And here are my thoughts on tonight's event.
I attended the UA Polaris event in SF tonight and spoke with several UA people about the product. I had to clarify a few things.
This is what I was told by the actual UA employees.
The linens will be in planes in December, even though the seats won't. .
The 777-300 is due for delivery in January and will come with the new Polaris seats. There will be 60 seats in C.
The planned retrofit is the 767s first, starting sometime between 2/17-4/17. There will be 30 seats in C. They will have a 1-1-1 configuration.
The 777-200 (excluding Hawaii Configuration) is planned to start sometime between 7/17-9/17. There will be 50 seats in C. 1-2-1 configuration.
The 787-900 will not be retrofitted with Polaris seats, even those still not delivered. The 787-10 orders will be delivered with the Polaris seats.
The Hawaii configured 772s will receive the old C lie flat international seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. They weren't sure how many or the time frame, but it would be similar to current C seating. They will receive the Saks linen.
The international 757s will receive some kind of Polaris seats. They haven't made a decision yet. They will receive the linens, as will the ps aircraft.
No new seats in the 747 which they will retire in 2018.
The retrofit of each type will take 18-24 months.
The Saks bedding products are nice. The herringbone blanket is acrylic (I asked). Two things to know. There is a limited supply of the gel memory foam pillows and seat toppers. First come first served. They have what they called a next gen eye mask made of memory foam with contoured areas for your eyes. In my opinion the only thing worthwhile in the amenity kit. I'm not a cowshed fan.
Also the pajamas will only be offered on flights longer than 12 hours which means only a few destinations in Asia and Oceania. The slippers are basic slides not much different than the kind at the $1 store.
Sitting in the seat is a bit claustrophobic but it was difficult to judge in a vast warehouse space. With a ceiling and overhead bins it might feel even more so. It was comfy though. The outlets and jacks were located in convenient places and you won't have to twist into a pretzel to plug in your headphones. There is still little in-seat storage. The tray table doesn't trap you in your seats. It slides forward and has a flip up piece for a tablet. There is a privacy screen between the seats. The footrest wells on the side-by-side seats (ROW 1, 3, 5 etc.) are larger than the separated seats ( ROW 2, 4, 6 etc.)
The seat presenter said all seats were 6'8". While watching the virtual reality tour the voiceover said the seats were "up to 6'8"". Again they found a UA rep to clarify for me. 80% of the seats are 6'8" and the remaining 20% are 6'6", 6'4", and 6'2". I did pass that along to the seat presenter in case anyone else asks. I also asked the UA rep about aisle width because in the virtual reality tour they looked very narrow. She said they would be standardized at 18.5".
Lots of new china but it bothered me the salt and pepper shakers were plastic amongst the multi place setting china.
It was a fun evening and I look forward to the rollout. I was assured that the FAs are all getting training on the product now and will receive a refresher before rollout..
The swag bag had the blanket, a leather bound journal and a 4-piece box of salted caramel dark chocolates.
This was the last of the roadshow events, but they will have a display at ORD and one at Penn Station in December.