Business class award space between North America and Tel Aviv is notoriously scarce. So it’s news when non-Shabbos dates have business class award space to/from Tel Aviv.
United is flying their brand new 77W Polaris planes with direct aisle access for every business class seat on the evening flights between Newark and Tel Aviv.
There are currently 5 business saver awards seats from Newark to Tel Aviv at 10:45pm on the 77W this Saturday evening.
Shabbos ends at 8:42pm in Brooklyn, so it is possible to make this flight even from Brooklyn, but you would have to be ready to rush to the airport as soon as Shabbos is over. Of course if you live in say, Teaneck, you would have some extra breathing time. The checkin deadline for the flight is 9:45pm.
There is also business saver award space returning from Tel Aviv to San Francicso on:
- August 22 (6 saver award seats)
- August 23 (8 saver award seats)
- August 30 (5 saver award seats)
These business class seats include United’s newly launched Polaris business class service with Saks Fifth Avenue bedding and pillows. Smart travelers will also request a Saks Fifth Avenue mattress pad, gel cooled pillow, slippers, and pajamas, as those are not offered proactively by flight attendants.
Sample 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 70K 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 70K 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 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 85K standard rate which will go up to 95K in November. Cardholders also have the ability to book the last seat available in any class with Standard/Everyday awards.
You can view credit card offers by hovering over the “Credit Cards” tab. You can then click on “Credit Cards From All Banks“ to find card offers via the logo of the bank you’re looking for.
-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. Awards can be booked online.
–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. You must call Aegean to book at +30-21-0626-1000
–Singapore charges 37.5K in coach or 57.5K 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 Starwood (20K:25K ratio) can take 2-10 days. You must call Singapore to book at 1-312-843-5333.
–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. Awards can be booked online, though flights with connections may need to be booked over the phone.
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21 Comments On "Rare United 77W Polaris Business Class Saver Award Space Between NYC And Tel Aviv"
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Grabbed 2 seats, thanks! Now I have to figure out if I can reasonably make it… no precheck
Nice!
Where do you live?
You can ask the checkin agent for help getting you past the TSA. Or tell the TSA that you need help to catch your flight.
As long as you can get there an hour before the flight and checkin itself doesn’t take too long, it should be fine. Just be sure to get to the desk an hour in advance and let them know you’re coming up on the deadline if there’s a line.
And get yourself Global Entry, will ya 😀
A llitle bit off topic:
Just applied for Global Entry last week and I have already received the Conditional Approval! within 1 week.
Appointments in JFK are Available from mid September
and in Bowling Green- Manhattan from September 1st. Entire month with all dates and times just opened up.
Can complete entire Global entry process in less than a Month
BUSINESS AND FIRST is the same polaris on united?
First is being phased out, most planes (and all new planes) are only business.
You can also stay in Hillside, NJ which is less than ten minutes from the airport 🙂
Looks like 4 seats have been booked, 1 seat left.
Seats also available on Erev R’H….hardly useful
Yup, hence why I ignored those.
dan is this for succos time and does the workaround still work via the telephone? thanks
dan do aegen and ana points have good value for united flights to other places like europe and not just tlv ? and where can i check ?
Does statues on united help for other star alliances like Ana or Aegean ? Do Ana or Aegean stayers help for united ? Thank you not sure how this all works
I need one in sep
Back up to 3 seats available.
since mid June seats have been available lots of times in I Class on the 77W.
Why did you wake up now ?
5 seats?
Next time let me know.
Yup, I guess your not following the rare award space thread.
is there any pattern when they open rare award seats?
Sunday August 13 UA 90 is I3 right now.
Be very very wary of transferring miles/points to Aegean. They have an outdated partner award reservation system which requires a call to Aegean to see if there is available space. I have never been lucky getting UA seats on the TLV route. If I had transferred valuable Starwood points I would not have been a happy camper!
Singapor says they do not fly to Tel Aviv. I am confused on the information regarding miles…