United Polaris to Santiago, Up To 9 Seats
United has a ton of business class space for up to 9 people to Santiago, Chile in June. If you're looking for a last minute summer vacation, there are plenty of dates you can book. Please be award that it's winter in Santiago right now.
For context, I don't see a ton of award space with lie-flats to South America and you know my thoughts on that... lie-flat or bust! :)
Let's get into the details.
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Important Notes
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Shout out to Angela for getting her first referral last night!
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: IAH-SCL
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class
Dates: June 2023
Seats available: Up to 9
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: 35,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles: 60,000 miles
- Amex 15% transfer bonus until May 31
- *EVA Infinity MileageLands: 55,000 miles
- *Lufthansa Miles & More: 56,000 miles
- *Singapore KrisFlyer: 65,000 miles
- *Turkish Miles&Smiles: 75,000 miles
- *United MileagePlus: 89,000 miles
*No Surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- From IAD: $5.60
- From LHR: ~$42
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
Let me know if you book!
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Flight Experience
United operates a Boeing 767 on this route. On the 767, the business class cabin is arranged in a 1-1-1 layout. Each seat is lie-flat with direct aisle access. 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
IAH-SCL
June: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 27
SCL-IAH
June: 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12-14, 19-22, 24
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Best Ways To Book
You can include connections on United from other US cities to Houston. 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.
ANA: Great Round-trip Option, Slow Amex Transfers
At 88,000 miles round-trip, ANA is your best round-trip 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.
LifeMiles: Great One-Way Option, Esp. With Transfer Bonus
As with Aeroplan, LifeMiles requires 60,000 miles for a one-way non-stop ticket. However, with the 15% transfer bonus LifeMiles is offering for Amex transfers, you'd only need 53,000 Amex points.
You can also transfer Capital One and Citi points to LifeMiles.
EVA Air: Best Citi Option
I bet you haven't thought about EVA's program very much, but 55,000 miles is actually the best one-way option if you aren't transferring Amex points to LifeMiles. However, like Amex transfers to ANA, Citi transfers to EVA can take a day or two.
Capital One also transfer to EVA but at a 2:1.5 ratio so it's not a great option.
Aeroplan: Best Bilt, Capital One, & Chase Option
Aeroplan is another great option at 60,000 points one-way on the non-stop route if you have Amex, Bilt, Capital One, or Chase 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.
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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 want to book with EVA miles, run your search from here. 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
It's rare that we see award space with lie-flat seats to southern South America so it's great seeing so much space in June. If you're looking for a summer vacation option and haven't booked yet, get to it!
Happy booking!
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