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✨ Polaris (& PP) Retrofits: Schedule, ....

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Old May 29, 2017, 1:21 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: kirkwoodj
Check the current status of aircraft reconfigured (or delivered) with new Polaris seats: http://view.ceros.com/united/polaris...-desktop-4/p/3.

A Polaris Update and Polaris Mod Schedule to indicate the status of specific aircraft are maintained by those that manage the United Airlines Fleet Website.

Except for 773- and 781-operated flights, and those markets selling Premium Plus, Polaris-equipped planes have not been allocated to specific routes. You won't know until approx. 36-48 hours before departure if you'll have a newly reconfigured aircraft, and even then, it may be replaced with a non-retrofitted aircraft.

777-300ER - All 22 aircraft have Polaris (60 seats) and installation of Premium Plus cabins (24 seats) is complete.

767-300ER - As of September 2020, 31 of the 38 aircraft have been reconfigured with the Polaris seats.
- Retrofit is from 3-cabin to 2-cabin with direct-aisle-access seats. No 3-cabin 767s remain in service.
- 76A configuration is 30J/50Y+/134Y, total of 214; fleet to consist of 17 ships (former 3-cabin 767s).
- 76L configuration is 46J/22PE/47Y+/52Y; fleet to consist of 21 ships (18 former 2-cabin 76C and 3 used ships from Hawaiian).

767-400ER - [16 aircraft] None updated yet; modifications put on hold due to Covid-19.

777-200ER - As of September 2020, 46 of the 50 aircraft have been reconfigured with Polaris and Premium Plus seats.
- Configuration is 50 Polaris seats, 32 in the front cabin and 18 in the second cabin (behind 2L/R)
- Configuration is 10 across in economy, with 24 Premium Plus seats, 46 86 E+ seats and 156 E seats, with E+ in front economy cabin plus exit rows and bulkhead at 3L/R, i.e., almost the same as current pmCO planes, except with 4 seats in middle section.
- Seat map (v5) on united.com

787-8, 787-9 - As of November 2022, all 787-8/9 are converted or in mod. No chance of flying old configuration anymore.
- 788 configuration has 28 Polaris seats (20 in front cabin, 8 in rear mini-cabin), and 21 Premium Plus seats (2-3-2).
- 789 configuration has 48 Polaris seats (32 in front cabin, 16 in rear mini-cabin), and 21 Premium Plus seats (2-3-2).

787-10 - 13 787-10s have been delivered in 2020. All come with Polaris and Premium Plus cabins factory-installed. Another 19 should be added by 2024.

FAQ:
Q: Does a Polaris ticket mean the aircraft has the new Polaris seat?

A: No, Polaris is the label UA uses for long haul international business class. It is also the label UA uses for the new seats, so this does create some confusion.
All the 773s and 787-10s are 100% the new seat.
The rest of the long haul fleet in various stages of conversion, see http://view.ceros.com/united/polaris...-desktop-4/p/3

Q: How to tell if my aircraft is the new style Polaris seats?
A: If the unassigned business class section is showing orange seats or all the seats are side-by-side or there is a section for 4 adjacent seats in the middle, this is an old style lie-flat aircreaft
If the unassigned bussines class seats are dark blue seats or the all the seats appear to have direct aisle access, then you aircraft is the new Polaris seat.
You can also look at the FT maintained, United Fleet Site and crosscheck the tail number or check thePolaris Update tab

Q: How to tell if my aircraft has the new PremiumPlus (PP) / Premium Economy seats?
A: If the unassigned seats just behind business class are purple seats or the aircraft is 773 or 787-10, then yes. However, the purple color seat will only show on routes where PP is being sold.
Aircraft with PP seats are being used on some routes but are not being sold as PP. In those cases, the seats are considered to be a part of E+. In those cases, an indicator of PP sold as E+ will be if the first few rows of economy, there are just 2 seats on the sides (with the rest of E+ showing 3 seats).

