Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
United typically has excellent nonstop award availability between North America and Israel in coach, especially for United cardholders who have access to greatly expanded award availability. Before COVID-19, nonstop business class award space between North America and Tel Aviv was notoriously scarce.
While it seems unlikely that Israel will open for Americans anytime soon, with several promising vaccine candidates on the market we can hope that things will return to normal sometime in 2021.
There is an incredible amount of business class saver award space between North America and Israel.
Best of all, for tickets purchased in 2020, you can change award travel for free at anytime. Plus, United has permanently removed award redeposit fees as long as you cancel 30+ days before your flight!
These sample calendars show availability the likes of which I never thought we would see again:
Awards are also available between Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC to/from Tel Aviv.
Use the United one-way calendar option to find saver awards:
United’s Newark-Tel Aviv flights operate with Polaris seating that have direct aisle access for every business class seat. You can choose from solo seats or seats for people traveling together.
Business class seats include United’s newly launched Polaris business class service with Saks Fifth Avenue bedding and pillows. Savvy travelers will also request a Saks Fifth Avenue mattress pad, gel cooled pillow, slippers, and pajamas, as those are not proactively offered by flight attendants as there aren’t enough of them for everyone.
Business saver class award 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 75K one-way in business class for United flights to Israel. United now also charges 1,500-3,000 extra miles for tickets bought close-in to the flight date. United never collects fuel surcharges.
- You can also redeem 75K 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, United Club, United Gateway, or a Chase United Business 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 95K standard rate. Cardholders also have the ability to book the last seat available in any class with Standard/Everyday awards.
- If you, a member in your household, or an authorized user has one of the following Chase cards, you can transfer points into United miles:
- Chase Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card® Card has a 60K signup bonus, earns 2 points per dollar on dining/travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a 50K signup bonus, earns 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.5 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($550 annual fee with $300 travel credit). Read more here.
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card earns 3 points per dollar on shipping, advertising, and travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
Chase no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card earns 5 points per dollar on cable, TV, telecom, cellular, office supply stores, and gift cards from office supply stores, plus 2 points per dollar on dining and gas ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Freedom Flex has a 20K signup bonus and earns 5 points per dollar on groceries for 1 year, plus 5 points on rotating categories, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited® has a 20K signup bonus and earns 5 points per dollar on groceries for 1 year, at least 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Turkish charges a mere 32K miles in coach or 47K miles in business class one-way. They don’t charge fuel surcharges for United flights. Transfers from Citi (1:1 ratio) take about a day and transfers from Marriott (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-3 days. Read more in this post.
- If you or a friend has one of the following Citi cards, you can transfer points into Turkish miles:
- Citi Premier® Card Card has a 60K signup bonus, earns 3 points per dollar on dining/travel/gas/groceries and can transfer all Citi points into miles. ($95 annual fee) Read more here.
- Citi Prestige Card has a 50K signup bonus, earns 5 points per dollar on dining/airfare and can transfer all Citi points into miles. ($495 annual fee)
- Citi no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:
- The Citi Double Cash® Card offers 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar spent everywhere that can be transferred into ThankYou points. If you also have a Citi Premier® Card Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare. No annual fee. Read more here.
- The Citi Rewards+® Card offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. This card can’t transfer points on its own, but can transfer points if you have one of the Citi cards above. This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload. Earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, and a 10% points rebate when you redeem points, up to a 10K points rebate per year. If you also have a Citi Premier® Card Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare, plus get a 10% points rebate on transferred or redeemed miles. No annual fee. Read more here.
- Air Canada Aeroplan charges 40K in coach or 70K in business class one-way. There are no fuel surcharges for United flights. Points transfer instantly (1:1 ratio) from AMEX. Transfers from Marriott (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days.
- Avianca Lifemiles charges 42.5K in coach or 78K in business class one-way. There are no fuel surcharges for any flights. Points transfer instantly (1:1 ratio) from AMEX, Capital One, or Citi. Transfers from Marriott (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days.
- Aegean charges 35K miles in coach or 55K miles in business class one-way. They don’t charge fuel surcharges for United flights. Transfers from Marriott (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days.
- Singapore charges 45K in coach or 76.5K 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 about day for points to show up. Transfers from Marriott (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days.
- 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 Marriott to ANA (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days.
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Will you book any awards with free cancellations?
HT: yandmk
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40 Comments On "Wide Open United Business Saver Award Space Nonstop Between The US And Tel Aviv With Free Cancellations!"
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Aeroplan showing as 85,000 one-way for J.
Sorry, Aeroplan one-way 85,000 SFO-TLV. EWR-TLV is showing 70,000.
I was actually looking at flights for August 2021 a few weeks ago through chase travel with my CSR and business class was pricing out around the same cost as saver.
