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United Polaris - New Business Class seats & inflight service {Archive}

Old Jan 17, 2020, 6:38 pm
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Archive thread -- Active thread is United Polaris - New Business Class seats & inflight service -- 3+ years after Intro

United website - Explore: http://view.ceros.com/united/polaris-business-class/p/1
from UA's Facebook stream
Only customers traveling in United Polaris business class or United Polaris Global First on international flights and customers in Star Alliance international first or business class cabins on flights longer than six hours will have access to the United Polaris Lounge.
Official Polaris Lounge Access Rules are here: Polaris Lounge Access Rules

United Polaris Business and Polaris First pax may access the Polaris lounge at connecting airports and their final destination within 24 hours of departure or arrival.

*A international J and F pax may only access the Polaris lounge at the departure airport. For purposes of Polaris lounge access, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and Guam are excluded from the definition of "international."

Seat Chart.

Press release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300278706.html

NEW YORK, June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With the aspiration of making weary business travel a relic of the past, United Airlines today unveiled its all-new United Polaris business class, the airline's most significant product transformation in more than a decade, featuring a reimagined, sleep-enhancing, departure-to-landing experience for intercontinental travelers.

Named after the North Star, United Polaris is the shining new star of business class travel that flyers can turn to for a tranquil and restful journey.

"United Polaris will change the game in international business travel with an exceptional level of relaxation and comfort throughout our customers' journeys," said Oscar Munoz, president and CEO of United. "This completely reconceived experience exemplifies the new spirit of United and the innovation, excitement and operational momentum across our airline."

Path-Breaking Design

In setting out to create a transformative business class experience, United chose to outfit its widebody fleet with a custom-designed, exclusive-to-United seat, rather than select an option already in the marketplace. Designed in partnership with Acumen Design Associates and PriestmanGoode and manufactured by Zodiac Seats United Kingdom, each United Polaris seat will offer direct access to the aisle, 180-degree flat-bed recline and up to 6 foot 6 inches of bed space.

Crafted as individual, forward-facing, suite-like pods, each customer's personal suite will feature a "Do Not Disturb" sign, mood lighting, one-touch lumbar support, several storage areas, multiple surfaces for simultaneous working and dining, a 16-inch high-definition entertainment screen and, for seats in the center of the cabin, electronic privacy dividers. Complementing the new seats, United and PriestmanGoode have also conceived an all-new look for the United Polaris cabins.

In rethinking the international business class experience, United conducted more than 12,000 hours of research, and sleep emerged as the single most important priority for international business class travelers. United Polaris' path-breaking design and sleep-enhancing focus was inspired and informed by insights from hundreds of customers and employees, inflight product simulations and more than 100 product evaluations.

Sleep-Enticing Amenities

In addition to the sleep-enticing United Polaris personal suites, several other amenities were designed with our customers' sleep in mind.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, United has worked with leading luxury specialty store Saks Fifth Avenue for custom-designed bedding. All designed to provide the best sleep in the sky, the new bedding collection will feature plush duvets, lightweight day-blankets and a large and small pillow for each United Polaris customer. In addition, mattress cushions will be available upon request.

Slippers will be available on all flights, and customized United Polaris pajamas will be available by request on flights longer than 12 hours**. Flyers will also be able to request a gel-cooled pillow. New amenity kits will feature ergonomically designed eye shades, calming lavender pillow mist and additional products from Soho House & Co.'s Cowshed Spa.

With the introduction of United Polaris, the airline intends to donate tens of thousands of pillows, blankets and other inflight service items to Fisher House Foundation, which United and its employees have long supported.

Elevated Dining Experience

Upon boarding their flight, each United Polaris customer will be welcomed with a pre-departure beverage of his or her choice and gourmet chocolate. While in the air, customers will enjoy regionally influenced in-flight menus updated seasonally, developed in partnership with The Trotter Project and its critically recognized chefs, including Bill Kim of acclaimed Chicago restaurants Urbanbelly, bellyQ and Belly Shack.

The airline will offer an upgraded wine experience, with the highest-quality options curated exclusively by United's Master Sommelier. Inflight service will also include made-to-order signature ice cream sundaes, a dessert cart with a variety of petit dessert options, chocolate truffles and wine flights. On daytime flights longer than eight hours and on all flights longer than 12 hours, hot mid-flight snacks such as lobster macaroni and cheese will be available.

