United Business Class For 4-5 (Summer/Fall 2022)
At long last, we finally have some nonstop business class award space from the US to South Africa! Even better, you can book 4-5 people on many dates.
I will note that outbound space is limited to Wednesday departures. However, I'm seeing two dates with space for many weeks on the return. Of course, you can always book a one-way award on another carrier with a connection if only one direction works for you.
Besides, who doesn't want to visit South Africa?!
Shoutout to Zach Honig for flagging this.
Now, let's get into the details!
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: EWR-CPT
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class
Dates: June - October 2022
Seats available: 4-5
Cabin layout: 1-2-1
Book with (per person, one-way):
- *Air Canada Aeroplan: 85,000 miles
- *ANA Mileage Club: 104,000 miles (round-trip only)
- *Asiana Club: 60,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles: 78,000 miles
- *EVA Infinity MileageLands: 92,500 miles
- *Miles & More: 92,000 miles
- *Singapore KrisFlyer: 96,500 miles
- *Turkish Miles&Smiles: 85,000 miles
- *United MileagePlus: 70,000 miles
*No surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- One-way: $5.60
- Round-trip: ~$55
Aeroplan and LifeMiles have a partner booking fee.
Bank transfer partners:
- Air Canada Aeroplan: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Marriott
- ANA Mileage Club: Amex, Marriott
- Asiana Club: Marriott
- Avianca LifeMiles: Amex, Brex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- EVA Infinity MileageLands: Citi, Capital One
- Singapore KrisFlyer: Amex, Brex, Chase, Citi, Cap One, Marriott
- Turkish Miles&Smiles: Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- United MileagePlus: Chase, Marriott
Don't forget to let me know if you book and how you did it!
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Amex Platinum: Submit Your 150k-Point Referrals
The annual fee might have gone up but there are still two great offers the Amex Platinum. Beyond a huge welcome bonus, you also get tons of lounge access plus an airline fee credit, Uber credits, and more.
There is a 150k welcome offer via referral. I have collected some referrals from readers so email me if you want one. You can also submit your referral here. Please only submit if you have the 150k offer.
Alternatively, there's a welcome offer for 125k points + 10x at US Restaurants for 6 months (up to $25k). This offer is only available via Resy.
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DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that the COVID-19 situation and the resulting travel restrictions could prevent you from traveling. Additionally, please make sure you understand the cancellation/redeposit and change fees required before booking with a particular program.
Travel Restrictions and Requirements
Travel restrictions change by the day. Please take a look at the US embassy site for your destination. Here's a link to the US Embassy site for South Africa.
Flight Experience
United operates it's newer Polaris business class cabin on this route. It's a bit sad that I still have to clarify which type of cabin layout United offers on any given route, but I digress.
On this route, the cabin will be arranged in a 1-2-1 layout so each seat will have direct aisle access and is lie-flat. Departing from Newark, you'll be able to visit the Polaris Lounge for a meal and a cocktail before departure.
Personally, I prefer United's food and beverage offering in the Polaris Lounge to the inflight options in most cases so I'd make time for a meal.
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Available Dates
You can find at least 4 seats on the following dates. Some dates will have space for 5 people.
EWR-CPT
June: 8, 15, 22, 29
July: 13, 20, 27
August: 3, 10. 24, 31
September: 7, 14, 21, 28
October: 12, 19, 26
CPT-EWR
June: 7, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30
July: 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 28
August: 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25, 29
September: 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29
October: 3, 6, 10, 13, 20, 24, 27
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Best Ways To Book
ANA Mileage Club is the best option at 104,000 miles round-trip if you're looking to use as few points and miles as possible. However, transfers from Amex can take 2-3 days to process and I'm not too confident space will last that long. It might, but I'm not sure I'd bank on it.
For most people, I'd say go ahead and book with 70,000 United miles one-way (140,000 round-trip) since transfers from Chase are instant and many of you already have United miles.
If that's not an option, I'd look to 78,000 LifeMiles one-way since you can transfers Amex, Brex, Capital One, and Citi points. If you're short or just prefer to save your transferable points, you can buy LifeMiles with a 145% bonus when you buy at least 51,000 miles. That's about 1.35 cents per miles. Here's more info on that deal.
If you have Bilt points, both Aeroplan and Turkish requires 85,000 miles one-way but I find Aeroplan to be a much easier program to work with when things don't go as planned. Plus, it's easier to book with Aeroplan.
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 on a one-way award.
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How To Book
If you're not sure what dates you want, you can use United to search:
- From United's homepage, select Advanced search
- Choose to show price in miles
- Enter the origin & destination
- Select your dates or choose Flexible dates and choose a month
- Select nonstop
- Select the number of passengers
- Select Business
- Show flights from "Star Alliance airlines"
- Run the search
- 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 Turkish miles, I'd suggest calling (800-874-8875) to put the ticket on hold before transferring points. They'll hold the award space for up to two days, though transfers shouldn't take that long.
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Bottom Line
Nonstop award space to South Africa is so tough to find. If you're thinking about booking, I would do so quickly before space gets pulled.
Happy Booking!
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