How To Fly The Best Business Class Seats Of United, Delta, and American Using Miles
Business Class is only for the rich and wealthy – right? Wrong. If you accumulate enough miles, you can fly business class for almost nothing. Airline miles can be accumulated flying (the most obvious way), spending with a credit card, credit card sign-up bonuses, and in many other ways. However, that’s an article for another day. In this article, I will outline some of the best mileage redemptions on the three major US Airlines – United, American, and Delta, and some ways that you can transfer miles to fly them. The three airlines definitely don’t feature the world’s best business class, so I’ll be doing a follow-up post on how to fly the world’s best business class seats. However, in this article, I will focus on the best mileage redemptions for the best business class seats on American, Delta, and United.
American Airlines Flagship Business
American Airlines’ long-haul business class product is called Flagship Business. They are also the only airline to offer an international first class product, which they call Flagship First. American Airlines has many business class seats. First off, their worst product is on their 757s, where they have flat seats in a 2-2 configuration. On their 767s, they have staggered seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. Unfortunately, on both of those aircraft, built in entertainment isn’t available, but flight attendants come around with iPads instead. Their A330s feature reverse herringbone seats, although they were the first generation seats of that type, and now already feel dated. Their 787-8s and some 777-200s feature Zodiac Type D seats, which are reverse herringbone seats, although are very tight and alternate between being forwards and backward facing, and are noted to be uncomfortable. By far their best business class seats are on their 777-300ERs, 787-9s, and some 777-200s, which feature two better versions of reverse herringbone seats, and are modern, private, and comfortable.
American Airlines is one of the few US airlines left to have an award chart, as Delta and United both got rid of them. That means that the award prices (saver and flex) for specific lengths of flights are set. However, there has been
| From North America To: | MileSAAver | AAnytime Level 1 | AAnytime Level 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil | 57,500 | 110,000 | 150,000 |
| Europe | 57,500 | 110,000 | 135,000 |
| Asia Region 1 | 60,000 | 120,000 | 155,000 |
| Asia Region 2 | 70,000 | 140,000 | 175,000 |
| South Pacific | 80,000 | 175,000 |
As you can see, saver award prices are pretty good on flights to southern South America, Europe, and to Asia. However, most award seats that are available are AAnytime awards, which are pretty steep. American now has practically no saver business class award availability to Asia on any airline, let alone on their 777s or 787s. I have searched practically all cities in Asia looking for award availability sweet spots and have found zero cities which have consistent saver business class prices. If you are hoping to fly business class on American using miles to Asia, you might as well forget about it as it is extremely unlikely that you’ll be able to find a saver ticket. Saver space to Asia does exist, it’s just very, very rare.
American actually does have a ton of saver award availability from the US to Europe in the offseason. The only problem (well, it’s not necessarily a problem) is that the flights are not on American Airlines, but they are on British Airways. BA has an awful business class product, although later this year they are introducing a spectacular new one with closed suites. On most routes from Europe to North America in the off-season and even on many during the summer, saver award availability is present for travel on BA for only 57.5K miles on a lot of transatlantic routes.
That isn’t to say that transatlantic award availability is never available on AA. In fact, American often has award availability on transatlantic flights on its own planes. The catch is that they mostly open saver availability from secondary airports they serve in Europe, with aircraft such as the 757 or 767, which have worse business products. Specifically, transatlantic business class flights from Rome, Dubrovnik, Manchester, Munich, Amsterdam, Bologna, and a few other European destinations generally have good award space on AA metal, although very rarely is saver award space available on their 777s or 787s with better business class seats. Also, out of the three airlines, American generally has more peak saver award space for summer flights.
American does have great saver award availability on their best planes from one region – South America. Especially in the late winter or mid-fall, American has great award availability from Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago to North America. The great thing is that all of those destinations are primarily served by American’s 777s and 787s, which have their newest and best business class product! For example, you could fly on American’s 777-300ER business class from Sao Paulo to Miami and from Miami to Dallas on American’s 777-200 for only 57.5K miles, which is as good of
How can you get American Airlines miles? Firstly, you can earn them by flying on them or on a Oneworld partner, such as Iberia, LATAM, Cathay Pacific, or British Airways. You also can earn American miles by getting an AA branded credit card which
Delta One Suites
Delta probably has the best long-haul business class of any US airline simply due to its superior service and seats to American and United. By far, Delta’s best business class seat is its Delta One Suites, featured on their A350-900s, A330-900neos, and on some of their Boeing 777-200s. I’ll be focusing here on some of the best ways to redeem miles for their Delta One Suites, as it’s their best product, and some of their other seats (such as the herringbone seats on their older 777s and the staggered seats on their 767s) are known to be cramped or not private. However, their A330-200/300 also features an amazing business class product, which features reverse herringbone seats.
First of all, mileage redemptions on Delta itself for business class don’t have an amazing value. As they don’t have fixed mileage charts, sometimes prices can be outrageous – they sometimes cost over 300,000 miles for a single one-way ticket on long-haul flights! Mileage prices are especially high if you want to book on their Delta One Suites. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find a one-way ticket in Delta One Suites for 105,000 miles on a transatlantic flight or 120,000 miles on a transpacific flight in the offseason using Delta miles. Delta miles are redeemable by (obviously) flying on Delta Airlines or some of their partners (such as Air France, Korean Air, etc.), by transferring points from Amex, and are also redeemable in many other ways.
