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My review of United Polaris business class, Boeing 789
I’m hoping to top off my U.S. trip with a United flight, which is a first for me. My original plan was to depart from Houston due to inventory issues, but at some point San Francisco suddenly opened up, which works perfectly to my plan.
To redeem for a flight from U.S. to Europe, United miles work out so much cheaper than any European airlines. Here is an exemplary comparison for a one-way flight from San Francisco to London in business:
- United miles: 62.4K + £5
- BA Avios: 90K + £225
- Virgin points: 67.5K + £721
It’s simply insane how much BA or VS are trying to charge here, especially for taxes and fees. The only hurdle is how to accrue United miles in the UK – I exchanged my Marriott points, the ratio of which is decent but I had to wait 8 days for the miles to arrive. Some people reportedly waited up to three weeks.
Having spent some quality time in the Polaris lounge, it is time to board my flight. The flight is operated by the Boeing 787-9 Dreamline, with the reputable United Polaris business class. United’s old business class configuration is eight abreast, which looks like to total disaster.
The Polaris cabin is divided into two parts by the gallery. The front cabin has 32 seats and the rear 16, but they don’t feel any different to each other.
The Polaris seats are all staggered. Odd middle seats are the “lover seats”, which offers the best intimacy and privacy for a couple.
The even middle seats are for single travellers who failed to grab a window seat.
Windows seats in odd rows are forward-facing and semi-enclosed, which is no doubt the best option if you are travelling by yourself.
Window seats in even rows are angled and aisle facing, which isn’t as ideal unless you want more open space.
The Polaris gives me a great first impression. The cushion, pillow, sheets and vanity bag are ready on my seat.
Unlike most other airlines, the inclination of your seat is adjusted by a scroll wheel instead of a button, which in my opinion is a better user experience.
I think it’s the first time I get a hard-shell amenity bag, which is very cute.
This is a conventional design for storage:
The seat converted into a lie-flat bed:
Although it doesn’t feature the door, my window seat feels much closer to a proper mini-suite than Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class Suite. The Do not disturb sign lights up when you’ve pressed the button which is fancy.
The IFE:
This is probably the simplest menu I’ve ever seen on a long-haul business class flight, which is only one page. It doesn’t say what drinks they offer, and you need to enquire the flight attendant.
They serve hot nuts which is a plus. I ordered braised beef short ribs for my main:
Which is incredibly good! The beef is very well cooked so you barely need to chew and the seasoning is great. It is one of the best dishes I’ve had on any flight.
The service is a bit lacking (which I think is normal for a U.S. airline?), but I love the Polaris seat design, and catering is amazing, which makes it one of the best flights I’ve had in the last three years or so. I’m flying from New York to London on American Airlines later this year (thanks to a “flash sale”), and that should tick all three major U.S. airlines for me.
Virgin Australia’s status match: benefits with United, Etihad, Singapore and more!
Virgin Australia launched a status match program last year, which might entitle you to special benefits with them and partner airlines for up to 15 months!
- Elite members from select airlines can apply for a status match
- If granted, you commence a three-month Gold trial
- Fly one qualifying sector and earn 80 tier credits to extend your Gold status for one year
In general, S* Gold, Skyteam Elite Plus and Oneworld Sapphire / Emerald qualify, excluding Virgin Australia’s partners. Some minimum requirements include:
- British Airways Silver
- Lufthansa Senator
- Air France Gold
- Finnair Gold
- Delta Gold
- American Airlines Platinum
- Emirates Gold
The list is very extensive so you have high chances of being eligible. There is no direct link to apply – you need to click Member Support and submit a feedback form to apply.
Even if you don’t fly Virgin Australia, the Gold card is still useful with a bunch of other airlines.
| Priority Check-in | Priority Boarding | Additional Baggage Allowance | Fast Track | Lounge Access | |
| Hainan / Tianjin / Capital / Hong Kong Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Singapore Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| United Airlines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Air Canada | ✓ | ||||
| Virgin Atlantic | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Etihad | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Qatar Airways | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| South African Airways | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Details of the lounge access policy is here, but in general you need to be on a flight operated by the partner carrier and can bring one guest.
