United Business Class to London, Up To 9 Seats
If you're looking for business class flights to Europe this fall and into early 2025, this is a great option to get up to book up to nine people. You can even find a few dates in April and May of this year!
As is always the case with flights from London, you'll be on the hook for APD fees so you might want to start your return from another European city and just connect at Heathrow.
Now, let's get into the details.
|
|
Straight To The Points
Routes: EWR/IAD/ORD/DEN/IAH/LAX/SFO-LHR
Operating airline: United
Class of service: Business class (Polaris)
Dates: April - May, November 2024 - February 2025
Seats available: 2 (up to 9)
Cabin layout: 1-1-1 or 1-2-1
Book with (per person, one-way):
- *Air Canada Aeroplan:
- EWR/IAD/ORD: 60,000 points
- DEN/IAH/LAX/SFO: 70,000 points
- *ANA Mileage Club: 88,000 miles (round-trip only)
- *Asiana Club: 40,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles:
- EWR/IAD: 60,000 miles
- ORD/DEN/IAH/LAX/SFO: 63,000 miles
- *EVA Infinity MileageLands: 65,000 miles
- *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 US: ~$5.60
- From LHR: ~$330
Aeroplan and LifeMiles have partner booking fees.
While there aren't surcharges, you will be on the hook for the steep Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee if you start your return from LHR.
Bank transfer partners:
- Air Canada: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Marriott
- Asiana Club: Marriott
- LifeMiles: Amex, Bilt, 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!
|
|
EWR-LHR
April: 1-6, 9, 10, 29
October: 22
November: 25, 27
December: 29-31
January: 20, 21, 26, 28
February: 3, 4, 10, 11, 17-19
LHR-EWR
April: 1-6, 9-11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23, 30
May: 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 21, 28, 29
June: 4, 5, 18
July: N/A
August: 28
September: N/A
October: N/A
November: 5, 6, 12, 19, 26-28
December: 3, 4, 10, 167, 24-26, 31
January: 8, 15, 21-23, 27-30
February: 4, 5, 10-13, 18-20
IAD-LHR
April: 1-5
November: 25
December: 29-31
January: 21, 22, 27, 28
February: 4, 5, 11, 18, 19
LHR-IAD
April: 3, 4, 9, 10
May: 6-10, 14, 15, 21
June: 5
November: 6, 26, 27, 29
December: 4, 11, 17, 18, 24-26
January: 8, 14-16, 21-23, 27-29
February: 4, 5, 10-12, 19, 20
ORD-LHR
April:1-5, 8, 9, 22
August: 12
October: 29
November: 25
December: 30, 31
January: 14, 20, 21, 27, 28
February: 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18
LHR-ORD
April: 1-6, 8-11, 13-18, 23, 24, 29. 30
May: 1, 2, 4, 6-8, 14-15, 21
June: 4, 5, 11, 12, 18
July: N/A
August: 27, 28
November: 5, 12, 25-27
December: 10, 17, 23-25
January: 7, 14, 15, 20-23, 27-29
February: 3-5, 10, 12, 13, 20
|
DEN-LHR
April: 1-4, 8, 9
LHR-DEN
April: 1-5, 8-11, 15-17, 24
May: 1, 2
February: 11
IAH-LHR
April: 1-4
LHR-IAH
April:1-6, 9-11, 13, 16, 17
February: 11, 12, 18
LAX-LHR
April: 2-6, 9
LHR-LAX
April: 1-4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 30
SFO-LHR
April: 1, 2
LHR-SFO
April: 1-4, 8-11, 16, 24
|
|
Book Your London Hotel With Perks
To say you have options in London is a massive understatement. You can book 60+ properties with perks via our self-serve booking portal. Here are some to get you started on your search.
|
|
Flight Experience
On their Boeing 777 and 787, you'll find a 1-2-1 business class cabin layout. On their Boeing 767, you'll find a 1-2-1 layout. Either way, you're guaranteed a lie-flat seat with direct aisle access.
When departing from the U.S., 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.
|
|
Best Ways To Book
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 award 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: Best With Citi Transfer Bonus
With the 25% Citi transfer bonus, LifeMiles is a great one-way option as you'll only need 48,000 points from EWR or IAD and 50,000 points from the other departure options.
With Amex, Bilt, and Capital one, it's also the best option for cities west of Chicago at 63,000 miles.
Aeroplan: Best Chase Option
Aeroplan is your best bet with Chase points at 60,000 points from the east coast and Chicago or 70,000 from other options.
If you have the Chase Aeroplan Card, you can get a 10% transfer bonus when you transfer 50,000+ Chase points. That means you could transfer 55,000 or 64,000 Chase points to get 60,000 or 70,000 Aeroplan points, respectively.
You can also transfer points from Amex, Bilt, or Capital One. All things being equal, I'd prefer to book with Aeroplan rather than LifeMiles.
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
Final Thoughts
This is a great option if you're booking lots of people as you can all fly to together and keep the taxes/fees low since there are no surcharges. Just remember that you can't avoid the steep taxes out of London so you might consider starting your return journey from another European city.
Happy booking!
|
|
|
|
