Quick Points: How to fly to Europe in United Polaris business class for 50,000 Chase points this summer
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
It is not too late to fly to Europe in business class this summer at a reasonable price.
Chase is currently offering a 20% bonus when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Air Canada Aeroplan by July 31. During the promotion, 50,000 Chase points become 60,000 Aeroplan points.
Right now, there is excellent business-class availability to Europe with United Airlines during the busy summer travel period. We are seeing the best availability from mid-July to mid-August from United hubs Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C., and O'Hare International Airport (ORD) in Chicago to Heathrow Airport (LHR) in London, Brussels Airport (BRU) and Geneva Airport (GVA). At least four business-class seats are available on these routes, with several dates showing a whopping nine seats available to book with points and miles.
Your first thought might be to book these flights with United MileagePlus miles given that United operates them.
For these flights, you'll see MileagePlus rates for business-class seats start at 80,000 miles each way.
Related: Is United Polaris business class worth it to Singapore?
United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1:1 rate. However, you won't receive a bonus when transferring Chase points to United, so you'll need 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points to complete your booking.
This is not a bad deal for summer travel to Europe when compared to Delta SkyMiles rates. For comparable flights to Europe, Delta SkyMiles charges up to 375,000 miles. Know, though, that the deal gets even better when booking through Air Canada Aeroplan.
While Aeroplan uses dynamic pricing for flights operated by Air Canada, with high rates in summer to Europe, the program charges just 60,000 points for business-class flights from the northeastern U.S. to Western Europe. This includes flights operated by partner airlines like United. Longer flights, such as those from Colorado and California to Europe, require 70,000 Aeroplan points, though that price is still very reasonable.
Fees and taxes are slightly higher through Aeroplan but are still low at around $57 per ticket.
Redeeming 60,000 points instead of 80,000 miles for the same United flight is a great deal, but if you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, it is even cheaper. During the 20% transfer bonus, you'll receive 60,000 Aeroplan points when you transfer just 50,000 Chase points to the program. That's enough to fly to Europe this summer for only 50,000 points instead of thousands of dollars in cash.
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Bottom line
With great award availability this summer to Europe from several United hubs in the U.S., it's not too late to comfortably fly your family across the Atlantic.
While your first thought might be to book United Polaris flights with United miles, you can save 30,000 miles by using the current 20% transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Air Canada Aeroplan. You need just 50,000 Chase points to book United flights to Europe this summer, an excellent way to maximize your travel.
Currently, both the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are offering 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.