United Airlines Polaris Business Class is one of the most highly valued premium products in the United States. Launched in 2016, the product is now available on all of United’s wide-body aircraft on international flights following the recent Boeing 767 upgrade. The longest flight on United’s network this month will be from its hub in San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) and is one of several routes to five continents on which the Polaris product is offered, as well as some transcontinental domestic routes and others to Hawaii.
According to Cirium, United has 9,599 widebody flights scheduled in August, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to book Polaris seats.
United Airlines Miles Plus
The first way to book an award flight in Polaris is to use United’s frequent flyer program. MilesPlus . The airline’s website allows you to search for award fares, but the downside to looking for a business/first fare (as the website calls them) is that the calendar view shows the lowest prices overall, meaning they are economy fares. To find the cheapest premium fares, you have to click from day to day. Prices vary by route and flight.
To compare one of the domestic routes to Polaris and then a shorter international route to the product, the first route selected is from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). In a search over several days in September, the lowest price for a premium cabin was a round-trip flight of 153,600 miles. The outbound flight from LAX is one of the overnight flights, departing at 11:15 p.m. on September 9. The flight is operated by United’s high-density Boeing 777-200 with a business class cabin that lays flat, but in a 2-4-2 configuration. A business class seat is available on this flight for 73,600 miles.
The return flight offers a great Polaris redemption compared to everything else. Normally, a business class fare for the September dates you’re looking for is 120,000 miles each way. On September 13, Polaris seats are available for 80,000 miles on the early flight departing EWR at 6:35 a.m. This flight is one of two on the 13th that will operate on Dreamliner aircraft.
For the international route, we chose Newark to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) because it is United’s busiest long-haul international route from that hub. On Friday, September 6, United had six nonstop flights from Newark to London and the lowest Polaris fare was 139,500 miles. This fare is for the daytime flight, which departs at 8:30 a.m. and arrives at 8:40 p.m., and the last flight of the night at 11 p.m. The return flight is “cheaper” in points, but has a hefty cash fee, as Heathrow charges some of the highest airport taxes in the world.
The September 11 return flight is available for just 80,000 points + $329.80 in fees. This fare is valid for three of the six flights that day.
Air Canada aircraft
Air Canada is one of United’s Star Alliance partners and sometimes United releases award seats to other frequent flyer programs. One of the advantages of Aeroplan is its price prediction for flight awards.
According to Air Canada’s forecasting tool, a flight from Newark to London on partner airlines would cost 60,000 points in business class and 90,000 in first class. However, it’s unclear which cabin Polaris would fall into, as while it’s a business class product, it’s United’s premium product.
Other frequent flyer programs
United Airlines flights can be booked with any Star Alliance frequent flyer program, but availability is always limited. Prices vary by program, but LifeMiles and Asiana Flying Club are known to offer good redemption rates.
Upgrade with Mileage Plus miles
The “cheapest” way to get a Polaris seat is to use miles to upgrade when possible. According to MileagePlus, there are four types of upgrades:
- MIleagePlus Upgrade AWards – Upgrade with miles on most flights.
- Complimentary Premier Upgrades – complimentary upgrades for Premier members, subject to availability on select flights. Premier members who are cardholders may be able to use this type of upgrade on award flights.
- PlusPoints – flexible points for Premier Platinum and Premier 1K members. Can be used for upgrades on United and select partner airline flights. Can be used for upgrades on others, even if it’s not the same reservation.
- Star Alliance Upgrade Awards – Upgrade with miles on selected Star Alliance airlines. Requests can be made after ticket purchase. Miles can be used to upgrade up to four people on the same itinerary.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
MileagePlus upgrade awards can be booked in three ways:
- On-line.
- Call the reservation hotline or the Premier Priority Desk number on your digital membership card.
- At the airport with an agent.
In a few weeks, I’m flying from Los Angeles to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and the international flight on United is from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). On United’s website, I don’t have the option to select an upgrade for just the IAD-GRU flight.
Rather, I have three options:
- Get waitlisted for a Premium Plus upgrade on IAD – GRU; 25,000 miles + $0.
- Get waitlisted for LAX-IAD First Class and IAD-GRU Polaris Waitlist; 25,000 miles + $500.
- Get waitlisted for First Class from LAX IAD and Polaris and waitlisted for Premium Plus on IAD – GRU; 25,000 miles + $500 per person.