Q: Will the aircraft I see at booking be the same configuration at flight time?
A: Unfortunately with the fleet in transit, aircraft swaps happen. UA tends to use placeholders until 2 days before travel and even after that last minute swaps do happen.

Q: My flight seat map shows 772 with polaris seats is it a retrofit?
A: Possibly. The flight status page shows the most accurate scheduled aircraft. If a 77W is swapped in, it will list the aircraft as 777-300ER. However, if the 772's seatmap shows blue rectangular boxes in the business class cabin instead of orange "pointy rounds", this would indicate that a retrofit aircraft has been swapped.

See also: United Future/Changed Routes w/ Polaris seats

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✨ Polaris (& PP) Retrofits: Schedule, ....

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Old Dec 22, 2018, 5:22 am
  #1501  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
The first sCO 777-200 is in for mod now, and there is a slight chance there is a second one in as well.
I take it, the first one is N79011 (3011) and the second one N77012 (3012)?
Do we already know where the newly retrofitted ones get deployed first?
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 8:15 am
  #1502  
 
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Originally Posted by narvik
I take it, the first one is N79011 (3011) and the second one N77012 (3012)?
Do we already know where the newly retrofitted ones get deployed first?
Assuming the sCO 772 are based in EWR, then they should likely be flying EWR-CDG and EWR-BRU, which are the only dedicated 772 routes with Premium Plus out of EWR so far. If sCO 772 are not based anywhere, they'll just be rotated through the system.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 10:26 am
  #1503  
 
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Originally Posted by hirohito888
Assuming the sCO 772 are based in EWR, then they should likely be flying EWR-CDG and EWR-BRU, which are the only dedicated 772 routes with Premium Plus out of EWR so far. If sCO 772 are not based anywhere, they'll just be rotated through the system.
It's already been noted elsewhere that at least one of the sCO 772 rotations will be moved on/about March 30 to ORD, doing 895/896 to HKG.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 10:45 am
  #1504  
 
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Originally Posted by wxguy
It's already been noted elsewhere that at least one of the sCO 772 rotations will be moved on/about March 30 to ORD, doing 895/896 to HKG.
Yes, but ORD-HKG is not a dedicated route with Premium Plus, so it may or may not have retrofitted sCO 772. Whereas EWR-CDG/BRU are already selling PP seats on 772 (again, no idea if they're using sCO 772 or sUA 772). I was only assuming if they based the retrofitted sCO 772 at EWR, the likely routes would be EWR-CDG/BRU.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 11:51 am
  #1505  
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Originally Posted by wxguy
It's already been noted elsewhere that at least one of the sCO 772 rotations will be moved on/about March 30 to ORD, doing 895/896 to HKG.
I want another run in F seats, I better fly before the end of March from ORD.
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Old Jan 14, 2019, 11:43 am
  #1506  
 
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Originally Posted by caseminole
When i go to United's fleet upgrade progress checked, it only mentioned 787-10 series ("Aircraft will be added to our schedule starting in early 2019")

Why doesnt it mention other A/C types' progress like 787-9

Also, since this flight is 11 hours 50 minutes, there arent any PJs? Hard to believe a 10-minute cutoff makes a difference, but i guess it does.

Finally, what amenities should I ask for in advance before takeoff then? Gel pillow only?
PJs can be requested I believe. Gell pillows are now standard but aren't very good...the entire cabin still gets super warm midflight...the mattress pad should help but adds more clutter to a fairly tiny space.
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Old Jan 14, 2019, 12:13 pm
  #1507  
 
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Originally Posted by icemaker
PJs can be requested I believe. Gell pillows are now standard but aren't very good...the entire cabin still gets super warm midflight...the mattress pad should help but adds more clutter to a fairly tiny space.
The problem is that the PJs are available on flights where both directions are 12 hours or more (or maybe that the average of both directions is 12 hours). So, LAX-NRT is 11 hours 50 minutes but NRT-LAX is 9 hours 45 minutes.

