May 29, 2017, 1:21 pm
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, 4686 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
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
- 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
✨ Polaris (& PP) Retrofits: Schedule, ....
Feb 21, 2019, 9:25 pm
#1561
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
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I would imaging that N666UA, the first with High J aND P+,763, will be headed for a test hop soo.. I've been actively watching to see when this plane goes out for its test hop. While this plane is the first in the configuration and requires a little more testing and certification, we're only a day or 2 shy of 3 months in MOD, so it can't be too much longer.
Feb 22, 2019, 12:29 pm
#1562
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Such an outlier of a configuration compared to the rest of UA's fleet, will be interesting to see where they slot it in initially. Perhaps premium t-cons, as a sub for 28J 752, which has only 114 Y seats. Can't really swap it for any other widebody, not enough seats (167 total).
Asdigning it to a designated route is very dangerous since there is no protect if the lone ranger goes MX. There would be a lot of J and P+ passengers to reaccomodate.
It will definitely be interesting to see how they handle this.
Feb 22, 2019, 12:32 pm
#1563
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
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Such an outlier of a configuration compared to the rest of UA's fleet, will be interesting to see where they slot it in initially. Perhaps premium t-cons, as a sub for 28J 752, which has only 114 Y seats. Can't really swap it for any other widebody, not enough seats (167 total).
We also don't know if, behind the scenes, UA has already been restricting certain flights in terms of authorized capacity in Y (despite coding for certain equipment) so that swapping in the 76L once they are in service can be accomplished without having to reaccommodate large numbers of passengers.
Finally, they can always start off as last-minute equipment subs on lightly-loaded 763 (76A/76C) routes. Given that we'll start to see the first ships in service this month (March being a slower TATL month than Apr-Sep) that might not be a difficult proposition.
Feb 22, 2019, 2:05 pm
#1565
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Various tier levels of frequent flyer/hotel plans received for bellyaching about minor flaws in the service I received.
Posts: 610
I was on a retrofitted 777-200 from ORD to PEK and can confirm there's no mood lighting and no fancy bulk head wall. I wasn't even sure the overhead bins were updated. I already noticed wears and tears on the seat, so it doesn't seem like the Polaris seats will last very long. Sad. They look nice at first glance and are comfortable but do appear cheap when you start noticing the details.
Feb 27, 2019, 12:17 am
#1567
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Anything is possible at this point, as it was mentioned that UA could already have a plan that we don't know about yet.
The 772s have a lot of Y seats. Even if you block all of those row 24 and forward, there are still a lot more Y seats remaining than there are on the High J 763.
This is a tough transition for UA and there may be some bumps in the road until they get a few more birds done.
The 772s have a lot of Y seats. Even if you block all of those row 24 and forward, there are still a lot more Y seats remaining than there are on the High J 763.
This is a tough transition for UA and there may be some bumps in the road until they get a few more birds done.
Mar 3, 2019, 6:49 pm
#1568
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Chicago
Posts: 17
I have been on both 77W and 772 with the new seats. They are very sturdy and well made. I especially like the extendable table with 4-degree of freedom under the TV. it is Very heavy and must cost a ton to install. amazing amount of space if you think how many seats they are able to cram in there..
Polaris is a winner for me. I personally don't see how other airlines (CX, AA, DL, B6's mint, etc.) are much better than this. whatever that is better is certainly not worth the volume trade-off.
Polaris is a winner for me. I personally don't see how other airlines (CX, AA, DL, B6's mint, etc.) are much better than this. whatever that is better is certainly not worth the volume trade-off.
I was also on a new 787-10 from SFO to EWR, and sadly my upgrade didn't clear. But I was able to snatch the premium economy seat, which was decent, but has its own design flaws. The outlet was weirdly located and the footrest really hard to operate (I was in row 22).
Have a trip to AMS coming up, and hoping to experience a retrofitted 763, fingers crossed!
Mar 4, 2019, 12:31 am
#1569
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Mar 7, 2019, 5:44 pm
#1571
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
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I wonder if they found a problem with the High-J configuration. N666UA went in for High-J MOD on 23-Nov-19. Finally, well after 3 months of service, it took its test flight a few days ago, but it again sits idle. N588HA has also been in the High-J MOD line for over 3 months now. I'm assuming it has the same bug as N666UA does, or they are at least waiting to get the certification for N666UA to finish N588HA.
Mar 7, 2019, 10:46 pm
#1572
Join Date: Dec 2003
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Mar 11, 2019, 7:39 am
#1573
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,349
According United status pages, 3014 (N77014) on HKG-EWR on March 12 after being there for some weeks (thought to be there for the seat upgrade) still shows old seat-map.
It's supposed to fly UA1810, EWR-IAH later that day.
It's supposed to fly UA1810, EWR-IAH later that day.
Mar 11, 2019, 7:58 am
#1574
Join Date: Jan 2005
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I wonder if they found a problem with the High-J configuration. N666UA went in for High-J MOD on 23-Nov-19. Finally, well after 3 months of service, it took its test flight a few days ago, but it again sits idle. N588HA has also been in the High-J MOD line for over 3 months now. I'm assuming it has the same bug as N666UA does, or they are at least waiting to get the certification for N666UA to finish N588HA.
Mar 25, 2019, 1:18 am
#1575
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
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Well, it looks like N684UA has been in MOD longer than N666UA was. This is odd, given that the first bird is usually the longest because of certification requirements. The only thing I can think of is either the exHA planes need a separate certification, or they need more extensive work to match the rest of the fleet (possibly beyond the cabin and visuals). ** Note that Flight Aware still has the nose listed as N588HA, not N684UA **
On the bright side, whatever is going on that would cause 684 to be in mod for almost 4 months has not stopped UA from taking more planes in. Right now there are currently 4 763 lines, but the one will probably be dropped when N684UA iii complete.
On the bright side, whatever is going on that would cause 684 to be in mod for almost 4 months has not stopped UA from taking more planes in. Right now there are currently 4 763 lines, but the one will probably be dropped when N684UA iii complete.