FlyerTalk Forums - Polaris saver routes to Europe

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Polaris saver routes to Europe

What are some saver options for flying Polaris class?
I don’t really care if the Polaris experience is in the US or going across the pond, As long as it’s not one of the mixed cabin deals.

The 787- 10 is being used LAX to EWR so I have tried to search routes filtering on the airport with a stop in EWR To various points in Europe, but I haven’t found anything under 134,000 points one way. Is that route automatically going to be higher since it’s a Transcon business plus a TATL business Flight?

or should I keep searching alternate dates and alternate destinations in Europe for the 70k options?

I’m based in DEN so positioning to LAX or SFO on a separate ticket would not be a big deal

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbriscoe34 (Post 30732290)

When you say "Polaris," do you mean, specifically, the new seats?

Business saver seats are rare. Business saver seats on LAX/SFO-EWR are extremely rare. Your best bet is going to be to find a flight where UA is selling Premium Plus, because every plane with Premium Plus also has the new Polaris seating. Alternatively, if you can find a flight on the 77W, that works too -- but UA tends to use most of those TPAC. Any other route will have some chance of a change to the older configuration.

Generally, your best chance to find saver business class seats is off-season, off-peak days -- or in the very short term, once they've decided they won't sell out the J cabin.

It's not going to be automatically more just because it uses the 781 to EWR, BTW. It's just that there's virtually never saver award inventory. They tend to sell the entire J cabin on those flights.

Why do you think flying to the West Coast to fly TATL is a good idea (and buying a separate ticket to do so)? You have about zero chance of getting a Saver award LAX-EWR, which only makes your trip not only much longer, but worse. It's not going to be a higher redemption LAX-EWR-Europe, just impossible to book due to zero availability. Reality check: you need to fly to ORD or EWR or IAD from DEN and look for the rare Saver awards from there.

ORD-FRA is pretty oversupplied with capacity, but you won't see award space far out, nor the Polaris seats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH (Post 30732676)

That’s fair. If we can’t do the seats then I at least want to try the Lounge and fly the Polaris in the old config. Maybe on a 787-9 or -8?

One issue is that I will probably fly eastbound on Delta since I have miles to burn and I want to find their new flag ship through DTW to AMS. Westbound on DL seems to cost several hundred euros in departure taxes and surcharges while eastbound is $6.

Westbound on UA or *A gets tricky. I can’t find much saver on united metal, Which means I can’t do the EWR or ORD Polaris lounge upon arrival if I’m flying a partner.

Which Euro cities would have the most saver capacity in Polaris old or new into a Polaris lounge city? BRU seems to have some but anywhere else?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbriscoe34 (Post 30732866)

Which Euro cities would have the most saver capacity in Polaris old or new into a Polaris lounge city? BRU seems to have some but anywhere else?

I'd check AMS. With the addition of the SFO flight, they have four flights that fit your criteria -- SFO, IAH, EWR, and ORD (no Polaris lounge at IAD). You may still need to be flexible. Keep an eye on loads, and look for flights that are offering upgrade space if you can find any -- those are the most likely to have business saver space open in the future.

I'd also check LHR, just because of the sheer number of flights -- but the UK Air Passenger Duty is quite steep for business class travel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by findark (Post 30732696)

ORD-FRA is pretty oversupplied with capacity, but you won't see award space far out, nor the Polaris seats.

Actually, true Polaris hard product is showing up a lot (my experience 4/5, GS agent says 50/50) now on ORD-FRA. These are the 772 refurbs of course, not the 773s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbriscoe34 (Post 30732866)

Delta does not use a published award chart, meaning it's not fixed. So don't be surprised if you are required to burn miles well into 6 digits, especially closer to departure. An alternative would be to use VS and redeem for Delta metal, assuming availability, only 100K ROUNDTRIP vs. possibly more for one-way through Delta.

Above is very OT. You should take it to DL or VS forums for more resources.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcdtcd (Post 30733225)

Actually, true Polaris hard product is showing up a lot (my experience 4/5, GS agent says 50/50) now on ORD-FRA. These are the 772 refurbs of course, not the 773s.

It's sUA 3-class with frequent Polaris swaps for now, but last I checked once the PE rollout begins it switches to sCO 2-class 777s. ORD seems to get the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to equipment quality.