If you are based in the UK, there’s a good chance that you’ll fly Virgin Atlantic some day, as well as some of the other partners. I value Priority Check-in and Lounge Access the most in terms of the aforementioned elite benefits.
80 tier credits are very easy to accrue, but you can’t possibly accomplish the one qualifying sector unless you travel to / within Australia. According to the program rules, your status will be re-evaluated at the end of the three months, which normally means you’d drop to a non-status member.
However, from the reports we’ve seen so far it seems that everyone has been downgraded to Silver instead post the Gold trial. It comes with two lounge passes for VA’s domestic lounges, and more importantly most of the partner benefits (barring lounge access) still apply for another year!
If you plan to fly Virgin Australia or their partner airline soon, it’s worthwhile signing up for the Gold trial beforehand.
My review of the United Polaris Lounge, San Francisco
At the end of the U.S. west coast trip, I’m heading back to London from San Francisco. In sheer contrast to the abundance of lounges at LAX, SFO is almost barren. United is the only Star Alliance airline that has any lounge here, and the same awkwardness applies to Skyteam and Oneworld too.
I arrived at the airport three hours ahead to make sure I have enough time to review the United Polaris Lounge. As it is the only decent Star Alliance lounge at SFO, the entry rules are quite strict: only business and first class passengers on a long-haul Star Alliance flight are allowed.
If you are a Star Gold member but flying economy, sadly you can only visit the United Club, which is like an average dull lounge that you expect in this country. Interestingly, anecdotes from my readers suggest that you may be invited to the Polaris Lounge if you are under 21, as you cannot enter the United Club due to alcohol restrictions.
The lounge is huge, occupying two floors and measuring about 2,600 square metres. The ground floor is a very nice area itself, but usually pretty quiet as the main food offerings are on the upper floor.
The armchairs are probably one of, if not he best I’ve ever seen in any airline lounge. it is very wide, with a small side table and sockets included.
The views are nice.
Shower rooms, and the Quiet Suites for resting are also on the ground floor. However, make sure you reserve enough time to explore the upper floor!
Turn left for the business zone, which offers private booths for phone calls and video calls.
And there are more desks and sofas inside.
If you turn right, you will pass the very beautiful bar first. There’s no self-service so you have to order your drinks instead, just like a regular bar 🙂
And then you’ll enter the dining area.
The buffet options are:
- Lobster corn bisque
- Ginger lemongrass ramen bowl
- Roasted broccoli and cauliflower
- Dakjjim Korean chicken braised chicken
- Miso glazed cod
- Brown basmati rice
I’m impressed that they offer lobster soup! You may also notice that the majority of the cuisine are Asian, which I quite enjoy. There are even tofu and shitake mushrooms in the salad area.
I’m not particularly hungry, so just had a taste of a couple of dishes but they are nice. Don’t miss out on the Dining Room though, which gives you a full dining experience!
I came around at about 5 o’clock and was told of a waiting time of 30 minutes. Fortunately an empty table became available in just five minutes.
Here’s the menu:
I ordered a small plate (octopus) and a glass of cocktail.
To be honest, the octopus is not to my liking. But the food looks posh enough to be served in a fancy restaurant.
Finally, a picture of the bathroom:
When I was leaving for my flight, the upper floor started to become really crowded. As most flights to Europe depart in the evening, it’s hardly a surprise.
The United Polaris Lounge at SFO is the best Star Alliance lounge that I’ve ever been to, and it is definitely worth visiting when you have the chance.
TAP Portugal sale: London to Cancun and Brazil for £1,100
TAP Portugal’s sale has returned, which includes some bargains if you are looking to travel to Cancun or Brazil.
