United miles players – and Amex and Chase points people – listen up.
Let’s get real: If you’re a United loyalist, you’ve felt the sting. United’s mileage program, once a playground for smart travelers, has been gutted, devalued so much that what used to cost you a reasonable chunk of miles now feels like a bad joke.
Business Class between the U.S. and Europe? What was once a 50,000-mile sweet spot is now a 150,000 to 200,000-mile punchline. At those prices, the “mileage game” is a waste of time or at a minimum, nothing to go out of your way for.
But there’s the occasional exception that keeps the door cracked open: within 30 days of departure, in some instances, United releases Business Class seats at its current lowest saver rates.
If you can travel on short notice – or you’re a gamer and comfortable upgrading last minute – there are still real wins to be had.
Because we’ve focused recently on last‑minute deals for spontaneous travelers and iterative upgraders on American to Asia, Australia, and Europe, we wanted to give United flyers the same playbook.
You can dive into those links for the full strategy breakdown. In the meantime, here’s a list of seven under‑the‑radar routes to Europe that you can book at the airline’s lowest cost – 80,000 to 88,000 each way and 115,000 from the West Coast – using:
United miles, or
Amex points (transfer to Air Canada/Aeroplan, a United partner), or
Chase points (direct transfer to United)
Example of GREAT CLOSE-IN AVAILABILITY: San Francisco - London 9 Seats
United Routes to Europe with the Cheapest Business Class Seats
Route
Direction
Summary
Chicago - London
Outbound
Availability for 9 seats is most frequent at 1-3 days out, with additional clusters around days 9-12, 15-19, and 23-24; smaller seat counts appear sporadically in between.
Return
Availability for 9 seats is common close-in, 9-11, 13-17, and 21-24 days out, with a few smaller releases scattered across other days.
Denver - London
Outbound
Strong close-in availability; frequent 7-9 seat availability days for the first 10-15 days.
Return
9-seat days are common throughout the first 20+ days.
Los Angeles - London
Outbound
Mostly scattered single-seat availability across the entire 1-30 day window, with occasional 4-seat days appearing around 3, 9, 19, 21, 27 days out. No sustained stretches of high availability.
Return
Fairly steady single-seat availability throughout 1-30 days, with small clusters of 4-seat days around 0-5, 9, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, and 29 days out. Availability is more consistent than outbound.
Newark - Berlin
Outbound
Availability for 9 seats is most common close-in and around days 13-15 days out, with occasional appearances beyond 20 days; smaller 2-4 seat releases appear sporadically in between.
Return
Availability for 9 seats clusters around days 4, 9, 13-17, and 20-24, with occasional smaller releases on other days.
Newark - Geneva
Outbound
Big blocks of 9-seat availability pop up in the first 2-3 days after search and again in the mid-month window, but the rest of the calendar is sparse with only scattered single-day openings.
Return
9-seat availability is common in the first 10 days out and stays steady through mid-month before tapering off toward the last week.
Newark - London
Outbound
Availability for 9 seats is very strong on most dates from 1-3 days out and again in the mid-month stretch, with some scattered gaps. Later in the month, open dates are fewer and more spread out.
Return
Availability for 9 seats is consistently high early in the search window, especially within the first 10 days, then stays solid through mid-month before tapering off toward the end.
San Francisco - London
Outbound
Sparse availability with scattered single-seat days between 1-15 days out, and occasional 4-seat days at 2, 5, 11, 14, and 22-23 days out. No meaningful availability beyond 23 days out.
Return
Single seats appearing almost daily from 1-23 days out, plus occasional 4-seat days at 2, 3, 12, and 15 days out. Availability drops sharply after day 23.
San Francisco - Paris
Outbound
Mostly single seats scattered across the month, with a few isolated 4-seat releases around 1-2 weeks out. No extended stretches of high availability and no 9-seat drops observed.
Return
Predominantly 1-4 seats available, with several 4-seat releases on scattered days including 2-3 weeks out. Occasional single 9-seat days (12 days out) but no sustained large blocks. Availability is spread throughout the 1-22 day window, tapering off beyond that.
Washington - Amsterdam
Outbound
Patchy but decent with occasional 9-seat and 4-seat days, mostly in the first 10 days and again around days 12-14 and 18-23, but with many gaps.
Return
Sparse, with just a handful of 9-seat or 4-seat days scattered far apart; return space is very limited and inconsistent.
Washington - London
Outbound
Frequent 9-seat and 4-9 seat releases, especially in the first 1-10 days out and again in the 15-27 day window.
Return
Sparse, with only occasional 1-2 seat days and rare 9-seat blocks; return space is much tighter and inconsistent.
The Takeaway
If you’re playing the United MileagePlus game, the old rules are dead. The new game is about targeting specific routes, pouncing when seats are released at the lowest price points, and / or being flexible with your dates.
Availability is constantly changing, and our research may be dated by the time you read it. Therefore, don't lose sight of the point: Deals are best when close to departure. The routes may fluctuate, but the pattern remains.
And don’t forget: Amex and Chase points players can open up these same deals.
Bottom line: Decent values are still out there, but you have to know where to look.
