United Airlines to start Newcastle to New York – good for Star Alliance redemptions

One story that slipped through the HfP net when it was announced in late October was the launch of a United Airlines service from Newcastle to New York Newark.

New York becomes the second long-haul destination to operate from Newcastle, which also has an Emirates service to Dubai.

This new flight will launch on May 23rd and operate five days a week (not Wednesday or Thursday outbound) until 7th September.

The flight will use a Boeing 757-200 (ie a single aisle plane) as pictured above.  It will have 108 economy seats, 16 ‘Economy Plus’ seats with an extra 6 inches of legroom and 16 ‘Business First’ seats.

SeatGuru says that these will be fully-flat business class seats.

The outbound will depart at 9.10am, arriving at Newark at noon. The return flight departs at 7.20pm, arriving in Newcastle at 7:30am the following day.

United has a track record of successfully operating New York flights from secondary airports in the UK.  Newcastle is the 7th United departure point after Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast and Edinburgh.

The United MileagePlus redemption chart is poor value.  A ‘saver’ level business class from Newcastle to New York would cost 115,000 United miles return compared to 80,000 Avios for a BA flight.  If ‘saver’ is not available, a standard level redemption is a ludicrous 300,000 United miles.  United also has excessive change and cancellation fees when you use its own miles.

Saver seats visible on the United website should be available via any other Star Alliance airline partner, however, and there should not be any fuel surcharges.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (May 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review