United has excellent nonstop award availability between North America and Israel in coach, especially for United cardholders who have access to greatly expanded award availability. However nonstop business class award space between North America and Tel Aviv is notoriously scarce. So it’s news when any non-Shabbos dates have business class award space to/from Tel Aviv.
There is business saver award space from San Francisco to Tel Aviv on:
- May 8, 2019: (7 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- December 31, 2019: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
There is business saver award space from Tel Aviv to San Francisco on:
- May 6, 2019: (5 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- May 7, 2019: (6 saver award seats for all members, 8 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, 8 upgrade seats available)
- May 9, 2019: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- May 10, 2019: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
There is business saver award space from Tel Aviv to Washington DC on:
- December 27, 2019: (4 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
There is business saver award space from Tel Aviv to Newark on:
- May 6, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, 2 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, 4 upgrade seats available)
United’s 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.
Upgrade awards:
You can always waitlist for an upgrade award, but the dates above have flights that are confirmable now by calling United.
If you have a paid ticket, the cost of an upgrade varies based on your ticket’s fare class as follows:
In other words, it will cost 35K United miles plus $600 for a one-way upgrade from most discounted coach tickets to business class.
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. 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 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 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.
- Air Canada Aeroplan 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 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 a mere 30K miles in coach or 45K 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 a day or 2 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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28 Comments On "Rare United Polaris Business Class Saver Award And Upgrade Space Nonstop Between North America And Tel Aviv!"
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Will Plan B work by first booking Economy Saver award online (I don’t want to chance losing Economy Szver Award while waiting for a Unite rep) , and then calling United to be wait listed for Business Saver Award?
Plan B works when there is economy saver available. You won’t lose it.
you didnt answer the question he is asking can he book first before calling? sometimes united keeps you on hold for 15 or 20 minutes gosh! please be clear
What exactly is unclear here?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/united-plan-b-is-pretty-much-the-most-awesome-underutilized-and-underappreciated-thing-ever/
which fare class need in biz it should be confirmed ?
Nice post Dan. Missing how much wud be to book with LifeMiles.
Added.
Thanks, Dan
Are all the point values above for saver awards?
Is availability the same regardless of which airline’s points you’ using?
All are saver. Business saver (I class) for general members is the same across all partners. Business saver (IN class) for Plat/1K/GS elites is only with UA miles and status.
can you tell us plan c? or do we have to get you drunk to reveal
does booking an economy ticket on Priceline, google flights etc put you in an upgradeable fare class? I find that the you book it they don’t put you into an upgradeable fare you have to buy up a few classes.
Mileage upgrades are available from any class that’s not basic economy (which doesn’t exist to TLV yet).
GPUs require a W fare or higher.
It makes no difference if you buy from Priceline or not.
I had that experience when trying to buy eBay guru from private sellers
You’re referring to a GPU.
FWIW, United has been known to set up sting operations to ban people for buying/selling GPUs.
FWIW ?
For what it’s worth
is us to Europe economy cheaper with avianca miles then with united (30k per way) miles? you did not disscuss it in your avianca post so I am assuming not,
Added to post.
are Avianca points to from us to Europe in Econ cheaper then using united points ? im assuming not because you didn’t mention that as a bargain in your avianca post If you can please answer this question thanks you
Added to post.
the avianca post or this post how much is us to Europe using Avianca?
Why would I have the rates for Europe in this post?
Take a look at their award chart for other locations.
any cancel policy this week did to rockets?
El al specifically
No.
Thanks for a very informative post. Will bookmark this for when booking united to Israel.
The Aegean rates sound great but I have never seen any availability in Business. Has anyone else?
I wanted a one way business class ticket from Tel-Aviv to SFO to LAS (a flight I have taken several times) within a 2 week window in early December. United clearly told me nothing was available and the website showed nothing except 180,000 seats. I used the United website to book a ticket on Swiss Air to Montreal and AirCanada to Las Vegas. 2 flights, business class for 85,000 miles. Why wouldn’t United help me do this? They are not friendly. I tried HUCA 3 times and no help.
Does Plan B work with a lap-infant?