I think it is important to separate the experiences into a few buckets:
- One for those who have not flown the 77W or the refitted 763 and 772 but have been to the Polaris Lounge
- One for those who have not flown the 77W and refitted aircrafts and have NOT been to a Polaris Lounge (LAX, IAD, DEN based flyers)
- One for those who have flown in the Polaris seat and visited the lounge
- One for those who have flown in the Polaris seat but have not visited the Polaris Lounge
For Group 1 and 2 above, passengers probably noticed little improvement on board except for one gel pillow, one additional blanket, PJ on certain flights - so not worth the hype.Sure, lounge is better for group 1, but is it worth the hype? For Group 3 and 4, there is no doubt the Polaris seats are better and lounge is nice if you have the time and lounge to visit. I am sorry for those based on LAX, DEN, IAD the most. Almost no regularly scheduled Polaris ready planes and no lounges .ORD and IAH are the next batch from the bottom: have lounge and few Polaris seats fitted planes. EWR is next, and SFO is on the top of the podium. Basically there is no differentiation on inflight caterings and services between Polaris and pre-Polaris. I am in none Polaris seats more than sitting in a Polaris seat, and I need to connect to ORD/EWR/SFO to experience Polaris Lounge ( I am DC based) Is it worth the hype for me? No! No doubt it is a better experience if one is consistently in Group 3 and 4.