United Business Class to Belgium, Up To 8 Seats
United has a nice chunk of business class award space to Belgium. There's more space on the return, but still quite a bit on the outbound. You can even find some award space this summer - if you weren't able to plan ahead.
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Now, let's get into the details.
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Straight To The Points
Routes: IAD/ORD/EWR-BRU
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class (Polaris)
Dates: May - June 2024, December 2024 - March 2025
Seats available: 2 (up to 8)
Cabin layout: 1-2-1 (777-300 and 787-10)
Book with (per person, one-way):
- *Air Canada Aeroplan:
- EWR/IAD: 60,000 miles
- ORD: 70,000 miles
- ANA Mileage Club: 100,000 miles (round-trip only)
- Asiana Club: 40,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles: 63,000 miles
- EVA Infinity MileageLands: 65,000 miles
- Lufthansa Miles & More: 56,000 miles
- Singapore KrisFlyer: 81,000 miles
- Turkish Miles&Smiles: 90,000 miles
- *United MileagePlus: 80,000 miles
*No Surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- From IAD: ~$5.60
- From BRU: ~$81
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
Current Airline Transfer Bonuses
Best Card Offers
Let me know if you book!
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Flight Experience
A quick look at the flight schedule shows that United is operating their Boeing 787-10 and Boeing 777 on these routes. The business class (Polaris) cabin is arranged in a 1-2-1 layout. Each seat is lie-flat and has direct aisle access.
Please note that some flights to/from Newark are operated by a Boeing 757. This is a narrow-body aircraft with a 2-2- layout. The seats are lie-flat, but not all seats have direct aisle access.
When departing from the US, I generally suggest eating at the Polaris Lounge and skipping meal service on the flight. Polaris Lounges typically have much better food and a solid selection of drinks.
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Available Dates
EWR-BRU
May: 1, 5, 6, 7
November: 26, 29
December: 31
January: 21, 28
February: 4, 11, 25
BRU-EWR
May: 2-4, 7-11, 14, 15, 21-25, 28, 30, 31
June: 4, 11, 17, 18
July: 2
November: 25-27
December: 10, 18
January: 15, 21, 22, 28, 29
February: 4, 5, 11, 12, 18
March: 4, 5, 11, 18, 25
IAD-BRU
May: 26
July: 2, 5, 7, 21
August: 11
November: 26-29
December: 29-31
January: 20-22, 27-29
February: 3, 5, 9-12, 17-19, 25, 26
March: 4, 11, 12
BRU-IAD
May: 1-4, 6-10, 13, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 29
June: 4, 5, 10, 11-13, 17-19, 24, 25
July: 2
August: 21, 23, 27, 28
September: 4, 10
October: 22
November: 5, 12, 19, 25-27
December: 3, 4, 10, 16, 18, 24-26
January: 14, 15, 21-23, 27-30
February: 4-6, 10-13, 18-20, 25, 26
March: 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 25
ORD-BRU
December: 30
January: 22, 26, 29
February: 3, 10, 17, 24
BRU-ORD
May: 3, 6-10, 14, 15
December: 24, 25
January: 14, 16, 21-23, 28, 29
February: 5, 10-12, 18, 25
March: 4, 11, 18
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Book Your Belgium Stay With VIP Perks
Find other hotel options
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Best Ways To Book
ANA: Great Round-trip Option, Slow Amex Transfers
At 100,000 miles round-trip, ANA Mileage Club is your best round-trip option. However, Amex is your only transfer option and transfers can take a few days.
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.
Aeroplan: Best East Coast Option
From IAD or EWR, Aeroplan is a great option at 60,000 points one-way for the non-stop. If you connect, that could increase the award rate to 70,000 points. From the west coast, it could jump to 90,000 points.
If you have the Chase Aeroplan Card, you can get a 10% transfer bonus when you transfer 50,000+ Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That means you could transfer 55,000 Chase points to get the 60,000 Aeroplan points.
You can use GCmap to calculate your total flight distance and double-check Aeroplan's award chart. You can also include a stopover for 5,000 additional miles.
LifeMiles: Great Chicago Option (Or With Connecting Flights)
With Amex, Bilt, Capital One, or Citi points, LifeMiles is often a better option than Aeroplan at 63,000 miles one-way if you need a connecting flight and/or your aren't flying non-stop from IAD or EWR.
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How To Book
You can use United to search.
- 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, run a search with the program you'll use to book. As always, I recommend confirming the program you're using sees the award space before you transfer points.
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Final Thoughts
Belgium alone is worth a trip to Europe but there are plenty of other fun destinations from which to choose. It's just a matter of deciding where to visit and which points/miles to use to get there!
Happy booking!
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