lexdevil

Not the most amazing fare, but great for July. Midweek only.

I had been about to jump on a similar fare with Virgin, but it looks like United matched it and the Virgin fare is back over $4,000 again.

I booked July 17-August 7 and paid with Chase points.

stevenou

I think the fares may be gone already. I literally saw them 5 minutes ago and as I was browsing it went up to $4k+

Barkinpark

It's probably cheaper to position to the east coast.

lexdevil

lexdevil

Barkinpark

Try Mint or Delta One. They are game-changers. United is not good in long-haul. THe number of flights using real Polaris seats is very small. Furthermore, United usually prices flights with Polaris seats at top premiums, excluded from sale fares.

Repooc17

United has something like 50 planes now either delivered with Polaris hard product, or retrofitted with one - that's certainly not an insignificant number; also, most of them are configured with a lot of premium seats.

Thanks to FT, I have flown about a half dozen times on sales fares from the east coast US to Asia for around $2K on UA, and less than 3K to Australia (not a Polaris configured plane to/from SYD - full disclosure).

lexdevil

From SFO, Delta puts you on a VS flight (codeshare). The VS seats on this route are, from all I have read, hard and uncomfortable. Word is that there is little recline, just lie flat or upright.

SFO-LHR has more and more of the new Polaris hard product. And if I can stay out of the middle four on the older configurations, I'll still take it (but I'm betting it will change by July).

You are entirely correct that United usually keeps these prices high. That's why I was happy to grab a couple of tickets for less than $2,700 each (or free, given that I used Chase points).

Kacee

At $2700 RT from SFO, it is absolutely not. SFO-JFK is a minimum of $1300. Show us the D1 fare JFK-LHR for less than $1400.
Suit yourself, but that is not a strategy I would ever sign on to. Two six hour flights with minimum three hours in between vs. a single 10 hour flight? No thanks. And with the Polaris seat, UA offers the best J seat option nonstop SFO-LHR.

Also, I can't believe you're actually familiar with D1 SFO-JFK. That's the crappy 767. Hardly a "game changer."
Inaccurate. Especially if you're touting D1, as DL is way behind in converting D1 suites vs. Polaris.
That's also inaccurate.
It's exactly 50 at the moment, with 6 more in mods. By contrast, DL has 22 aircraft with the D1 suites, with 2 in mods. So UA is converting at a 3:1 pace compared to DL.

bocastephen

darn it, I needed a cheap business ticket from California or Canada West Coast to London - but in June, not July, but checking GF and Matrix, this appears to be gone anyway

Barkinpark

Not to create a debate, but the number of places CURRENTLY fitted with real Polaris seats to Europe (not Asia) is still small. My colleague bought a ticket from SFO to FRA thinking that he'd be on a Polaris flight, but it turned out to be a 2-2-2 config 777. The same route with Polaris cost several thousands more. For myself, I wanted to change a Z class flight to a Polaris one, but the fare adjustment was $1800 more than a non-Polaris one. EF shows plenty of Z seats on this flight. United also needs to up the game by deploying more POlaris to continental Europe. LHR has prohibitively high taxes.

Transcon on Mint from SFO to JFK can be bought for approx. $1000 in advance. This of course doesn't apply to last-min biz travel. I am assuming the crowd applauding $2700 SFO-LHR J fare is using it for leisure travel.

Boraxo

This sale seems to be a regular if unpredictable occurrence, I think we saw similar fares offered for July soon after the schedule opened, as I remember considering a purchase for this summer's vacation. One of the better non-mistake fares that you will find particularly as there is less competition from the West Coast.

The middle 2 of 2-2-2 works for me - nobody steps over my seat. Of course Polaris is better because I can usually get a window/aisle combo but I'm not going to get agitated over it. And yes, LHR taxes are high for origination - the smart workaround for leisure travelers is to originate your return from another European city and then only connect via LHR.

The Mint fare and product are a deal compared with others but still about 2x (and if lucky 3x) higher than an E+ economy fare (i.e. elites buying non-BE). For me it's not worth $500-750 extra to fly F for domestic flights but YMMV.

And yes, the $2700 fare is great for leisure travelers, 10 hours of relatively comfortable travel with the possibility of sleep from the West Coast vs. economy seat hell. Even better if you need EQM. However IMO it's still prohibitive for a family of 4, particularly as I don't care about EQM or RDM for my family.

Repooc17

At least your colleague didn't get the 777 dorm style seats

United has been taking deliveries of its new 787-10 birds, and will be sending to five different cities in Europe (+1 for TLV) in short order. Similarly, majority of Delta Suites (A359) are being routed to Asia as well; although they also have some of its retrofitted 777 being planned for AMS and CDG.

Fare differences are likely the result of bucket availability. All things being equal, P fares (most discounted business fare for UA) are not differentiated between Polaris aircraft and non-Polaris aircraft on the same route.

Kacee

Don't let the facts get in the way

The cheapest Mint business fare is $1117, and that fare has a 60 day AP requirement. The cheapest commonly available fare (21 day AP) is $1317.

flyerCO

There can be surcharge added based on aircraft type. DL does this with lay flat equipped planes. Can vary from $100 to I believe $400 depending on which aircraft is being used.