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United is making significant business class award space available between Newark and both Los Angeles and San Francisco – premium Polaris cross-country routes – for just 27,000 miles for their cobrand credit card customers.
That’s an exceptional deal, with plenty of inventory in August and September. A lot of the flights you’ll see in results at that price are actually domestic one-stop first class, so you’ll want to make sure you’re looking at non-stop Boeing 787-9 flights ideally. This was flagged by Tim at Roame.
- The ‘standard’ price for premium cross-country business class awards has been 35,000 points, but we’ve seen some creep up at 30,000.
- So 27,000 is a 10% discount off of that which is the new cardmember discount. (Someone with status may actually see 25,500.)
- It’s just that we rarely see pricing like that, what’s new here is the amount of cardmember additional inventory that’s being made available in combination with the low price and discount down from there.
In general I was skeptical when United announced these cardmember and elite discounts – expecting it to resemble more like Delta where pricing was just increased for everyone else to accommodate the reduction for the customers they value more. Here, that’s not actually the case. It’s lower pricing we haven’t seen before in awhile.
Newark – San Francisco
Newark – Los Angeles
These Tickets Come With Polaris Lounge Access
Polaris lounge access for premium cross-country flights is something new they announced just in March and matches both Delta and American. Polaris lounges are generally nicer than American’s Flagship lounges but not as nice as Delta One lounges.
Polaris Lounge Newark
Polaris Lounge Newark
Access is available prior to departure and also on arrival (as well as at any connecting points on a smae day itinerary). No guest access is provided for passengers not themselves eligible.
United Cardmembers Pay Less For Awards
United has shifted its program so that you need their cards to get the most value – cardmembers earn more miles flying, and awards cost less. There’s 10% or more savings on United flight redemptions for cardmembers (elites with the card are supposed to get at least 15% off). This applies to United flights only, and doesn’t include ‘miles and money’ redemptions or to taxes and fees.
But the real key here I think is additional inventory of Saver Award seats in United Polaris business class for cardmembers.
My favorite play is the UnitedSM Business Card (See rates and fees).
Small business cards don’t add to your 5/24 total, it has in my view the best bundle of benefits, and right now it has the biggest initial bonus offer by a lot. This $150 annual fee and an offer to earn up to 110,000 bonus miles. This offer has just been extended.
- 100,000 bonus miles + 2,000 PQP after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- 10,000 BONUS MILES when you add an employee card in the first 3 months your account is open.
You’ll receive a $125 United travel credit after making 5 United flight purchases of $100 or more each calendar year with the card. They even encourage you to have both a business and personal United card because you’ll receive receive a 5,000-mile “better together” bonus each anniversary when you have both the UnitedSM Business Card and a personal Chase United® credit card.
Remember that you don’t need to put your regular spend on the card, you can just sock drawer it, the key is having a card to unlock more mileage-earning and lower redemption costs. So the UnitedSM Explorer Card (See rates and fees) also works well. That card has a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.
I’ve been looking at return flights from EWR to SFO at end of July, and can’t find anything on UA under 108K each way with Club card discount. Not seeing any at 35K.
When I run the same dates in your example, I get 120K reduced to 108K with card discount?
The SFO Polaris lounge is located in the International terminal, a very long way from the domestic terminal. I wouldn’t want to be that far from my gate so I could use a notoriously overcrowded Polaris lounge in SFO.
Might have to actually do this, if it’s still available. Also, good on United for finally joining American and Delta in including premium lounge access with premium transcon service (DeltaOne, Flagship, etc.) This is the way!
Gary, I am a Chase United cardmember, so I looked up your exact dates/routes in the screenshots (EWR-SFO/LAX, Saturday, August 29, etc.), and, unfortunately, it’s showing me 102K with the 15% off (starting 120K), not 27K (which would be a crazy deal), so… as I suspected, it could just be a glitch, or United just hates me, in-particular. So much for being a Premier Platinum… psh (I know, I know… only you ‘Global Services’ people stand a chance to get your first meal choice if you forget to ‘preorder.’)
I take it back… 25.5K!! on the 787-10. Even better. See, I just had to complain on here, and United’s AI knew that it had to ‘sweeten the deal.’ Folks, turns out, the squeaky wheel gets oiled! Bah!
You know what the catch is… Eastbound all still regular price, so, United will get ya there, real cheap, real nice, but then you’re on your own getting home. Bah!
By the way, I found dates as far out as February 2027, so this ‘deal’ very much is ‘alive.’ You just have to get ‘creative’ with it. Some dates, it’s only good for one flight, one person; other dates, it’s not available; others 3+. So, @Tim O’Brien, it might not be for July, but, rest assured, it’s alive! IT’S ALIVE
(@MaxPower, this could be THE way to get to SF in September… Nah, just horsin’ around. I’m not really into leather… or, am I?)
When I was looking for EWR to SAN I saw economy at 29k and First for 27k. Thought it was a mistake, so I quickly booked it and was confirmed. Although not Polaris, it was still up front.
Thanks for posting the deal and thanks @1990 for the nudge to be creative
As an example, Eastbound and Westbound available – try from LAS to EWR and return for 27K ow
Nice way to be more competitive with AAdvantage
i ONLY SEE CONNEXIONS THROUGH KANSAS CITY OR OMAHA.
@Raj — At your service.
@Derek McGillicuddy — MCI and OMA aren’t bad, but… you really want the nonstop transcons for Polaris (both the lie-flat on-board and the premium lounges since the expanded access.) Also, THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
Whoopi. Just booked another. Great use of miles that are losing value. Hey Tim, let us know if Delta matches
I’m suspicious of united generally as they require you to log in to see inventory and pricing
When I went to book it magically went up 16000 miles on a Swiss air biz award
@SDRon — “Whoopi”? What about her? She still doin’ The View? Oh… congrats!
@Dwondermeant — For Swiss, I’ve found Aeroplan has the better J partner awards (often better than using United points), so don’t lose hope!
Booked EWR-SFO in Polaris for 27K in mid June. Travel this week. The flight wasn’t the best time for my trip, but shoot – 27k for a business class seat on a transcon is a smoking deal. I have an eligible.united card, and have really found some value in the mileage program the last couple years.
@Jimmy Gottfredson — Niccce! Looks like we can ignore 49 U.S.C. § 41706, because this really is a “smoking” deal! (That’s a high-brow av-geek federal regulations joke, folks.) Safe travels!