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United Polaris - Business Class seats -- hard product comments

Old Jun 2, 2016, 9:06 am
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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
As there are multi-threads on inflight service and meals, will re-focus this thread on the hard product, the seats (and things related to the seat -- pillows, pads, blankets, ...)

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)}

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

Old Jul 9, 2019, 4:51 pm
  #166  
mr8
 
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Originally Posted by villox
She did acknowledge that we were going with a “verbal menu” today because they didn’t board any printed menus. ...
I guess I can't complain about the photocopied black and white menu I received back in may.
Originally Posted by bocastephen
I often find the Polaris seat crevices are jammed with crumbs, food debris, hair, etc - it's beyond disgusting and the cleaning contractors are obviously not being managed properly with no QA checks by a United employee prior to boarding - you would think their "premium" product would be inspected and verified before every single flight - are the cabin and seats clean? Are clean, undamaged menus and wine lists boarded? Clean bedding? Catering has been verified? etc etc.
...
Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
...
The report of the Polris seat with crumbs and not having been cleaned is of more concern to me than the food/wine issues. I always ask for the mattress pad (not sure why they do not automatically give these out) and use a wet wipe to wipe down the flat services - now providing a couple of those as we pre-board would be a nice enhancement.
I wonder if the privacy of the Polaris seats make it more difficult for the cleaning crew to get into each individual seat to do a thorough cleaning?
Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
...
I think United thinks it is more important to get the food right in the Polaris lounges which is fine by me - it is only an issue if you have an upgrade to Polaris that happens at the gate. ....
Or if you're based out of non-hub and have to make a tight connection. Or if you're unfortunately flying out of DEN which will not get a Polaris!
Originally Posted by FoxFlyer
...
He asked me to write into to 1K voice to express my displeasure... which is a sad state of affairs. Your employees should not have to tell your customers to complain about the service.
...
Well, I guess we'll all just have to write in to express our disappointment with the way Polaris is going down. Someone should do a template that we can all just copy and send after our Polaris flights.
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Old Jul 9, 2019, 6:33 pm
  #167  
 
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For the second time in a row I was served a vegan chili who had meat as a pre-arrival snack...
Not great when youre vegetarian...
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Old Jul 9, 2019, 8:19 pm
  #168  
 
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Originally Posted by Eadward
Just did EWR/LHR roundtrip on Polaris hard product 767 flights 110/17.

As always, enjoyed the EWR Polaris lounge although it was pretty packed. Had the burger again - great.

I do agree with the large erosion of the soft product on board. On outbound I was mostly interested in sleep so it wasn't a big deal. On way back, the food was pretty bad. There used to be an appetizer course, that has been downgraded to a salad and some weird pate thing. Main was a Thai chicken dish which was at least mostly edible. For the arrival meal, I chose a hamburger. I thought, United has had some pretty good business/Polaris hamburgers in the past. No longer. There was a thing served which was a cheeseburger patty inside some breading pastry. Served with some small packages of ketchup and mustard. What a lousy fraud. How they have the nerve to call this thing a hamburger is beyond me. Obviously just a cost cutting move and saves time since the staff only have to shove this burger pastry concoction into the warming oven and serve without any further work. The London based staff's service, was purely perfunctory and lacking in providing any additional help. Never once stopped by and asked if I wanted another drink or anything. No PDB in either direction. Seriously? Overall I was disappointed with the flight.
It is listed as "Hamburger Wellington". The "wellington" implies no bun, but in a pastry crust. I just took the flight, sounded disgusting. I had the pasta, which was not great.
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Old Jul 10, 2019, 4:53 am
  #169  
 
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Originally Posted by st530
This is clearly a YMMV. I've been on the 763, 772 and 773 (not yet 781) and I would take the new seat every time.
If I was a 5'4 145 pound man, I would probably be ecstatic with the new seat. But as an average sized man, there is not enough space by my feet, around my knees, and around my arns/shoulders. The concept of the tray is great, but the execution is poor in that it is constantly in the way of my knees. At least with the previous generation seat, I could move around more...and even sleep on my side, which is impossible to do in these seats due to the narrow leg hole and the tray.