I don’t mean to doubt you but i was reading the united rules and it seemed to me that to get free award ticket cancellation you must fly by dec 30 not just book by then .Are you sure that you can book now for next april and be able to cancel 30 days out. I would book a flight now if i was sure of that
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/change-fee.html
See FAQ.
thanks for the response
They really should update the language on their website
those are change fee rules not cancellation rules
Thanks Dan! What’s the cancellation policy if the flights are booked with Turkish points?
Details on Turkish here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/wide-open-united-award-space-turkish-airlines-dirt-cheap-star-alliance-awards-valuable-ever/
as a follow up to my previous comment this is the language on the united website
We’re waiving redeposit fees for award flights departing on or before December 31, 2020, that are canceled at least 30 days before the departure date. You can also change your award flight with no fee. Learn more about changing or canceling your award flight.
are these screenshots from an expanded award availability logger or non cardholder?
Not logged in.
“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.”
is this true anymore or awards can be cancelled anytime for free 30 days etc…..
Isn’t there a conflict between these two statements:
“United has permanently removed award redeposit fees as long as you cancel 30+ days before your flight!”
“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.”
yes I think!
What about upgrading an existing flight?
In another post you wrote:
“The cost will be 46,067 points round-trip with a Sapphire Reserve.”
(https://www.dansdeals.com/airfare-deals/israel-flights/united-fly-nonstop-newark-chicago-washington-dc-san-francisco-tel-aviv-just-691-46k-hybrid-points-round-trip/)
Isn’t that a much better deal than the 42K one-way (economy) you posted here?
Also, can I safely book now with Chase UR points and be sure I’ll be able to cancel for free (30 days before scheduled departure)? Is it a difference if I book with points with a Sapphire through the Chase portal, or I transfer points to United? I’m a little confused over this.
1. Sure, but that’s only for those specific flights on specific dates, and a round-trip is required.
But the deal I’m writing about here is for business class anyway.
2. No, Chase books you paid flights. Those can’t be cancelled for free like an award ticket booked by United.
Perhaps start here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/credit-cards-points-start-need-know-best-credit-cards/
Very helpful, as usual. Many thanks!
So this https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/airlines/airline-news/master-chart-comparing-new-airline-change-fee-waivers/ is no longer true: Request an electronic travel certificate as a refund so that you don’t lose any residual value when making a change to a less expensive flight. (first line from the chart)?
It is true. But you don’t get Chase points back.
But you can still get an ETC to use on any route for anyone, instead of just changes on that flight, correct?
Do you think by summer they will allow americans to visit already?
I would think so, yes.
do you think they let foreigners in by March 1, 2021
http://www.ask8ball.net/
In all seriousness, it likely depends on when the vaccine is readily available and perhaps even whether the individual has been vaccinated.
Other variables are testing and quarantine …whether Israel will adopt a policy that allows entry with negative PCR test +/- positive antibody test +/- period of quarantine after arrival.
Is there a way to transfer AMEX points to United?
No, but as the post says, you can transfer AMEX to Air Canada, Lifemiles, Singapore, or ANA and book United from there.
Thanks a lot!
Seems like this was typed up in a rush- a few spelling mistakes
If you point out the mistakes I’d be happy to fix them.
If I book at this rate with points can I change to any date later or only one with the same rate?
Same as a paid flight. You would pay the difference in fare (or miles) unless United cancels your flight.
Even if United cancels ur flight good luck getting them to agree on putting u on a non award available flight. Didnt work for me after 4 hucas
If you purchase United flights now to TLV for travel in April and Israel does not yet let in foreigners is there a clear policy as to whether you would be entitled to a refund?
I had an awards flight on united for August 2021 and went to cancel it on Sunday and the system said there was a redeposit fee of $75. What I had to do was change the flight to one at the end of December, wait a few hours, and then the system allowed me to cancel without the redeposit fee. (under the 2020 waived redeposit fee). That trick will obviously only work for 2 more weeks.
So it seems clear that United getting rid of redeposit fees is not taking place immediately but at some point in the future (probably January 1?). This is very unfair as the United website and their press release makes no mention of that future date.
Hopefully, come January 1 the system will allow all awards flights (even those booked before January 1) to be cancelled without charging the redeposit fee but there is no guarantee of that.
why are we not taking about ewr-tlv united eco 24.5k!! ..unless you already covered that
https://www.dansdeals.com/airfare-deals/mileage-deals/united-dynamically-priced-awards-nyc-miami-5k-la-6-5k-london-22k-tel-aviv-29-5k-miles-way/
ha right you wer forsure on that already . but lets update for those folks who wer holding out till it went down another 5k lol