Fly Long-Haul in United's Brand-New Polaris Cabin For Just 40k Miles
Who wants to go to Hawaii? To...morrow. As TPG reader Peter H. discovered, United's flying its brand-new 777-300ER from Chicago (ORD) to Honolulu (HNL) and back, giving passengers an opportunity to experience the new plane on a long domestic flight.
At 9 hours on the westbound leg, ORD-HNL is roughly the length of Tokyo (NRT)-San Francisco (SFO), but since this is a flight from the mainland to Hawaii, you'll need to redeem just 40,000 MileagePlus miles for the Polaris cabin, vs. 65,000 miles for the Tokyo flight — note that you'll get regular domestic first-class service, though, rather than the full Polaris experience.
You can use your miles to fly in both directions — ORD-HNL and HNL-ORD later in the day — but you'll definitely want to spend the extra 17,500 for the "first class" cabin in this case, since economy is arranged in a dense 3-4-3 configuration on this plane.
Availability is "wide open" on both flights, which means there are 9 or more seats available for sale and awards in both Polaris and economy class. You can also book coach and redeem a Regional Premier Upgrade to instantly confirm first class, if that's what you'd prefer.
If you can't make this flight, there should be other opportunities to catch the 777-300ER on a "random" route — United now has 12 copies in its fleet, and with other 77W flights yet to launch, the airline's flying this new aircraft on a variety of domestic and international routes, instead.
For example, here's where the plane operating tomorrow's ORD-HNL-ORD round-trip has been over the past few days:
Of course, tracking down these planes on irregular routes is easier said than done — if your seat map has been swapped for one with the configuration seen above, there's a good chance you've lucked out with the 777-300ER, though. Meanwhile, if you're looking for something to book, you can track United's 12 777-300ERs using the links below (I'm also including an "interesting" route each plane recently flew):
- N2331U — (San Francisco-Honolulu)
- N2332U — (Newark-San Juan)
- N2333U — (Chicago-San Francisco)
- N59034 — (Newark-Beijing)
- N2135U — (Scheduled service only)
- N2136U — (Washington, D.C.-London)
- N2737U — (San Francisco-Washington, D.C.)
- N2138U — (Recent delivery)
- N2639U — (Chicago-Brussels)
- N2140U — (Denver-San Francisco)
- N2341U — (Boston-San Francisco)
- N2142U — (Recent delivery)
Have you unexpectedly scored a 777-300ER on your recent United flight?
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Rewards Rate
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro Offer
Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
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Credit ranges are a variation of FICO® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.740-850Excellent
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month