Flew BHM-IAH-SYD-BNE on May 21; featured no chocolates either. Ordered the grilled cheese Hot Bites; the tomato soup came out lukewarm (almost cold).

The wild bass entree was good albeit very small. The quality of the breakfast omelette seemed very similar to what you would have had in Continental domestic first class around 2011 or so.

All Australia Polaris routes are 787 so it’s the old “new” BusinessFirst seat. Not too bad. Requested and received the memory gel pillow. Forgot to ask for the mattress pad but was plenty comfortable with the day blanket and used the duvet as a mattress pad - as did seemingly every other passenger. Not sure why United wants to hoard the mattress pads but they do.

BHM-IAH was your standard 2 hour ERJ-145 flight. Thoroughly enjoyed the 1K benefit of complimentary choice of snack box.

IAH United Club in E was packed as usual, although the bartender was working very fast. (Think he’s the same guy who’s been there since the Presidents Club days). IAH Centurion Lounge and KLM / Air France lounges close at 9pm, so it’s a useless option for the evening Australia and NZ flights. (I think NZ sends their J pax to the United Club...)

Boarding was about 1/3 of the plane in Group 1 (or so it seemed) with no opportunity for Polaris J pax to board ahead of the line snaking around the concourse of Group 1 lice, unless one wanted to be rude and push forward.

On arrival in SYD, no lounge / arrivals options (a thoroughly discussed problem elsewhere), other than eating and drinking your way through the $38 or whatever Priority Pass allowance. Same story at BNE. Since I needed to be presentable that morning, I took advantage of the Rydges Hotel during my layover for the BNE flight.

Overall, doesn’t seem United is going to do much to merit earning premium cabin dollars - which shows since these flights sometimes don’t even go out full in J. At a 17.5 hour flight it’s a good use of a GPU. The price at $9000 round trip on offer at the time for Polaris seems a poor value compared to what is available on other carriers, unless one just really needs a nonstop from IAH.

A Polaris lounge in IAH would help slightly (rumoured to be going in a floor above the Terminal E UC, if UC staff are to be believed).

United is missing a chance to be the “premium” carrier to SYD with their strong route network to LAX, SFO, and IAH. Given how empty the back of the plane was I’d venture they aren’t succeeding at being the “budget” carrier either.