United Polaris to London, Up To 8 Seats (Summer)
I recently sent an alert with space for up to 8 people to Brussels in business class on United. Now, there's a ton of space to London this summer for up to 8 people in business class.
If you want to visit another European city, I saw space on connecting flights to Copenhagen and Lisbon,. You might be able to find connections to other cities as well! If you can't find award space on a connection within the US or in Europe, it might make sense to book a separate positioning flight.
If you want to travel to Europe this summer, I would book sooner rather than later. Award space for summer travel became really tough to find last year by March. For those who remember award space for the summer 2019, it was tough even then. So, book ASAP!
Shout out to View From The Wing for flagging this one.
Now, let's get into the details.
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Straight To The Points:
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Routes: IAD-LHR
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class
Dates: June - August 2023
Seats available: Up to 8
Cabin layout: 1-1-1 (767)
Book with (per person, one-way):
- *Air Canada Aeroplan: 60,000 points
- *ANA Mileage Club: 88,000 miles (round-trip only)
- *Asiana Club: 40,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles: 63,000 miles
- *EVA Infinity MileageLands: 65,000 miles
- *Miles & More: 56,000 miles
- *Singapore KrisFlyer: 81,000 miles
- *Turkish Miles&Smiles: 45,000 miles
- *United MileagePlus: 60,000 miles
*No Surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- From IAD: ~$5.60
- From LHR: ~$323 (There's no way around the $200+ APD fee)
Aeroplan and LifeMiles have partner booking fees.
Bank transfer partners:
- Air Canada: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Marriott
- Asiana Club: Marriott
- LifeMiles: Amex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- EVA: Capital One, Citi
- Singapore: Amex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
- Turkish: Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- United: Bilt, Chase, Marriott
Don't forget to let me know if you book and how you did it!
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Flight Experience
Flying out of Washington Dulles, you can expect to be on a Boeing 767 with a business class cabin arranged in a 1-1-1 layout. Each seat will have direct aisle access and is lie-flat. While the seat is nice enough, I would eat at the Polaris Lounge as the food quality is much better than inflight.
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Available Dates
IAD-LHR
June: 1, 5
July: 3, 6, 10-13, 17, 19, 24-27, 31
August: 1-3, 7-10, 14-17, 21-24, 28
LHR-IAD
June: 1, 6-8, 13-15, 20, 22, 27, 29
July: 11, 18, 25, 27
August: 3, 8, 15, 17, 22-24, 29-31
September: 5-7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 28
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Best Ways To Book
You can include connections on United from other US cities to Washington Dulles and to other destinations in Europe. In many cases, you won't need additional points/miles. If you can't find award space on the connection, it might be worth booking a separate positioning flight.
Turkish: Best One-Way Option
If you have Bilt, Capital One, or Citi points, Turkish is a great way to book at 45,000 miles one-way. While Turkish typically passes on surcharges, there aren't surcharges on this one. Generally, it's best to call Turkish to put the award space on hold while you transfer points.
Connections within the US and/or Europe will not increase the award rate.
ANA: Great Round-trip Option, Slow Amex Transfers
At 88,000 miles round-trip, ANA has a slight advantage over Turkish but your only transfer option is Amex and transfers can take a few days. It's a great way to book but keep in mind that space could disappear while you wait for the transfer.
Connections won't increase the award rate but could increase the taxes/fees if you connect in Europe on a Star Alliance partner that has surcharges.
United: Best Option With Chase Points
With Bilt or Chase points, United is a great choice for a one-way at 60,000 miles. You can include connections on United for no extra miles but connection on partners in Europe could add ~6,000 miles.
You might be able to use United's Excursionist Perk (similar to a stopover) on a round-trip award ticket.
Aeroplan: Solid Non-stop Option
Aeroplan is a solid option at 60,000 points one-way on the non-stop route if you have Amex, Bilt, Capital One, or Chase points.
However, if you need to connect, you'll quick be bumped up to the next award chart tier of 70,000 points. This also means including a stopover in Europe would jump the one-way rate to 75,000 points.
You can use GCmap to calculate your total flight distance and double-check Aeroplan's zone-based chart. You can also include a stopover for 5,000 additional miles.
LifeMiles: Solid Option With Connecting Flights
If you need connections and have Amex points, LifeMiles has a slight advantage over Aeroplan at 63,000 miles one-way.
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How To Book
If you don't know the exact dates you want to fly, keep things simple and use United's calendar search option.
- From United's homepage, select Advanced search
- Choose to show price in miles
- Select Roundtrip or One-way
- Enter the origin & destination
- Select Nonstop only (if you don't need a connection)
- Select the number of passengers
- Select your dates or choose Flexible dates and choose a month
- Select Business
- Run the search
- If booking with another Star Alliance partner, confirm space by searching with that program
- Transfer points (if necessary)
- Log into your account
- Run the search again
- Complete the booking
Once you know the exact dates you want, you can run the search with the program you'll be using to book. As always, I recommend confirming the program you're using sees the award space before you transfer points.
If you're booking with Turkish, I would call (800-874-8875) to put the award on hold before transferring points.
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Final Thoughts
The UK is one of the most requested destinations by Premium members so I'm always happy to see a nice chunk of award space. It's even better when it's for summer travel when many families want to travel.
Happy booking!
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