United Business Class for 2+ People
Today, we have three routes with business class space on United for two people to London. If you're booking a large group, I've even seen five seats.
You'll find more space on the outbound earlier in the year but there's still some chunks of space throughout the year. The return has more space throughout the year so this could easily be paired with a different outbound award ticket.
If you'd like to visit another European city, you could include a connection on Star Alliance partners on your award or book a separate flight from London.
Now, let's get into the details.
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: BOS/EWR/ORD-LHR
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class
Dates: January - November 2023
Seats available: 2+
Cabin layout: 1-1-1
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):
- One-way: ~$5.60
- Round-trip: ~$315
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
On these routes, you can expect to be on a Boeing 767 with a business class cabin arranged in a 1-2-1 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 if flying out of Chicago or Newark.
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Available Dates
EWR-LHR
January: 17-21, 23-26, 30, 31
February: 6-9, 14, 20-22, 24, 26-28
March: 1, 2, 7, 8, 13-15, 20-22, 24, 27, 28
July: 24, 31
August: 1, 7, 8, 14, 22
LHR-EWR
January: 17-18, 21-25, 28, 30
February: 1, 2, 4, 6-8, 11-15, 17-20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28
March: 1, 2, 4, 6-9, 11, 13-16, 18, 20-23, 25-30
April: 18-20, 24-27
May: 1-4, 6, 8-11, 13, 15-18, 20, 22-25, 27, 30, 31
June: 1, 3, 5-8, 10, 13, 14, 19-22, 27, 28
July: 1, 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 20, 25-27
August: 1-3, 7-10, 12, 15-16, 19, 21-24, 26, 28-31
September: 2, 5-7, 9, 12-14, 19-21, 26, 27
October: 3, 4, 7, 10-12, 24, 25, 31
November:1, 2, 7, 8, 14, 15
ORD-LHR
January: 16-20, 23-25, 27, 28, 30, 31
February: 2-4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 20, 22, 25, 27
March 6, 13, 20, 27-29
April: 3, 8, 10
August: 7, 14,
October: 23, 30
LHR-ORD
January: 17-19, 21-25, 29-31
February: 1, 5-8, 12-15, 19-22, 26-28
March: 1, 2, 6-9, 13-16, 21, 23, 27-29
April: 13, 18, 19, 24-26
May: 1-4, 9, 10, 15-17, 23, 24, 30, 31
June: 6, 7, 13, 14, 20
July: 5, 18, 19
August: 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 28-30
September: 5, 6, 12, 13, 19
October: 10, 17, 24
November: 1, 7, 8, 14, 21-23
BOS-LHR
January: 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31
February: 2-4, 6-8, 13, 14, 20, 21, 23-25, 27, 28
March: 1, 2, 4, 6, 13, 19-21, 27-29
April: 3, 8, 9-11, 24, 25
May: 1, 8, 15
July: 28, 29
August: 5-7, 12, 15
October: 2, 9, 10, 23, 24, 30, 31
November: 6, 7, 13, 14
LHR-BOS
January: 17-26, 28-31
February:1, 2, 4-9, 11-16, 18-23, 25, 28
March:1, 2, 4-9, 11-18, 20-23, 25-29
April: 28, 29, 25-27, 29
May: 1-11, 13, 15-18, 20, 22-25, 27, 29-31
June: 3, 5-8, 10, 12-15, 17, 19-22, 26, 28-20
July: 6, 12, 19, 26
August: 2, 9, 15, 21-24, 26-31
September: 3, 5-7, 9, 11-14, 19-21, 23, 25-27, 30
October: 4, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, 24, 25, 28
November:1, 4, 8, 11, 15
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Best Ways To Book
You can include connections from other US cities to BOS, EWR, or ORD 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. However, please keep in mind that the free one-way flight has to be within the same region. United's list of regions.
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
London itself is an amazing city to visit and there are plenty of other places to visit in the UK. Of course, you could also use this to visit any number of European cities with a simple connection or separate positioning flight.
Happy booking!
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