The offer page for UK departure is here. There are similar deals for departures from Portugal, Spain and France etc, so if you are based in those countries you may want to check it out too.
The most attractive deals listed on the page are (ex-London or -Manchester, business class return):
- Cancun £1,262
- Rio de Janeiro £1,333
- Sao Paolo £1,334
Cancun is wide open from April, however for Brazil in order to get the cheap fare you have to depart in October and beyond. Here are a couple of examples:
London – Cancun April 18 – 22
London – Sao Paolo November 17 – 26
Remember, you can always add a stopover in Lisbon / Porto for over 24 hours, which helps you escape from UK’s ridiculous APD. You can expect to save about £150:
Ticket is refundable at a penalty of €165. From what I can see travel agencies are only slightly cheaper than TAP Portugal, so I recommend booking direct, which makes your life much easier if there’s a flight schedule change or you want to cancel your flight.
The booking class is J, and you will earn between 125% and 200% with TAP Portugal’s partners.
Great Eithad first class reward availability from London and other cities
Etihad has opened up a lot of reward space on its first class route, and it’s a good opportunity if you are in for the experience.
First of all you could perform your searches on Etihad’s website which will give you a 7-day calendar view at a time. In the following example, the 88,024 miles price on March 18th indicates standard award availability, which doesn’t exist on other days.
Once you find your desired flight you could book using your Etihad Guest miles, which can be converted from Amex membership rewards points. You’d be overpaying (by a large margin) though, and the best way to redeem an Etihad ticket is to use Aeroplan instead.
A one-way ticket from Abu Dhabi to London in first class costs only 65,000 points and 84 CAD. Charges will be higher for the other way around because of UK’s APD. Aeroplan doesn’t have a promotion on point purchase right now, but you can still get their points by transferring from:
- Amex membership rewards in US / Canada, which is instant
- Marriott Bonvoy, but it might take quite a few days
Etihad flies to London and Geneva in Europe, as well as Washing DC in the States.
This is how Etihad’s first class on Boeing 787 looks like:
Which is, unfortunately, not comparable to Emirates’ first class suite that I was in a few days ago.
Hopefully their A380 fleet will return soon, and I can’t wait to sit in the first apartment!
Save £££ on your airfare with rail / bus hidden-city ticketing
You might have heard of “hidden-city ticketing”, a trick to purchase cheaper air tickets by adding one or more segments to your desired itinerary. For example, Flying New York – London – Paris could be cheaper than New York – London due to its indirect nature, so in this case it saves money to book the first route and drop the second leg if you only intend to travel to London.
There are complications of course, which I will discuss later in this article. There is an advanced and safer approach though which is less-known, that takes advantage of the interlining agreement between airlines and rail / bus companies.
Actually I’ve been aware of it since a long time ago. I was studying in Switzerland and my Mum was coming to visit me. When looking for an air ticket Swiss’s website offered the following route: PEK-ZRH on Swiss, and then Zurich-Basel on a SBB train. It’s cheaper than flying to Zurich only!
Similar arrangements can be found on Lufthansa’s website between them and DB:
Apparently it’s not necessarily cheaper so you need to do your research.
Most practically, the trick works best if you are looking for a one-way flight to the UAE. A direct flight from London to Abu Dhabi on Etihad costs around £500:
Whereas adding a leg to Dubai reduces the price by more than half!
The trip from Abu Dhabi airport to Dubai is undertaken by a coach. If Dubai is your final destination, you could take the coach or make your own travel arrangement; otherwise just leave the airport and enjoy Abu Dhabi!
Traditionally there are two complications with hidden-city, but they are very unlikely to hinder the novel approach:
- Luggage check-through to the final destination – your luggage won’t check through onto the train or bus so you’ll have to collect them yourself anyway
- Airline blacklisting you for the behaviour – contrary to a flight, it’s technically very difficult for the airline to know if you’ve taken the train / bus journey or not, which prevents them from taking any actions against you
Aegean giving away up to 2 million free miles!
