United Polaris to London, Up To 9 Seats
United has a ton of business class space for up to 9 people from London to several US airports starting in August. Most of the space is on the return from London, but you can find a nice chunk of space from Newark early next year.
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.
Shout out to STTP Premium member Miguel for the tip!
Now, let's get into the details.
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Important Notes
Don't forget! You can earn $10 per referral to STTP Premium. Log into your account to get your referral link from your account dashboard.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card's 80k bonus is set to end tomorrow morning at 9am. I have a link to it on my best cards page if you decide to apply. You can apply in-branch to get an extra 10k points for an extra $2k in 6 months.
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: BOS/EWR/IAD/ORD-LHR
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class
Dates: August 2023 - April 2024
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: 40,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles: 63,000 miles
- Amex 15% transfer bonus until May 31
- *EVA Infinity MileageLands: 65,000 miles
- *Miles & More: 56,000 miles
- *Singapore KrisFlyer: 81,000 miles
- *Turkish Miles&Smiles: 45,000 miles
- *United MileagePlus: 80,000 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
United operates Boeing 767s and 777s on these routes. On the 767, the business class cabin is arranged in a 1-1-1 layout. On the 777, the cabin has a 1-2-1 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
EWR-LHR
January: 2, 9, 10, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30
February: 5, 6, 13, 19-21, 27
March: 5, 12, 19, 26, 30, 31
April: 2
LHR-EWR
September: 10, 17, 23, 24, 26, 28-30
October: 2, 5, 10, 12, 19, 24-26, 28, 31
November: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, 18-25, 27-30
December: 2, 5-7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23-28
January: 2-4, 6, 8-11, 13-18, 20-25, 27-31
February: 1, 3, 5-8, 10-22, 24, 26-29
March: 2, 4-7, 9, 11-14, 16, 18-21, 25-28, 30
April: 1-4, 6, 9-11, 13, 15, 16
BOS-LHR
January: 1, 22, 29
February: 5
LHR-BOS
August: 3, 10, 11, 17, 18, 22-25, 29, 31
September: 1, 5-8, 13, 15
October: 18, 19, 24-27
November: 3, 20-24, 28-30
December: 1, 5, 6, 9, 13, 20, 27
January: 9, 10, 12, 13, 16-20, 22-27, 29, 30
February: 1-3, 5-10, 12-17, 19-24, 27-29
March: 1, 2, 5-7, 9, 11-14, 20, 26-28
April: 2, 3
ORD-LHR
January: 29, 30
February: 6, 13, 20
LHR-ORD
August: 17, 24
September: 12, 13, 19, 20, 27
October: 18, 24, 25, 31
November: 1, 2, 7-9, 14, 15, 21-23, 28-30
December: 5-7, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
January: 8-16, 18, 20, 22-25, 27-31
February: 1, 3, 5-8, 10-15, 17-22, 24, 26-29
March: 2, 4-7, 9, 11-14, 19, 20, 26-28
April: 2-4, 9, 10, 16
IAD-LHR
January: 22, 29-31
February: 7, 12, 19, 20
LHR-IAD
August: 15, 17, 22-24, 29, 31
September: 5-7, 11-14, 19, 20, 21, 26-28
October: 5, 12, 19, 26, 29, 30, 31
November: 1, 2, 4, 6-9, 14-16, 19-23, 25, 28-30
December: 1, 5-7, 9, 12, 16, 18-21, 23-26, 28
January: 8-11, 13, 15-20, 22-25, 27-31
February: 1-8, 10, 12-15, 17-22, 24, 26-29
March: 2, 4-7, 9-14, 16, 19-21, 26-28
April: 1-4, 9-11, 16
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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.
LifeMiles: Great Amex Option For One-Way Ticket
As with Aeroplan, LifeMiles requires 60,000 miles for a one-way non-stop ticket. However, they have a slight advantage over Aeroplan if you need a connection at 63,000 miles one-way.
With the 15% transfer bonus LifeMiles is offering for Amex transfers, you'd 53,000 for a non-stop to London or 55,000 miles to connect to another city.
Aeroplan: Best Chase Option, 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.
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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. Just remember, if you want to avoid the APD fee on the return you need to start from another European destination and connect in London.
Happy booking!
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