UA Polaris
 

Has anyone flown the new UA Polaris hard product in J? I just booked a work trip in Feb and for the same price could do AKL-SFO on UA916 in J or one of the usual NZ2/NZ6. I figured I'd try the new product since it'll be on a brand new UA 777-300ER with the new J design. I gather they're starting to do this flight at the end of October, and it's replacing the 787 from last year (which had the old UA BusinessFirst and was way worse than NZ BP).

I'm flying it today to Tokyo. Somehow I don't think AirNZ have too much to worry about (the seat looks quite narrow) but I'll reserve judgement until the end of the flight

I know a couple of people who have flown on it and regard it as a vastly superior hard and soft product offering compared to Air NZ. Staff on the other hand seem to be very mixed (but we can also say that about NZ as well).

It'll be very interesting to see what regular NZ FF's think of the product once it starts here, and if NZ were smart they'd be pulling the details of NZ FF's who fly on it and start questioning them about what they like and dislike about it so they can further plan for their new BP seat.

I have flown in the Polaris seat (2a from memory on a 772), not US-NZ though…whilst it doesn’t look that appealing, it was incredibly soft and comfortable

UA is also launching SYD-IAH from early next year as well, which for those of us in Aus will be much more efficient for flying to Texas or the US east coast, and given how Air NZ treats earn rates on NZ metal vs other carrier metal will probably pay more APD/SP per dollar paid as well.

You mean on a 77W, as that's the ONLY plane (plus 1 lone reconfigured 763) UA has that currently feature the actual Polaris hard product/seat.

Some of the 772 would feature pmCO J seats (if my memory is correct), which would be B/E Diamond seats. It would however has the fantastic Saks 5th Ave bedding which is part of Polaris features.

IAH is also starting to look like a pretty good place to stop from NZ now that the United Clubs are being totally renovated. Nothing touches the LAX *A lounge but as I'm almost always flying to BOS eventually, IAH is a much more direct route and an easier connection, so with the lounge upgrades it's becoming a much better option (especially once NZ starts flying the 789 to IAH).

That said I'd kill for AKL-ORD or AKL-JFK or something like that, as on the longest of the long haul flights I tend to sleep more and arrive more comfortable....

I've flown this one several times in J short and long haul(EWR-SFO & SFO-NRT). If solo I would recommend any odd numbered window seat for privacy.

Yes, and a superior hard product to NZ. Soft product is variable, but so is NZ these days. Overall I enjoy it more than the NZ experience, since I eat and drink very little on long haul flights, and value a better hard product more than anything else. But NZ has better timing if you want to a full day to do work/other things on your last day.

On a different note, I flew Air Canada on a 14 hour flight from Toronto to Shanghai earlier this week in their 777 in J. Really nice, I think superior hard product to Air NZ and found staff to be very good. Food was excellent, especially they had proper mid flight snacks (a choice of noodle soup, dim sum, a salad, chicken skewers and ice cream) as well as the usual chips and fruit and chocolate bars. Huge TV and a really good selection of movies. If they started flying to NZ would be some real competition

+1.
Far superior hard product to NZ.