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

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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}

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Old Feb 9, 2019, 8:41 am
  #4441  
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Join Date: May 2001
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Just got off a TPAC flight and was told SFO has run out of PJs the last week or two - none of the flights east bound or west bound were provisioned with them. Purser did not think it is any cost cutting.
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Old Feb 9, 2019, 8:58 am
  #4442  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Same experience this week from sfo-sin...no pjs on both flights. Great crew except for one lazy FA who lied to me when asking about cinnamon rolls "no rolls"...go to lav with big sign on oven saying "cinn rolls" asked another FA who opened it up and fully warmed rolls not touched nor offered to pax. Ate one right there.
Is it sad that my first thought was "did UA stealthily get rid of them?" Glad I pushed the issue but 1. Lying to pax cuz you're lazy 2. No uptake tells UA to cut them.

BTW the buffet food offerings in the SFO PL is pretty pathetic compared to ewr and iah...why is that?
Halo117 is offline  
Old Feb 9, 2019, 8:58 am
  #4443  
 
Join Date: May 2004
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Originally Posted by username
Just got off a TPAC flight and was told SFO has run out of PJs the last week or two - none of the flights east bound or west bound were provisioned with them. Purser did not think it is any cost cutting.
Same happend to me 2 times last week. Was instantly offered $200 in certs or 10,000 miles by a FA. Guess whose account just got 20,000 more miles...

F.R.
flyin´ruddl is offline  
Old Feb 9, 2019, 9:27 am
  #4444  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Houston
Programs: UA GS 2.6MM & Lifetime UC, Qantas Platinum, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Platinum, HawaiianMiles
Posts: 8,692
Originally Posted by Halo117
BTW the buffet food offerings in the SFO PL is pretty pathetic compared to ewr and iah...why is that?
Agree absolutely, no idea why though. The SFO PL looked nice, but that was it. Staff & food were definitely subpar in general and in comparison to the other PLs.
kirkwoodj is offline  
Old Feb 9, 2019, 9:53 am
  #4445  
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,925
PJs were available this week on SIN-SFO. Also, the SFO PL Dining Room breakfast was very good on Thursday morning. All of the staff members (reception, dining room, showers, quiet suites) that I encountered were very friendly and helpful.
FLYMSY is offline  
Old Feb 9, 2019, 9:56 am
  #4446  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: MCO, DCA, IAD
Programs: UA GS 1MM, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,134
So is the a la carte food in the dining room. Had the burger in SFO which was not so good while the one in EWR and ORD was excellent.
Also the set up of the area is very odd and the servers yellow "corner" each time to go from the kitchen to the dining room is extremely annoying.
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Old Feb 9, 2019, 10:11 pm
  #4447  
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The really strange thing about the SFO setup is they seem to be adjusting things all the time in the self-service area. Continuous improvement is good but this almost seems like they just don't have a repeatable process or stable staff.
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 2:55 am
  #4448  
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Originally Posted by flyin´ruddl
Same happend to me 2 times last week. Was instantly offered $200 in certs or 10,000 miles by a FA. Guess whose account just got 20,000 more miles...

F.R.
I was given $200 by my purser for the missing pajamas - needed to write 1KVoice for my SO, and of course they received $250

I'll take it either way, but seriously, what's up with the pajamas?
bocastephen is offline  
Old Feb 11, 2019, 11:02 am
  #4449  
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Wayne, NJ USA
Programs: UA Million Miler, Lifetime United Club member
Posts: 2,175
Originally Posted by bocastephen
I was given $200 by my purser for the missing pajamas - needed to write 1KVoice for my SO, and of course they received $250

I'll take it either way, but seriously, what's up with the pajamas?
BYOPJ
elitefreak is offline  
Old Feb 11, 2019, 12:21 pm
  #4450  
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
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Posts: 26,920
Originally Posted by elitefreak
BYOPJ
I prefer the EK or AF pajamas anyway.
MatthewLAX is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 12:57 pm
  #4451  
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Posts: 42,198
No pajamas again 11FEB TPE SFO - this is really getting ridiculous - are they still included with the product or not?
bocastephen is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 3:12 pm
  #4452  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: CLE
Programs: UA Gold, DL DM, UA 1K, MR PP
Posts: 352
No pajamas SFO - HKG, kinda bummed because girlfriend was excited to get her own pair (her first Polaris flight). Asked shortly after boarding, was told they "only load a couple pairs".

TPG should really do a re-evaluation of what Polaris has become. They are definitely penny pinching every dollar they can from the service.
scracer14 is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 5:12 pm
  #4453  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SFO / LHR
Programs: UA GS 2.2MM / UC / AS Gold 75K / Bonvoy Plat / Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,028
Originally Posted by scracer14
They are definitely penny pinching every dollar they can from the service.
It’s clear they are only prepared to spend on items they can capitalize on the balance sheet, such as aircraft, Polaris lounge buildouts, the new app, airport terminal improvements, even the new casserole dishes for the pre-played food, etc. Everything else that is a monthly operating expense is being trimmed — staffing, food, wine, PJs. Keeps their investors happy!
greenpau is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 6:27 pm
  #4454  
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Posts: 56,450
Originally Posted by greenpau
Keeps their investors happy!
That is just a means to an end. It is always about executive compensation.
Kacee is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2019, 2:44 pm
  #4455  
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,925
I’ve noticed that the ORD & EWR PL Lounge wikis are missing some info that the other PL Lounge wikis have, i.e., square footage, # of seats, shower suites, dining room seats, etc. Would someone who has that info, please add it to the ORD & EWR wikis? Thanks.
FLYMSY is offline  


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