were fantastic.

Now we have another set of great fares and, once again, they’re to the West Coast.

British Airways and American Airlines have posted some fantastic fares to San Diego and San Jose (California) for departures from various cities in Germany but you have to book by 10 January 2019 (tomorrow).

The travel dates coincide with the spring, summer and winter vacations and availability looks good.

Headline Fare Rules

• Reservations must be made on/before 10 January 2019
• Outbound official travel dates are:
  • 8 April – 22 April 2019
  • 1 July – 31 August 2019
  • 19 – 28 November 2019
  • 18 December 2019 – 2 January 2020
• Inbound official travel dates are:
  • 8 April – 22 April 2019
  • 1 July – 31 August 2019
  • 21 – 28 November 2019
  • 18 December 2019 – 2 January 2020
• A Saturday night stay is required
• Maximum stay is 12 months
• 1 stopover permitted in each direction at a cost of €150

Finding The Fares

The deals to San Diego and San Jose are available from Düsseldorf, Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt and I used the ITA Matrix search to find them. Here’s an example of the search criteria I used to find availability:

Naturally you should tailor the search to match your preferred departure dates and your preferred length of stay.

Fare Availability

Germany – San Diego

As I mentioned earlier, the fare availability mostly coincides with the school vacations throughout the year so you’ll find it appear in April (when the fare is highest)….

…in July and August (by which time the fare is at its lowest)….

….in November (to coincide with Thanksgiving)….

…and in December to coincide with the Christmas holidays:

Germany – San Jose

The story is much the same when it comes to flights to/from San Jose.

The fare first appears in April (which is when it’s at its highest price)…

…and reappears in July and August (when prices are lowest):

It’s back again in November….

…and once again in December:

Booking The Fares

You can’t book the fares via the Matrix search so, once you’ve found dates that work for you, you should book via the route which is most beneficial to you.

By this I mean….

• If you’re using a credit card that gives you a bonus for booking directly with an airline you should make sure you book via British Airways or American Airlines.

• If you’re using a credit card that gives you a bonus for all travel bookings booking you should be safe booking through most online travel agents or the airlines directly.
• If you’re planning to credit your flights to American Airlines you should bear in mind that you’ll earn more Elite Qualifying Dollars by booking with British Airways
• If you’re planning to credit your flights to the British Airways Executive Club you should bear in mind that elite status holders will earn more Avios by booking with British Airways

You’ll need to be slightly careful when booking these flights as there are certain routings that will offer you a better experience.

In the case of the San Diego fare, this can be booked with routings that include a short-haul American Airlines flight inside the US….

….or via London whereby the only short-haul flights are within Europe:

The routing that includes a short-haul American Airlines flight may have the advantage of the better American Airlines Business Class cabin across the Atlantic but that’s offset by the disadvantage that is the American Airlines short-haul cabin (in which you’ll have to sit for quite a few hours if you pick the wrong routing).

You may have to pay a little more to fly via London in both directions but, from my point of view, that’s the better of the two options – I prefer to limit the amount of time I have to spend on short-haul aircraft.

Annoyingly I haven’t been able to find a routing to/from San Jose which entirely removes the need to sit in an American Airlines short-haul cabin….

….so I suggest choosing a routing that makes the US domestic flight as short as possible.

Where To Credit The Flights

Most of you probably know this already but I’ll repeat it briefly for anyone new to this hobby – British Airways and American Airlines are both members of the oneworld alliance and so these fares can be credited to any oneworld loyalty program.

I suspect that most readers will be crediting these flights to the British Airways Executive Club where you’ll earn at least 360 Tier points from just one trip or to the American Airlines Executive Club where you’ll earn Elite Qualifying Miles & Dollars as well as Redeemable Miles based on the distance travelled (booking these fares via British Airways can be a very nice way to boost your progress to AAdvantage elite status).

If you’re not sure where to credit you flights you should take a look at the wheretocredit site which will give you all the information you need.

Bottom Line

There’s no doubt that these fares are fantastic deals for anyone looking to visit California (from Europe) as we don’t see prices getting much lower than this. Don’t forget that all bookings must be made on/by 10 January 2019 so you have until the end of tomorrow (probably European time) to lock in these deals before they disappear.