That being said, you can always ask. Sometimes they have some on planes that came from a different route.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 11:11 am
  #1508  
 
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United's Vice-President of Marketing Mark Krolick says
"The Boeing 787 upgrade program is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2019"
By the end of 2020, we should have the majority of the international widebody fleet reconfigured... the only possible exceptions to that would be any aircraft that are slated for immediate retirement,"

https://www.ausbt.com.au/united-s-bo...ade-this-year?
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 11:31 am
  #1509  
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On 787 Polaris conversion:

I will be happy if they finish all the 777 and 767 aircrafts before starting the 787s in late 2019. UA has a proven track records of over promise and missing deadlines. The guys is from marketing not finance or operations, so that explains the more optimistic statement.

Nevertheless.....I need to see before believing it.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 12:20 pm
  #1510  
 
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This might be a dumb question, but why does the UA Polaris tracking site say 13 of 14 767-300ER aircraft are complete when there are ~35 of these frames in service? I saw the discussion way upthread about subfleets, but this is just flat out wrong.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 12:43 pm
  #1511  
 
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Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
On 787 Polaris conversion:

I will be happy if they finish all the 777 and 767 aircrafts before starting the 787s in late 2019. UA has a proven track records of over promise and missing deadlines. The guys is from marketing not finance or operations, so that explains the more optimistic statement.

Nevertheless.....I need to see before believing it.
In the call, UA said it plans 60 'new' Polaris aircraft this year. There are 10 aircraft (2x 77W, 8x 78J) scheduled for delivery in 2019, which means 50 retrofit/reconfigured ships. That seems pretty ambitious, but I expect the 76C>76L mods to move at a faster pace than the 76A conversions, and be complete in 2019. The 76C already have new overheads, sidewalls, lighting, galleys, lavs, Y seats, winglets and the life-extension package, so the scope of work is much less than the 76As. That's 17 frames, plus #14 76A, which gets us to 28 total Polaris birds in 2019. 77Us #14 , 15, 16 should come out in quick succession by February, so that's 31, with 3-4 mod lines open. With 7-8 weeks blocked for each 77Q, the remaining 17 should be nearing completion by the end of the year... let's be conservative and call it 15 frames, which would reflect an average of a bit more than 2 77Q mod lines. This assumes 2 lines for the summer peak. As for the 77Y, it's unclear how many lines the company plans, but even with one line, hitting 6 frames by the end of 2019 is not out of the question.

So, based on that back-of-the-envelope calculation, 50 reconfigured aircraft in 2019 is within the realm of possibility...
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 2:52 pm
  #1512  
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Originally Posted by CLEguy
This might be a dumb question, but why does the UA Polaris tracking site say 13 of 14 767-300ER aircraft are complete when there are ~35 of these frames in service? I saw the discussion way upthread about subfleets, but this is just flat out wrong.
Someone messed up the latest update. 13/14 of the former 3-class aircraft are converted. 14 additional 2-class 763s will be converted
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 3:07 pm
  #1513  
 
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When will 763's to Europe be converted to Polaris seats?

Having been on a converted 767-300 (to SCL I think), it was quite nice. I'm wondering how many of the 763's to Europe will be converted? I see a figure of 14 out of a total of 35? I'm looking at a trip RDU-JFK-VCE in late September which would be on a 763. Haven't booked it yet. Comparing it with some Delta One flights that my partner wants to check out. Having recently been on a Polaris trip, I'd prefer to stay with United.

I guess I got lucky because my trip was in December of last year. I was checking RDU-IAH-SCL IN March and I don't see the Polaris equipped 763.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 5:03 pm
  #1514  
 
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Originally Posted by zitsky
Having been on a converted 767-300 (to SCL I think), it was quite nice. I'm wondering how many of the 763's to Europe will be converted? I see a figure of 14 out of a total of 35?
There are no dedicated 763 routes with the new Polaris seats. Your chance of getting one just depends on how many refitted planes are flying, which is currently at 13 out of 33.
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Old Jan 16, 2019, 5:59 pm
  #1515  
 
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United does fly from JFK. (EWR to VCE)
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