Raising The Bar With United Polaris Business Class Lounges

United will also open an exclusive portfolio of United Polaris business class lounges in nine locations around the world the only lounge of its kind offered by a U.S. airline to business class customers that will feature custom-designed chairs, private daybeds, spa-like showers and chef-inspired hot meals served in a boutique restaurant setting so customers can refresh and dine before boarding their planes. Premium sparkling wines and spirits, refreshing snacks and bottled water will also be offered.

The first new United Polaris lounge will open at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Dec. 1, 2016. Lounges in eight other locations Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, New York/Newark, Washington Dulles, Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong and London Heathrow will follow in 2017.

United Polaris Introduction

United will begin to introduce United Polaris on Dec. 1, 2016, with the new inflight food and beverage experience, new custom bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue, new amenity kits and the new United Polaris lounge in Chicago. The United Polaris business class seat will first take flight in December on Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and subsequently on Boeing 787-10 and Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, as well as on Boeing 767-300 and 777-200 retrofits.

United Polaris will serve business class customers flying the U.S. airline industry's most global route network, reaching more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries.

More information on the United Polaris business class can be found at united.com/Polaris.

[From [email][email protected] 11/15/2016]
Starting December 1, 2016, United Polaris Business Class service will replace United BusinessFirst service on international flights, and United Polaris Global First service will replace the current United Global First service.

Between 2017 to 2019 eight additional United Polaris lounges will open at EWR, HKG, IAD, IAH, LAX, LHR, NRT and SFO. We do not have the exact opening dates at this time. A scheduling announcement will be forthcoming.
** Flights with pajama service (for both directions)
SFO - ICN, PEK, PVG, HGH, XIV, TPE, AKL, HKG, CTU, SYD, TLV, SIN
EWR - NRT, PEK, DEL, BOM, HKG, PVG
ORD - NRT, PEK PVG, HKG
LAX - PVG, SYD, MEL, SIN
IAD - NRT, PEK
IAH - NRT, SYD
(from United Twitter feed https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyjFHZLW...jpg&name=large

{Similar Threads:
Polaris Lounge Roadmap 2017-2018 (wiki) (thread)
Polaris lounge ORD - opened 01 Dec 2016 (wiki) (thread)
SFO Lounge changes? Which will become Polaris? Shower options?(wiki) (thread)
United Polaris-New Business Class seats & inflight service and new Polaris Lounges(wiki) (thread)}


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United Polaris - New Business Class seats & inflight service {Archive}

Old Apr 30, 2018, 4:41 pm
  #3991  
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Originally Posted by physioprof
Is "streamlined" better or worse than "enhanced"?
Streamlined can go either way. Enhanced is always bad.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 4:43 pm
  #3992  
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Originally Posted by physioprof
Is "streamlined" better or worse than "enhanced"?
Ah I see your one of the upset ones about Amtrak's "enhancements"
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 4:52 pm
  #3993  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Streamlined can go either way. Enhanced is always bad.
Kind of like features.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 4:56 pm
  #3994  
 
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Originally Posted by seat38a
Nice to see that the gel pillow will be available at each seat.
Gel pillows at every seat is like _______ Polaris lounge will open in April. When I actually walk through the door or see one at my seat THEN and only then will I believe it.
PS: I have more cute little bears in my hands than times I’ve seen gel pillows on board.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 5:16 pm
  #3995  
 
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Originally Posted by Dublin_rfk

Gel pillows at every seat is like _______ Polaris lounge will open in April. When I actually walk through the door or see one at my seat THEN and only then will I believe it.
PS: I have more cute little bears in my hands than times I’ve seen gel pillows on board.
Which is interesting, because I've seen (and received) a gel pillow on every single Polaris flight I've taken since the conversion, without exception, plus one domestic flight on a 763 EWR-IAH where I opened the overhead bin and found a sealed bag of gel pillows that apparently hadn't been collected on the preceding turn. IME UA has done a good job provisioning the various items.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 5:20 pm
  #3996  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764
Which is interesting, because I've seen (and received) a gel pillow on every single Polaris flight I've taken since the conversion, without exception, plus one domestic flight on a 763 EWR-IAH where I opened the overhead bin and found a sealed bag of gel pillows that apparently hadn't been collected on the preceding turn. IME UA has done a good job provisioning the various items.
Me too. Ive gotten a gel pillow (and slippers) on every intl biz flight Ive taken since the Polaris launch.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 5:44 pm
  #3997  
 
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Originally Posted by Dublin_rfk

Gel pillows at every seat is like _______ Polaris lounge will open in April. When I actually walk through the door or see one at my seat THEN and only then will I believe it.
PS: I have more cute little bears in my hands than times Ive seen gel pillows on board.
I have flown Polaris 11 times and only one time I did not get the gel pillow. That time, I did not ask as I knew they were out of them since my wife had asked and the FA said they were all gone. For her troubles, she got an extra pair of pajamas. I guess if I had asked for the gel pillow after I knew they were gone, we would have gotten out of the plane with 4 pairs of pajamas......Still like that, we have about 16 of those.