However, there’s a much better way to book Delta One Suites using miles, which is to redeem them with Virgin Atlantic miles. On that same flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, the award ticket booking with Virgin Atlantic cost 50,000 miles – with no surcharges. Most transatlantic Delta One flights cost 50,000 miles using Virgin Atlantic miles, and many flights to Asia and Africa, including those in Delta One Suites costs 60,000 miles per flight, one way. For example, you can fly from Atlanta to Seoul in Delta One Suites – a 15-hour flight – for only 60,000 miles, which is an amazing deal. Most award tickets booking with Virgin Atlantic have no fuel surcharges, although westbound transatlantic flights do have relatively high (around $300) surcharges.
You may be thinking – how will I get so many Virgin Atlantic miles? Unless you fly a ton with Virgin Atlantic (which you probably don’t) you probably won’t get enough miles. However, you can transfer miles rather easily from Amex to Virgin Atlantic at a 1:1 rate. You can earn Amex miles by spending with an Amex credit card, and you can also earn a lot of Amex miles by getting one of their credit cards in which you would get a sign-up bonus of miles which can get you enough miles to book a flight in Delta One Suites. Overall, Delta One Suites are easier to come by with miles if you book with Virgin
United Polaris
United’s long-haul business class product is called United Polaris. They rolled out the name along with new seats, new lounges, and better service at the end of 2016, and it’s safe to say that they have the best bedding of any airline in business class and possibly the best lounges of any US Airline (although those are probably the only awards United would ever win from me). However, they a very diverse business class, in terms of its seats. On the one hand, they have their new Polaris seats with all-aisle access, significant privacy, and storage, which is a top class seat. This seat is featured on their 787-10s, 777-300ERs, and some retrofitted 767-300ERs and 777-200s. However, on their older 777-200s, they have seats in a 2-4-2 configuration (but they are still flat) which are probably the most cramped business class seats in the world. On their 787s, 757s, some 777s, and on some 767s, they have B/E Aerospace Diamond seats (which are also flat), which aren’t world class and don’t have all-aisle access, but still, offer a fair amount of privacy. I’ll be focusing here on how you can fly on their new Polaris seats.
United got rid of award charts a few months ago, so award prices on United can get extremely high – into the 200,000s of miles. However, United sometimes offers saver award seats in business class, which can be redeemed for much lower prices. Unfortunately, these are pretty rare in United’s new Polaris business class seats, especially on long-haul flights. Especially in the summer, spring, and holiday seasons, award flights on United’s Polaris product are extremely limited. Your best bet for flying United’s Polaris business class seats are in September, October, November, January, or February. On United’s ultra-long-haul routes using their new Polaris product are all of their routes out of San Francisco with their new seat, and all 777-300ER routes. On most of those routes, either mileage availability isn’t available in Polaris, or only Everyday Awards are available, which range from about 100,000 miles to sometimes over 200,000 miles. However, in the off-season, a few routes with the new Polaris product do stick out in terms of award availability. All of the routes I will mention have the new Polaris seat. Unfortunately, the number of flights that have award seats with the new Polaris product is extremely small.
First of all, the flight from Washington to Brussels seems to have around 2-3 dates where award tickets are available in United Polaris, including this summer. That flight is on a 777-200 and costs 60,000 miles for a one-way ticket. Secondly, the flight from Dublin to Newark consistently has great award availability in business class. That flight is operated by a 787-10 and also costs 60,000 miles in business class. In the off-season, generally, there are around 5-10 days where there is award availability. Also, the flight from Paris to Newark (also on a 787-10) seems to have about 2-3 days where saver award seating is available in the offseason.
Besides that, unfortunately, there aren’t that many routes that have saver award availability on United and have the new Polaris seat. Generally, if you are connecting and are really flexible with dates, most routes with the new Polaris seats do have a few (but not many more)
You can also buy United Polaris with Avianca Lifemiles, which is a transfer partner with Amex so you can transfer Amex miles to Avianca. However, award availability is the same as on United, meaning that the same dates on the same flights that seats are available on United, they are available using Avianca. The business class costs 63,000 miles per flight. This does cost more than a transatlantic flight costs on United, but if you have a ton of Amex miles, this might be an option for you.
Another option for booking with miles is to book
Conclusion:
It definitely isn’t impossible to fly on US carriers’ business class with miles. However, American, Delta, and United limit saver award availability on most of their flights in business class. American almost only has saver award on its European flights which feature its worse planes, although also is prominent flying to South America. Delta award redemptions have crazy high prices, although aren’t so crazy high booking with Virgin Atlantic. United doesn’t have much saver availability on its best planes, although has plenty of it on its worse planes and on partner airlines. Overall, if you know the mileage sweet spots, by far, the cheapest way to buy business class is by
What is your favorite business class award redemption on a US airline?