I also hate the new F seat on the new A319/320. I can fit fine in the seat and have several inches of seatbelt slack to work with, but I cannot have the tray out/down without it cutting into my gut.

I've been going through great lengths to get most of my flying in a 752 or non-retrofitted 777/787. But with the tight Polaris seat and the even more tight Polaris 2.0 seat on the 787, I'm going to have to seriously evaluate my business with UA purely because of seat comfort.
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Old Jul 10, 2019, 8:46 am
  #170  
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Originally Posted by Weatherboy
...

I also hate the new F seat on the new A319/320. I can fit fine in the seat and have several inches of seatbelt slack to work with, but I cannot have the tray out/down without it cutting into my gut.....
Gosh, I thought it was just me - and I am by no means in the Dom Deluise size category. I can use the tray if my seat is fully upright, but the moment I recline the seat, half of my body loses circulation. Why in the world these seats were ordered without a sliding tray table is beyond me - I can imagine it's basically impossible for someone with substantial girth to open it at all.
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Old Jul 10, 2019, 2:33 pm
  #171  
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Originally Posted by Weatherboy
.. But as an average sized man,...
For those that are curious as I was, the median USA male is 200 (197) pounds and 5'9"

The National Health Statistics Reports - Dec 2018 does not provide median stats for road warriors.
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Old Jul 10, 2019, 3:26 pm
  #172  
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200 pounds and only 5-9?
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Old Jul 10, 2019, 6:09 pm
  #173  
 
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Originally Posted by wco81
200 pounds and only 5-9?
By contrast, it's 5'11 and 180 lbs for Finland. 5"8.5 and 170 lbs for France; etc. This contributes to high healthcare costs for the U.S. American airports should get rid of "people-movers" and moving walkways -- get people walking again. I'm going to stop complaining about small meal portions on United.
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Old Jul 13, 2019, 10:06 am
  #174  
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Originally Posted by porciuscato
By contrast, it's 5'11 and 180 lbs for Finland. 5"8.5 and 170 lbs for France; etc. This contributes to high healthcare costs for the U.S. American airports should get rid of "people-movers" and moving walkways -- get people walking again. I'm going to stop complaining about small meal portions on United.
Oh if it was only that easy, obesity in the US is a much more complicated issue then removing moving walkways.....
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Old Jul 20, 2019, 7:19 pm
  #175  
 
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Polaris wine list contains 0% wine.

UA5 right now, IAH-LHR.
no wines specified at all.

Is this common, or a new low? Never had no wines specified before!

I guess it could turn out ok 🙄. Stand by for an update.
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Old Jul 20, 2019, 7:26 pm
  #176  
 
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Sounds better than the usual inaccurate list.
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Old Jul 20, 2019, 7:30 pm
  #177  
 
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If you're lucky they'll have the Three Thieves rose. I'd recommend that over the usual plonk de plonks.
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Old Jul 20, 2019, 8:16 pm
  #178  
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Originally Posted by skycrab
no wines specified at all.

Is this common, or a new low? Never had no wines specified before! ...
First reported in this thread a couple of weeks ago. Multiple confirming reports.
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Old Jul 21, 2019, 12:41 am
  #179  
 
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Originally Posted by skycrab
Is this common, or a new low? Never had no wines specified before!

I guess it could turn out ok 🙄. Stand by for an update.
I noticed that on my Polaris flight 2 weeks ago on the menu. I'm not a wine drinker so didn't pay much attention to what was catered except for the champagne.
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Old Jul 21, 2019, 2:55 am
  #180  
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Originally Posted by hirohito888
I noticed that on my Polaris flight 2 weeks ago on the menu. I'm not a wine drinker so didn't pay much attention to what was catered except for the champagne.
yep - the menu now just says ask the FA what the options are. They should just eliminate the menu insert at this point as it is a joke.
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