Expanded Polaris Cabins Will Mean Less Elbow Room for More UA Economy Pax
Jeff Edwards November 03, 2017
Chicago, IL, USA - March 17, 2016: A United Airlines 747-400 landing on 28C at the Chicago O'hare Airport.
To make room for more premium class Polaris seats, United Airlines will reconfigure more economy class cabins to ten-abreast seating than previously announced.
United Airlines Polaris class cabins are billed as representing “a new era in premium air travel,” but for those passengers not fortunate enough to enjoy the custom designed lay-flat seats with private cubicles inflight, that new era will likely feel a bit cramped. As United retires the last of its Boeing 747 jumbo jets in favor of Polaris-equipped Boeing 777 aircraft, economy class passengers will, in many cases, find themselves with much less elbow room. While the new Polaris cabin keep a similar footprint as the first and business class cabins it replaces, United is taking the opportunity to squeeze in a few extra economy cabin seats as it retools equipment with the new Polaris seats.
In March of 2016, the airline announced that it would reconfigure 19 of the 777s with economy seats in rows of ten-abreast rather that the previous configuration of nine-abreast seating. The move, which was intended to make way for new Polaris class seats, was, at the time, only to involve equipment used for domestic trips within the US. Now, however, the Los Angeles Times reports that United will begin introducing 777 aircraft with ten-abreast economy class rows regularly on long-haul international flights as well.
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[Correction: FlyerTalk previously reported Boeing 777’s as Dreamliners]
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You'd think United would be aiming for 2-2-2-2 instead of 3-4-3 to make it easier to drag passengers from their seats?
Also as I mentioned before UA does NOT have 90 777-200's!!
Ok we get all know 777 aren't dreamliners. What I do wanna know is has anyone sat in both the 772 and the 77W and found a big difference? I'm looking at flights and have a decision between the two.
Jeez, at least try to get it right. The Dreamliner is the 787 which is staying at 9 across. The 777 is NOT a Dreamliner, and already has, for months, on the 777-300 at least, been 10 across in Y. And for the record, the Polaris implementation on the 772s has nothing to do with Y densification. The Polaris cabins occupy the same space as the prior J and F cabins. The Y densification is merely done concurrently.
The author needs to correct this article. Boeing 777s are not "Dreamliners". That name only applies to Boeing 787's. That's a surprisingly basic error for an air travel website, frankly.