Originally Posted by sharmaintl (Post 27564334)

Just flew my first Polaris Business flight yesterday - NRT-IAD. The FA seemed to make no effort to tell us about Polaris or show us what was what. No PJs were offered. I am guessing as this was 3-class, on FC got PJs. No one was shown what to do with the bedding, so most actually ended up using it as a blanket. (I did not mind it as I found the real blanket to be too thin). The flight had slippers on everyone seat, but then flight in and out of NRT had slippers even pre-Polaris. These were better quality thought. We were all given two pillows - one of which ended up on the floor for most. The new amenity kit is nicer packaging with same inside content. Bear was a nice touch, but I am sure it is a launch thing.

The food service was OK. Nothing to write home about except the new dinnerware. I ordered a special meal, which was pretty much the same quality/quantity as pre-Polaris. The Ice Cream sundaes in a chilled cup was definitely a plus.

Net net, I would say - a step up, but would be worth something is the FAs made it feel like the passengers were getting a step up. FA attitude and behavior needs an upgrade to make UA 'soft' product better.

Originally Posted by Eadward (Post 27563996)

But with UA union contracts we will be stuck with her and the likes of her.

Originally Posted by Kacee (Post 27564381)

The older sUA flight attendants all had their pension plans terminated in the bankruptcy. I'm sure most of them were not planning to still be working the cabin at this point in their lives.

Despite that, I've mostly had good service from the older sUA crews. Every once in a while you get one who's just 100% sour though.

Originally Posted by EWR764 (Post 27552932)

I believe your first post contained links to the album page for the image (.html) instead of an image file (.jpg). Here are the others:


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-6281.jpg
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-6283.jpg

Originally Posted by fly18725 (Post 27563926)

Good luck getting the unions to agree to such a sensible concept.

Originally Posted by sinoflyer (Post 27561313)

On the whole, I too would use the word "tacky" to characterize the fact that so many soft items are only available by request. Especially the slippers. I can understand that the gel pillows might "fly off," but if they can keep a checklist on the noise canceling headsets, so too can they maintain the pillows for everyone.



NO. The trash bin will get stuffed up in no time flat. Besides, all it takes is one person to try to flush that thing down the toilet...

Originally Posted by sbm12 (Post 27564236)

But I don't think that the obsession shown on FT over the bears spills over to the general public. Like many things in travel this community does not always reflect the broader trends/demands/indications all that well IMO.

Originally Posted by UK Stages (Post 27562568)

i was on flight 940 from EWR ---> LHR on december 1st, polaris inaugural day. it was a miles flight for me, as i'm on holiday. as a GS, i used a GPU to upgrade to business and it cleared a day or two after booking. a few days before the flight, i had noticed that the first cabin (six seats) was entirely empty, except for one seat reserved for crew rest. i figured the other seats would be for united execs supervising the roll out. but no, in the end there appeared to be no united management types on this flight. about an hour before the flight, i was upgraded to first... the coveted and elusive double upgrade! on miles!

as i said, i've been on holiday, so i didn't rush to visit flyertalk in the past few days... and i have to say now that i have, i'm rather surprised at some of the negative feedback on the polaris launch. but then i realized that most of the pushback is coming from people who haven't actually experienced the service yet.

in my opinion, this is a huge improvement over what UA had been offering. the food, the linens, the wines, the serving ware, the bedding, the PDB... even something as seemingly inconsequential as having pellegrino for sparkling water. my goodness, even the salt and pepper shakers received an upgrade! (contrary to a previous poster... i liked them. they appear to be carrying forth the globe theme... and mine dispensed pepper well.... i didn't try the salt).

gel pillows and slippers were on demand on my flight and i asked for neither... and the flight was too short for PJs.

the menu choices i had in first were the same as the menu shown upthread. and i, too, chose the asian fusion soup... which is poorly named... it's really more of a thai curry. and i share villox's assessment that it was delicious... one of the best onboard entrees i've had on any airline ever. i'm looking forward to having it again.

the fig, cheese and grape skewer was not pre-departure for us... it was sort of an amuse bouche in flight. we got a chocolate. but that may be because the flight attendants were still figuring things out... it was all new to them, just as it is to us. sure, they were trained on it, but that's different than actually serving it in flight. those kinks will get worked out over the next month or so.

as for PDB... yes, you can order whatever you want, not just champagne. that champagne glass that slides onto the plate, however... that looks rather precarious to me and the FAs were a little nervous about serving them and keeping them steady. i think the best way to deliver that (to avoid spilling) is to carry the plate and the glass separately, then slide the glass on once you've delivered the plate.

as for dessert, yes, you can order them all! at least you could in first. other than the sundae, the desserts are all small sample sizes, like you might find at a buffet. i had a caramel thingie and a small glass filled with a deconstructed lemon meringue pie... interestingly, they give you a very small lightweight plastic spoon for the desserts in the small glasses... and those spoons aren't really strong enough to work with those desserts. you might have to struggle to get anything out.

the bears and the bedding were all piled high on the seats as we arrived just as depicted in the previously posted photos. the bears were indeed ogled by most people passing through the cabin. (i did not see any bear pilferage, however. i was among the first on the plane, so i would have seen it and could have caught them bear-handed.) the hangtag on the bear says "first to fly," so that clearly suggests that it's for the first days of service... we've heard various reports on this thread of a week to a month.

but the bears are such a big hit... i wonder if UA will take note... they could start a thing like conrad by giving highly collectible stuffed plush animals in polaris class... they could change them quarterly or vary them by destination, like conrad does. i'm not saying that people will spend thousands of dollars for a polaris ticket just to get a two dollar bear, but stranger things have happened. and it would be a point of difference.

i must add that all this stuff is branded ingeniously. the bear's paw has the polaris star, as do the socks in the amenity kit, if i remember correctly. the branding is carried out in every customer touch... really well handled from a brand perspective.

i have my return flight to EWR in a couple of days and i'll be flying ORD ---> NRT next week and HKG ---> EWR at the end of the month, so i'll be interested to see how this looks and feels on other flights.

overall, despite a few hiccups (some of the business class meals and amenities on my flight wound up in first and vice versa and the flight was about twenty minutes delayed, due to late catering), this was an outstanding debut for the polaris soft product.

respectfully, YMMV.

does it make up for the delays and IRROPS on three of my last four flights?

well, yes, actually i really think it does.

and i'm much more inclined to continue to fly united.

Originally Posted by bdraco (Post 27564563)

UA1430 11/4 OGG-DEN. Presently surprised to see the new bedding w/pillow. Its much warmer the the old setup. This route previously got the tissue paper style blanket and no pillow. Nice improvement ^

Originally Posted by MY-OTHER-BROTHER-"TED" (Post 27565671)

My wife really loved the cute bear that someone didn't want to take home, which I scooped up, when deplaning yesterday. I did leave the pillow, blanket, and cool glasses behind though! :D