Business class award space between North America and Tel Aviv is notoriously scarce. So it’s news when non-Shabbos dates have business class award space to/from Tel Aviv.
There is business saver award space from San Francicso to Tel Aviv on:
- August 1 (8 saver award seats)
- August 7 (At least 9 saver award seats)
- August 14 (8 saver award seats)
- December 31 (At least 9 saver award seats)
There is business saver award space from Tel Aviv to San Francicso on:
- August 22 (2 saver award seats)
- August 30 (5 saver award seats)
These business class seats include United’s newly launched Polaris business class service with Saks Fifth Avenue bedding and pillows. Smart travelers will also request a Saks Fifth Avenue mattress pad, gel cooled pillow, slippers, and pajamas, as those are not offered proactively by flight attendants.
Sample booking options:
-You can transfer miles from Chase Ultimate Rewards to United (1:1 ratio) instantly. United charges 42.5K one-way in coach or 70K one-way in business class for United flights to Israel. Awards can be cancelled for free within 24 hours. United never collects fuel surcharges. After 24 hours, non-elites will pay $75 to cancel awards more than 60 days before a flight or $125 within 60 days of a flight. Awards can be booked online.
You can also redeem 70K United miles for business class even when there is only coach available. Read this post for how to do that via “Plan B”.
Having a Chase United Explorer card greatly expands the saver award space that you can book. United.com only shows the lowest available award rate when you’re logged in, so a cardholder may see a 42.5K rate while a non-cardholder will see the 85K standard rate which will go up to 95K in November. Cardholders also have the ability to book the last seat available in any class with Standard/Everyday awards.
-Air Canada charges 40K in coach or 82.5K in business class one-way. There are no fuel surcharges for United flights. Points transfer instantly (1:1 ratio) from AMEX. Transfers from Starwood (20K:25K ratio) can take 2-10 days. Awards can be booked online.
–Aegean charges a mere 30K miles in coach or 45K miles in business class one-way and you’ll need even fewer Starpoints than that thanks to the Starwood 20K:25K transfer ratio. Factoring in a 25% discount that’s effectively 24K Starpoints in coach or 36K Starpoints in business class one-way. They don’t charge fuel surcharges for United flights. Transfers from Starwood can take 2-10 days. You must call Aegean to book at +30-21-0626-1000
–Singapore charges 37.5K in coach or 57.5K in business class one-way. There are no fuel surcharges for United awards. You can transfer points from AMEX, Chase, or Citi at a 1:1 ratio, but it will take a day or 2 for points to show up. Transfers from Starwood (20K:25K ratio) can take 2-10 days. You must call Singapore to book at 1-312-843-5333.
–ANA charges 65K miles in coach or 104K miles in business class round-trip, one-way awards aren’t available. There are no fuel surcharges for United awards. It can take 1-3 days to transfer points from AMEX to ANA (1:1 ratio) and transfers from Starwood to ANA (20K:25K ratio) can take 2-10 days. Awards can be booked online, though flights with connections may need to be booked over the phone.
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19 Comments On "Rare United Dreamliner Polaris Business Class Saver Award Space Between San Francisco And Tel Aviv"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Dan- Do you think it’s worth the risk to transfer Chase points to Singapore and hope the award space is still available by the time the points show up?
If you for sure want to go and aren’t short on miles, then I definitely wouldn’t risk it.
If it’s just on a whim or you are short on miles, then take the gamble. If you lose the seats then you’ll be able to grab something next time.
Thank you!
Very possibly phantom availability, and not Polaris hard product, only soft. But grab it if you can.
Phantom on UA metal? Never seen that. That can happen with some partners like Swiss though.
Hard product is still good and the Polaris bedding is excellent.
So if I want to use SQ, I need to transfer points to them, wait for them to show, then call SQ and ask to be booked on UA, on those dates that have Saver Award availability?
Basically, find availability in UA’s website, transfer points, call SQ (and hope that availability is still there)?
Why use any other airline than the cheapest on the list you gave above (SQ or A3, I guess)?
Correct. But I’d call first and confirm that they see the space and ask if they might be willing to hold the space.
AC and UA transfers are instant.
ANA is cheaper for a round-trip.
Etc.
What’s ac? What does that mean that those transfers are instant?
Read the post?
Dan is it possible to credit united paid flights to Aegean or Ana?do they also award 100 percent of the flown miles like singapore? Thanks
Depends on the fare class, but nobody is as generous as Singapore for that.
Aegen such low cost? Can transfer chase into Aegen?
The post says the options.
dan your the man. got it for my husband aug 14 to aug 30
Any catch with using Aegean? 72K points for R/T business sounds like a great deal…
I have used Aegean before to book StarAlliance tickets to Israel. Never had an issue — service on the phone is actually pretty good and CHEAP REDEMPTION!! Only issue is you need Starpoints which may be harder to come by
1. Do all the carriers listed here (aside from united) fly from SFO to tel Aviv (I don’t mean nonstop, but can u book from SFO on these airlines?
2. To transfer points from amex to air Canada, is there an Xtra fee from amex?
Thanks to anyone who knows.
There are many Star Alliance options that can get you to TLV from SFO (Lufthansa, Austrian, Turkish, etc…)
was available this week from ewr too