Epinz300

Hello All! Hopefully this is the right board to post this too.

My wife and I are looking to go to Europe for the first time. Looking between mid/end of June to mid July. We have a few places that we know we want to go to but we don't care what airport we fly from/to for either direction. We would like to experience business class on an international flight in one direction. With all the different options, I was hoping the forums can help narrow down the best ones taking into account lounges and experience on board. I know of Delta One Suites DTW/MSP/ATL/JFK - AMS, Singapore JFK - FRA, United EWR - multiple places, etc.

Anyone have good redemption's to share? Places to look for availability? Are lounges better in USA or Intl?

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. For reference we have a combined 100k Chase and roughly 50k Amex

Mwenenzi

Only looking for award flights? Hard to get 2 x premium awards at a peak time
Departure from where? [west coast, east coast, south, ??]
Member of which ffp's now?

100K Chase & 50K Amex is not a lot for 2 x business awards
Sample ORD-MUC/FRA https://www.awardhacker.com/#f=ORD&t...&s=1&p=1Credit
This is not a complete list

card transfer links

• Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs forum
  
• Amex MR Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program?
  
• Chase UR Ultimate Rewards - Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners, Rules, Timeline, etc (2017)
  
• Chase UR Ultimate Rewards - Which airline/hotel should I transfer points to?
  
• Citi TYP Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs): airline transfer partners
  

Epinz300

Would only need business class one way from east coast preferably but if we have to position ourselves thats fine. We are based in DC area. We have no loyalty to any programs, just looking for best redemption in business either USA to Europe or Europe to USA.
Best we have seen is Delta One Suites for 50k pp DTW to AMS. But say we find reverse, are the lounges better in AMS vs DTW? Is it worth paying 60k pp for United Polaris?

Again, want to know other experiences and point us in right direction

Yoshi212

UA Polaris, for now, it a catchall for their hybrid of business classes. You have their current/previous seat which often is 2x2x2/2x1x2 or 2x2z2 and the new actual Polaris seat where each seat has Aisle access and the full bevy of amenities. One of the best perks of flying on Polaris or J on a Star Alliance carrier is use of the Polaris lounges which are often the best of the US lounges. The one at SFO particularly is great. Flying from the East Coast the flights are often too short and at times where you might not get the whole experience onboard. You'll need to verify if the flight you're on will be old or new seating.
I often recommend booking a premium economy product, Norwegian is often rather affordable for cash or portal redemptions, going across the Atlantic and booking your longest J ticket on the return. My upcoming I booked a 10 hour J return ticket from Istanbul to experience their awesome business lounge at IST, their IAD lounge is one of the better US lounge and is on Priority Pass, and to be awake for their well regarded service including the onboard chef. They currently fly their new, but mixed preference, 787-9 from IST-YUL, IAD & ATL.

SQ JFK-FRA I've flown both ways in a few different services and even their economy service is still quite good. I don't sleep well in general but on the SQ A380 in Y i slept. Food was good too. PE redemptions on Star Alliance tends to be either a pain, nonexistent or overpirced in miles. Can be decent on Air France and OneWorld though. They also tend to be less in miles but higher in fees compared to Star Alliance redemptions. Using Award Hacker you can check what is possible, but not necessarily available as award hacker doesn't show active availability and you're rather late to the game to get the lowest redemption, to give yourself an idea of what miles can be used for.