Originally Posted by
gold23
East-bound TATL, I love Polaris. Really good hard product that does everything a hard product needs to do- solid privacy, everyone has direct aisle access, comfortable seats with ample foot space (completely underrated need as most airlines fail here), etc.
Where UA fails (service, food, in-seat storage), it's more of a problem on a day flight west-bound. But yes- I'll take a comfortable, private seat over soft product any day.
Originally Posted by
RASEWR
absolutely. Eat in the PL first. Maybe a drink onboard, skip food, and enjoy the hard product until landing.
Originally Posted by
gold23
That's my MO to a T. Sweet spot is a departure between 9:30-11pm.
I've actually had very personable service of late in Polaris. Inconsistent professionally, but nice. I can live with that. If I need to search out someone for a glass of water that's preferable to a well-oiled service with a snarl (which was what it had been for quite some time and which I've experienced on LH a few times this year). I just don't understand the food. Don't care about plating, don't care about amount of separate options....I'd simply settle for diner-quality food that doesn't make me physically ill.
Oh, and wifi! I did have to purchase wifi for work on LX a few weeks back, and I'll take UA over the guoging $ of LX....but in 2023, let's have service that is reliable and allows for basic use consistently.
This at least for TATL flights. I have an upcoming business trip where I had the option of LH 748 or UA 773 for the EWR - FRA leg and it's really not even a close decision as a solo flyer.
Get a decent meal in the Polaris Lounge before the flight and then go straight to sleep. Yes the soft product is not as good as LH but the hard product is so much better than LH for sleeping and the LH food is not on the same level that it used to be. As long as UA has a couple of Glenfarclas on board that's plenty to have a little relaxation drink and go back to sleep.
Even on a day flight, the UA seat and IFE compared to LH at least can be enough to overcome the superior LH service and food. When I flew LH J last year on the A333, the IFE was terrible and the seat was so worn down that it was comfortable by halfway through the flight -- and that's with having a row 1 seat with no seatmate (so no footsie).
Now TPAC is a completely different story but on TATL, I think UA J is very competitive