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.
Both Newark and San Francisco now have United’s excellent Polaris lounge product that is accessible with a business class ticket. I loved United’s Chicago Polaris lounge.
There is business saver award space from Newark to Tel Aviv on:
- April 10, 2019: (6 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 21, 2019: (3 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 22, 2019: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- April 23, 2019: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
There is business saver award space from Tel Aviv to Newark on:
- April 8, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 10, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 21, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 22, 2019: (4 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 23, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
There is business saver award space from San Francisco to Tel Aviv on:
- June 13, 2018: (No saver award seats for all members, but 1 saver awards seat for Platinum/1K elites and 1 upgrade seat available)
- July 4, 2018: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- December 30, 2018: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- December 31, 2018: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- January 1, 2019: (6 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 8, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 9, 2019: (7 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 10, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 21, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 23, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
There is business saver award space from Tel Aviv to San Francisco on:
- June 13, 2018: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- June 14, 2018: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- December 24, 2018: (At least 9 saver award/upgrade seats available for all members)
- December 25, 2018: (6 saver award seats for all members, at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- December 26, 2018: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- December 27, 2018: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- December 28, 2018: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 9, 2019: (No saver award seats for all members, but at least 9 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
- April 23, 2019 (3 saver award seats for all members, 8 saver awards seats for Platinum/1K elites, at least 9 upgrade seats available)
Select Newark and San Francisco flights above are on United’s brand new 77W Polaris planes with direct aisle access for every business class seat.
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 Club or 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 95K standard rate. 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. There is currently a bonus for transfers from Starwood and from AMEX.
–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.
–Singapore charges 45K in coach or 69K 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.
–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.
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29 Comments On "Rare United Polaris Business Class Saver Award And Upgrade Space Between Newark Or San Francisco And Tel Aviv!"
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TLV – EWR sep 18 also avail
I only posted non-Shabbos/Y”T dates.
apr 21 is the second day of pesach
Not after dark or for Israelis who hold one day.
It’s Ex-ewr.
oops… it’s erev yom kipor…
no return dates from tlv – ewr available as listed. getting a no availability message on 30 day calendar view
Too bad there is not one single return award from TLV to SFO (either economy or business)
got myself 4 saver seats ewr-tlv. non polaris flight, i hope united will manage to change the afternoon aircraft until april. thanks Dan!!
Nice!
nyc to tlv, i have around 84000 ur points should i book directly or transfer to united
Depends on availability and pricing.
Is there any way to get waitlisted for a roundtrip saver award on July? Currently there are none in July.
Check daily.
Glad I was able to book 4 business class tickets, round-trip direct SFO-TLV 4/9/19-4/23/19, literally this morning before your post 🙂 (now there are only 3 available on the way back)
Used ANA miles: 416,000 and $196 total for 4 people! What a great deal! (took approximately 36 hours to transfer from Amex to ANA)
Good timing 🙂
Aprli 21 is passover
Dan, Does plan B still work?
Yes.
I’m over 5/24. Can I convert one or my Freedom cards to a United card? If so can I can convert it back to a Freedom at a later point?
No.
In that case can you get your boys at United to open up 2 saver availability (for coach or business) from EWR to TLV on March 13. Work your magic Dan!
Just kidding but thanks for all you do!
Is there any way to work around an extended layover, specifically with LOT on a business saver award TLV-NYC/all airports?
With UA miles, you would need to use the “Excursionist Perk,” but it would need to be in the same region as the final destination.
Dan, does the no-fee version of the Explorer card also give you access to the expanded Saver inventory?
does star alliance gold allow you to get that polaris lounge like the one you got in chicago?
s. 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.. so when do i request them? email them before the flight or onboard
the united runway promo can i book a rountrip on google flights ua one way and ua?swiss the way back will i still get the bonus miles?
Can you please post a new link for the callback center to use for Plan B? The one in that post no longer works.