I only have 3 cute little bears. I count myself lucky because I did not fly Polaris when they introduced Polaris but a few months later I got an unexpected OpUp (no upgrade instrument waitlisted and it happened when I was already seated in my Economy seat). And that was during the period they gave some bears when they had the first plane with real Polaris seats. Two of my neighbors did not want theirs so I ended up with 3.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 7:16 pm
  #3998  
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Originally Posted by EWR764
Which is interesting, because I've seen (and received) a gel pillow on every single Polaris flight I've taken since the conversion, without exception, plus one domestic flight on a 763 EWR-IAH where I opened the overhead bin and found a sealed bag of gel pillows that apparently hadn't been collected on the preceding turn. IME UA has done a good job provisioning the various items.
Perhaps they've gotten complaints about pax having to ask for them. Many don't like having to do that (whether it be a gel pillow or a free snack box in Y).
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 7:37 pm
  #3999  
 
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Next month I'm on the 757-200 from DEN-MCO-DEN. I don't see anything about Polaris on the United stuff, but seat guru calls the seats "Polaris". So the seat maybe "polaris" but the service will be regular old business? At least get a gel pillow?
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 7:47 pm
  #4000  
 
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Originally Posted by PushingTin
Next month I'm on the 757-200 from DEN-MCO-DEN. I don't see anything about Polaris on the United stuff, but seat guru calls the seats "Polaris". So the seat maybe "polaris" but the service will be regular old business? At least get a gel pillow?
Likely no pillow at all. The flight will be provisioned like any other mid con, regardless of the lie flats.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 7:47 pm
  #4001  
 
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Originally Posted by PushingTin
Next month I'm on the 757-200 from DEN-MCO-DEN. I don't see anything about Polaris on the United stuff, but seat guru calls the seats "Polaris". So the seat maybe "polaris" but the service will be regular old business? At least get a gel pillow?
This is a domestic flight so it should not be marketed as polaris and dont expect Polaris amenities, although they maybe stocked and provided since it is an international configured aircraft.

Polaris refers to the class of service, not the seat unlike some on here would like you to believe.
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 8:48 pm
  #4002  
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Originally Posted by PushingTin
Next month I'm on the 757-200 from DEN-MCO-DEN. I don't see anything about Polaris on the United stuff, but seat guru calls the seats "Polaris". So the seat maybe "polaris" but the service will be regular old business? At least get a gel pillow?
SeatGuru errs again! It's not the Polaris seat. It will be the sCO B/E Diamond. (And old and tired. But lie-flat nonetheless.)
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 10:55 pm
  #4003  
 
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"select aircraft" suggests that the 787 retrofit may not be happening as "soon" as originally intended.

The gel pillow is an interesting one. I love them. However, on ICN-SFO today, in the rear cabin of 18 seats, I was the only passenger who requested and used a gel pillow. 3 passengers requested pajamas, and 2 asked for the mattress pad. I'm including myself in those numbers. I realize many people may not know about them, but the GS seated next to me was fully aware and didn't consider them worth asking for.
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Old May 1, 2018, 4:39 pm
  #4004  
 
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Originally Posted by PushingTin
Next month I'm on the 757-200 from DEN-MCO-DEN. I don't see anything about Polaris on the United stuff, but seat guru calls the seats "Polaris". So the seat maybe "polaris" but the service will be regular old business? At least get a gel pillow?
I flew the 787-9 IAH-LAX two weeks ago, and yes, it's lie flat seats but standard domestic service. The FA actually said that one goes back and forth IAH-LAX, so there were no international amenities even stocked on it.
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Old May 1, 2018, 5:08 pm
  #4005  
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Originally Posted by tstauck
I flew the 787-9 IAH-LAX two weeks ago, and yes, it's lie flat seats but standard domestic service. The FA actually said that one goes back and forth IAH-LAX, so there were no international amenities even stocked on it.
To be more precise, that aircraft is doing a domestic turn in between long-hauls. Today's aircraft came from SYD and will go back to MEL (i.e., SYD-LAX-IAH-LAX-MEL).

The fact that it's doing a domestic turn is really not dispositive. IME IAH is the hub from which you're least likely to get a real pillow and duvet on an aircraft with lie-flats.
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