94010flyer

After having some great pre-Polaris flight crew service to LHR and SCL recently I was really looking the new Polaris business class. Let me preface by saying I am not one for the usual "United sucks" members here. I generally have good things to say about United and defend United to work colleagues who are very down on it. I am a 1k and have a great upgrade record as a 1k out of SFO but also do some paid BF flying.

Check in was crazy. On the Premier side there was one GS agent, one F/BF/1k agent and one Silver/Gold agent (which had the shortest line). Our 1k/F/BF line took about 20 minutes to get the counter. The economy side had shorter lines? What is the SFO station agent doing in managing the lines??

Unfortunately I have to now agree with other posters who have said that this whole Polaris rollout has apparently been done without proper training of the flight attendants. I've read all the posts about the flight attendants not letting people know that mattress pads gel pillows and pajamas are available. I agree that if you aren't going to be giving them out to all, at least put it in writing that those terms can be requested in the service menus the FAs hand out. This is a major service deficiency.

The flight started off differently in that on previous BF flights the Flight service manager usually personally greeted passengers. On this flight he didn't even introduce himself over the PA. I have no idea who is in charge of this crew. The beginning of the flight seemed totally chaotic even though our pushback was about 45 minutes delayed.

No truffle at with the pre departure beverage. I heard someone saying "can't find the chocolates". No big deal and a true first world issue but if you are going to feature it in advertisements make sure it's consistently offered
Or don't talk about it at all.

Food was fine and FA was perfunctorily pleasant but nothing better than most and actual much worse than other more friendly United FAs on recent flights.

The meal service has ended, the lights are out and they've closed up the galley. I went to ask if this flight was loded with pajamas so I could change and go to sleep and the FA says he's not sure what the service is and what seat am I in. It's been about one hour since lights out and they've disappeared and no one has come back to me. They just set out the mid-flight snacks.

There's only a few of us still awake. I didn't see anyone ask for a pad or a special pillow - mostly because if they haven't seen the ad campaign, they'd have no idea on this flight. For all I know they did ask and got the same "We are still learning the service" answer.

I don't know how United has trained its FAs on the new service but clearly either they training was inadequate or FAs didn't do the required studying. Was it in an email that no one read? A website video FAs were supposed to view online?
Clearly a big fail.

This is just in the line of how long it has taken FAs to learn that 1Ks get free BoB meals. How long did that take to filter down.

I will now tell all my friends and colleagues that the food is slightly better but the overall service level is no different and in fact. Probably worse since the FAs don't know or don't care what they are supposed to offer or even have as part of this Polaris.

It's crazy that frequent flyer elites know more details about what the airline is supposed to offer in BF than the actual FAs who are supposed to provide the service.

The overall concept of focusing on sleep is a good one and they've THOUGHT of good improvements but it's clear to me that whoever
is in charge of training FAs or ensuring compliance with sercoce standards needs to lose their job. . How can you do a rollout out of your major Pacific hub in a flight to China and have FAs who tell you they don't know what is supposed to be offered five days after the rollout.

Further whoever conceptualized advertising these great sleep aids but making passengers ask fo it is just plain idiotic.

I guess United thinks we are in a post truth world where what is promised really doesn't matter as long as you get press about it being offered.

So United you really blew this. My friends and colleagues next week will ask me so how much better it was and I'm going to tell them it was nothing special and in fact disappointing based on not DELIVERING what was promised. Not the way to improve business for your airline. While I like the new concern for improving service those in charge of executing it have really done a BAD job.

I guess United will have a chance to redeem themselves in the trip back but even if the return is flawless, once again United inconsistency will be the rule and not the exception.