Aegean Airlines is the national carrier of Greece, best known for their easy-to-maintain Star Alliance Gold status. Additionally, they’ve also run a lot of promotions to give away free miles in the past.
- Ends December 23
- All Aegean Miles+Bonus members can participate
- Win an instant of prize of between 500 and 2,000,000 miles
It’s very simple to participate. Just pick one new-year resolution and a city to win the prize. My first three attempts ended up in IT errors though, but at the fourth time it paid out. I won 3,000 miles which is not bad.
Aegean miles never expire. A domestic flight in Greece costs 5,000 miles, and partner redemption starts from 12,500 miles. You can transfer miles between accounts at the cost of €15, the annual limit being 50,000 miles.
You can also convert Aegean miles into Accor points at the ratio of 2,000 : 500 (worth €10). It’s probably easier to redeem than flight tickets, although I’m not totally sure if there’s any restriction on new accounts.
Aeroplan: the best flight redemption between UK / Europe and Middle East
I’ve been in the miles and points game for like eight years now, and my international background / connections mean that I dip into loyalty programs of countries besides the UK. Yet Air Canada’s Aeroplan never entered my horizons until very recently, and it turned out to be an excellent redemption program for people living in the UK or Europe.
My friend told me about Aeroplan when he booked Bangkok – London in Oman Air’s first class for only 100k points. I will only focus on the Middle East redemption today however, as I think that’s where Aeroplan’s biggest edge lies.
[The Advantages]
Aeroplan has the the following advantages when it comes to flight redemptions:
- Extensive partner network, including many non Star Alliance carriers
- Easy to book online
- No carrier-imposed surcharges
- Adding a stopover for only 5,000 points
I don’t want to expand too much here, but not charging YQ alone can save you at least £300 for a long-haul return flight compared to British Airways and Etihad Guest etc.
[Getting Points]
I have the US Amex Platinum card through global transfer, and Aeroplan is a Membership Rewards conversion partner in the United States. I can transfer my MR points to Aeroplan at 1:1 ratio and it’s instant.
Aeroplan is not a MR conversion partner in the UK. However, it is with Marriott Bonvoy (60,000 Marriott points = 25,000 Aeroplan points) which is accessible globally.
[Pricing]
You can find Aeroplan’s redemption chart here. Europe and the Middle East both fall into the Atlantic Zone, so the following pricing applies:
Depart from UK or Europe, you are most likely looking at the 2,001 – 4,000 miles range, which means a one-way business class redemption costs only 45,000 points.
Most importantly, you can book the following carries on Aeroplan’s website, and availability is usually pretty good:
- Etihad
- Oman Air
- Gulf Air
- Egypt Air
Obviously Star Alliance carriers such as Lufthansa and Swiss are also available, but they are probably less exciting and availability is worse.
For a LHR – DXB / AUH business class return redemption, here’s roughly what each program wants:
- Aeroplan: 90k points + £313
- British Airways: 100k Avios + £717
- Etihad Guest: 125k miles + £687
- Emirates Skywards: 117.5k miles + £931
Assuming that 1 Avios / point = 1p, two people travelling together on BA’s 2-for-1 voucher is still no better deal than Aeroplan. It contrasts even more sharply if you look at the one-way UK inbound flight only.
I booked my Dubai flight on Egypt Air departing right before Christmas. There’s one Etihad flight with empty business class seats left but unfortunately the arrival time is inconvenient. I’m still quite happy though to find any available for the festive period.
You can also redeem in first class for 60,000 points per way, but availability is much harder to find.
[The Catch]
Aeroplan charges up to C$100 (£64) for changing your ticket, and C$150 (£96) for cancellation. It is much more expensive than Avios tickets with British Airways, although still manageable. Flexible Rewards are possible at the time of booking which can be changed / cancelled for free, however they are at least 20% more expensive which kind of defeats the purpose.
You can cancel your booking for free within 24 hours, which is inline with the other programs.