Once upon a time Continental business class space to Hawaii, such as Houston-Honolulu and Newark-Honolulu, was plentiful:
After the United merger, long-haul business class saver awards to Hawaii became a true unicorn. I can’t remember seeing a saver award nonstop from Newark to Honolulu in years!
That’s why I was surprised to see 2 business class saver award seats from Newark to Honolulu this Sunday, 9/1. I posted the find onto the rare award space thread on DDF.
Now however there are 4 lie-flat business class award seats available on the flight this Sunday!
Newark to Honolulu is blocked at 10 hours and 54 minutes, half an hour longer than Newark to Tel Aviv.
I’d be tempted to grab it, but for some reason United doesn’t have any early Sunday morning flights from Cleveland to Newark in September, though they have them every other month and on every other day of the week.
Business saver class award booking options:
- You can transfer miles from Chase Ultimate Rewards to United (1:1 ratio) instantly. United charges 22.5K one-way in coach or 50K one-way in long-haul lie-flat business class for United flights to Hawaii. 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 50K 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 Consumer card 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 saver rate while a non-cardholder will see a higher standard rate. Cardholders also have the ability to book the last seat available in any class with Standard/Everyday awards.
- Turkish charges a mere 7.5K in coach or 12.5K in business class one-way. There are no fuel surcharges for United flights. Points transfer within a day (1:1 ratio) from Citi. Transfers from Marriott (60K:25K ratio) can take 2-20 days. You’ll need to call Turkish at 800-874-8875 to book this award and you may need a lot of HUCA. Read more here.
- Singapore charges 17.5K in coach or 34.5K 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. You can book partner awards like this online.
- Air Canada Aeroplan charges 22.5K in coach or 40K 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. You can book partner awards like this online.
- Avianca Lifemiles charges 22.5K in coach or 40K 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. You can book partner awards like this online.
United is a lot more expensive than their partner airlines for this flight, but United does include an interisland segment on Hawaiian airlines for free:
United also gives a free interisland stopover on a round-trip award, such as Newark to Maui on 9/1, Maui to Kauai on 9/5, and Kauai to Newark on 9/9:
Want to read more about Hawaii?
My love of Hawaii began 13 years ago when I posted and grabbed a deal paying just $87 for airfare and hotel. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to spend several months between the stunning islands, which each offer a unique and wonderful experience. You can’t go wrong with any of them, there are just 2 things is to be careful of.
1. Don’t get stuck in Honolulu. I’ve heard from too many people who spent an entire week and never left the city limits. That’s just a shame, they may as well have gone to Miami Beach. While I prefer The Big Island, Kauai, and Maui to Oahu, there is still plenty to see and experience on Oahu as long as you leave Honolulu behind.
2. Don’t try to “do” several islands in a week. If you just have 4-7 days of vacation then you should stick to one island. There will be plenty to do to keep you busy and it will allow for some time to relax. There’s no need to add the stress of interisland travel just for the sake of “doing” another island. With 9 days or more to play with, it does make sense to experience more than 1 island.
As for which island is best, read on and decide for yourself! If you ask 5 people you’ll probably get 6 different answers 😀
DansMeals: Hawaii For The Kosher Traveler:
- Part 1: General Info And The Island Of Oahu
- Part 2: The Big Island of Hawaii
- Part 3: Maui
- Part 4: Kauai
Trip reports and posts on Hawaii:
- Trip Notes: The Final United 747 Flight And 2 Days In Maui (2018)
- Trip Notes: Maui No Ka ‘Oi (2014)
- Trip Notes Kauai: Heaven On Earth (2014)
- The Hawaiian Islands. (2011)
- Traveling To Hawaii…With A 5 Month Old (2011)
- View From The Room (2011)
- Pearl Harbor…70 Years (2011)
- Shaloha! (2011)
- Hawaii Trip Notes: Kauai (2009)
- Hawaii Trip Notes: Oahu (2009)
DDF forum threads:
- Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
- Big Island Of Hawaii Master Thread
- Kauai Master Thread
- Lanai, Molokai, and Niihau, Hawaii Master Thread
- Maui Master Thread
- Oahu Master Thread
- Links to trip reports from other DDF members.
Join the 95K people who follow @DansDeals on Twitter and you’ll get a tweet when a deal is posted on DansDeals.com! Click here to learn how to setup text message alerts (and choose which hours of the night not to bother you) and you’ll be the first to know about every deal!
Will you book this flight?
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21 Comments On "Unicorn Award Space: Fly United Business Class Nonstop From Newark To Honolulu This Sunday For 12.5K Miles!"
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Come to NYC for Shabbos!
It’s showing 50k one way what am I doing wrong?
Read the post?
I’m assuming first class on United really means business in this case?
Totally misleading thread title (Clickbait?), even for someone like me that can figure these things out.
Please explain why?
Maybe because by the time the points reach Turkish it will no longer be available.
If you read the original Turkish article I linked to you in this post would know how to solve that problem. I specifically didn’t say it explicitly in this post.
Dan, not everyone is aware of the Turkish gem of a redemption. Even thought this was a United ‘deal’.
That’s why I wrote in the post how to get that.
If a United search for a saver award shows: “Exclusively available to you as a MileagePlus Premier® member” will Turkish be able to see it and confirm a 7.5K coach seat on the phone?
They won’t be able to. You should enable expert mode on United and than look for X class availability. That’s the economy awards that other airlines can book.
Or just search United.com when not logged in.
How do you enable expert mode? I believe I had this option with CO before the merger. What are the requirements? I am Premier Gold but not a Chase/United CC holder.
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/all-about/advanced-level-mileage-post-all-about-expert-mode-how-to-hack-uniteds-award-bug-and-get-the-space-you-were-promised/
Wow, that first screenshot brought back memories of the slightly easier days.
We had it so good 🙁
Just curious: does United Plan B work for this route ever? I had no success on it 2 years ago.
Why is TPG not giving you credit for this article ?
Correction : Credit was given in the first paragraph . I was looking at the end of the article .
any no fee credit cards that you could get points with at a decent ratio?