United Airlines

Polaris business class is one of the most highly-regarded premium products in the United States. Launched in 2016, the product is now available on all United widebodies operating international flights, following the most recent retrofits of the Boeing 767s. The longest flight in United’s network this month is from its hub at

San Francisco International Airport

(SFO) to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) at 8,440 miles and is one of several routes to five continents that feature the Polaris product, as well as some transcontinental domestic routes and others to Hawai’i.

According to Cirium, United has 9,599 flights scheduled on widebodies in August, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to book Polaris seats.

United Airlines Mileage Plus

The first way to book an award flight in Polaris is to use United’s frequent flier program,

MileagePlus

. Using the airline’s website, one can look for award fares, but the downfall to searching for a business/first fare (as the website labels them), is that the calendar view shows the lowest prices overall, meaning they are economy fares. In order to find the cheapest premium fares, one must click from day to day. Rates will vary by route and by flight.

For the purpose of comparing one of the domestic routes with Polaris and then a shorter international route with the product, the first route selected is from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Upon searching a few days in September, the lowest premium cabin rate found was 153,600 miles roundtrip. The outbound leg from LAX is one of the redeyes, departing at 23:15 on September 9. The flight is operated by United’s high-density Boeing 777-200s with a lie-flat business-class cabin but in a 2-4-2 configuration. A seat is available in business for 73,600 miles on that flight.

The return leg has a great Polaris redemption compared to everything else. Typically, a business-class fare during the September dates searched runs for 120,000 miles one-way. On September 13, the early morning flight departing EWR at 06:35 has Polaris seats available for 80,000 miles. This flight is one of two on the 13th that are operated on Dreamliner aircraft.

For the international route, we used Newark to Heathrow Airport in London (LHR) as 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 rate is available on the daytime flight, which departs at 08:30 and lands at 20:40, and on the last flight of the night, at 23:00. The return leg is “cheaper” in points but has a hefty cash fee that comes with it as Heathrow has some of the steepest airport taxes worldwide.

The return leg, on September 11, is available for just 80,000 points + $329.80 in fees. This fare is available for three of the six flights on that day.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada is one of United’s Star Alliance partners, and sometimes United opens up award seats for other frequent flier programs. One of the advantages of using Aeroplan is that it has price predicting for flight rewards.

Screenshot 2024-08-16 at 9.36.50 PM

According to Air Canada’s prediction tool, a flight from Newark to London on partner airlines in business would be 60,000 points, while first class would be 90,000. However, it is unclear under which cabin Polaris would fall, as it is a business-class product, but it is the most premium product United has.

Other frequent flier programs

Any frequent flier program in the Star Alliance can be used to book United Airlines flights, but availability will always be limited. Rates vary with each program, though LifeMiles and Asiana Flying Club have been known to offer good redemption rates.

Upgrading using Mileage Plus miles

The “cheapest” way to get a Polaris seat is to use miles to upgrade when available. According to MileagePlus, there are four types of upgrades:

  • MIleagePlus Upgrade AWards – upgrade with miles on most flights.
  • Complimentary Premier upgrades – free, space-available upgrades for Premier members 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. They can be used to upgrade on United flights and select partner airlines. Can be used to upgrade others, even if not on the same reservation.
  • Star Alliance Upgrade Awards – upgrade with miles on select Star Alliance carriers. requests can be made after ticket purchase. miles can be used to upgrade up to four people on the same itinerary.
United is rolling out a significant Polaris update

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

MileagePlus Upgrade Awards can be be booked in three ways:

  1. Online.
  2. Calling the reservations line or Premier Priority Desk number on your digital membership card.
  3. At the airport with an agent.

In a few weeks, I will be flying from Los Angeles to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and the international leg with United is from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). United’s website does not give me an option to select an upgrade just for the IAD-GRU leg.

Rather, I have three options:

  1. Be placed on the waitlist for a Premium Plus upgrade on the IAD – GRU flight; 25,000 miles + $0.
  2. Be placed on the waitlist for First class from LAX – IAD and Polaris waitlist for IAD-GRU; 25,000 miles + $500.
  3. Be placed on the waitlist for First class from LAX IAD and Polaris and Premium Plus waitlist for IAD – GRU; 25,000 miles + $500 per person.

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