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, ....
Mar 17, 2017, 6:05 pm
#151
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: WN, AA, UA, DL
Posts: 1,313
Disappointing that Zodiac is dropping the ball, but I also hope that UA stays the course, even if it takes more time. The last thing I want is for them to pull an AA and have a highly inconsistent fleet, or pull a DL and go with cheap off-the-shelf seats.
Mar 17, 2017, 6:49 pm
#153
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
I do wonder if the delay will have any impact on the 14 77Ws getting delivered this year, or it will only impact the start of the retrofits.
I also wonder what the source of the delay is, but I suspect that will only come out if Zodiac really screws the pooch and can't deliver anywhere close to schedule. Hopefully UA is in talks with other providers for a backup plan...
I also wonder what the source of the delay is, but I suspect that will only come out if Zodiac really screws the pooch and can't deliver anywhere close to schedule. Hopefully UA is in talks with other providers for a backup plan...
Mar 17, 2017, 8:52 pm
#155
Join Date: May 2015
Programs: All the programs!
Posts: 1,006
Oh yea that's right. This could prove to be a problem for UA. Maybe they'll get sick of waiting and install old seats on the 77Ws in the interim.
Mar 17, 2017, 8:59 pm
#156
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
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Mar 17, 2017, 9:01 pm
#157
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,324
Mar 17, 2017, 9:06 pm
#158
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
He said that UA has people on the ground...kind of confused how that would help the situation. Either way, I do wonder if UA has some sort of clause in the contract that allows them to get out (or get the seats for cheaper?) in event of delay.
Mar 17, 2017, 11:55 pm
#159
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,855
I think people are underestimating the costs of a change versus a delay (if any)
- besides the basic issue of finding another supplier that could supply the needed quantity in the needed time-frame, there would be:
- need to get a new certifications and the delays that would create
- need to redo the marketing program with a different seat
- need to rethink fleet retrofit
- need to replace / write-off already purchased seats (installed and in the pipeline)
It would be a monumentally expense and image set back to make a change at this point and would likely be a year or two setback in an active competitive market.
UA has cast its die and has little choice but to play it out.
- besides the basic issue of finding another supplier that could supply the needed quantity in the needed time-frame, there would be:
- need to get a new certifications and the delays that would create
- need to redo the marketing program with a different seat
- need to rethink fleet retrofit
- need to replace / write-off already purchased seats (installed and in the pipeline)
It would be a monumentally expense and image set back to make a change at this point and would likely be a year or two setback in an active competitive market.
UA has cast its die and has little choice but to play it out.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Mar 18, 2017 at 1:39 am
Mar 18, 2017, 9:17 am
#160
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: SEA, WAS, PEK
Programs: UA 3K UGS 3MM
Posts: 2,176
Mar 18, 2017, 10:12 am
#161
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: NYC: UA 1K, DL Platinum, AAirpass, Avis PC
Posts: 4,599
Now i really want to see if qatar beats ua on the retrofits. Ua has 54 777s and 14 767s. Qatar said about 59 mix of 777s and A350s with first retro coming june 2017...so let's compare shorter announement to rollout and comparing retro to retro as aircraft have to be scheduled to get the makeover...wth ua! As many have said the soft service improvements could have been made without this polaris marketing crap that now falls flat when the first retro wasn't coming until 2018...with no 787s retros in the pipe. At least we get 10 across y what does qatar offer?....and we are supposed to defend ua against the me3 with this kind of crap.
Recall that Qatar has been hinting at this seat for a while, and if there were delays at the plant, that may have contributed to their holding off. Zodiac has a concept seat that's eerily similar to Qatar's.
http://www.zodiacaerospace.com/fr/pr...aisle-aircraft
My bet is the Qatar seat coming in June is on new delivery A350s, and the retrofits aren't coming until later in 2017 into 2018.
Kind of like UA where the new 773 deliveries are getting priority before the retrofits ramp up at the end of the year.
Zodiac will be one fascinating case study...
Mar 18, 2017, 10:59 am
#162
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: EWR, BDL
Posts: 4,471
Mar 18, 2017, 11:37 am
#163
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DMV
Posts: 2,092
Yeah it would be a shame if UA had to go with some 'cheap' off the shelf seats that have proven to be popular with customers..
Mar 18, 2017, 12:49 pm
#164
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,454
Having flown in all of the relevant seats, the only ones I think are arguably better than Polaris are the AA Super Diamond and Cirrus seats, and then only if you are flying alone. I think Polaris bests them all for traveling with a companion. I'm not a huge fan of Delta's reverse herringbone seats, especially on the A330. Delta's upcoming A350 seat should be a winner, but I'll reserve judgment until I sit in it. Of course, the biggest knock on Polaris is and will continue to be its scarcity. I think the seat itself, especially the outboard odd seats, compares well to the J products of the competition.
Mar 18, 2017, 3:00 pm
#165
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