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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 Sep 26, 2019, 10:45 pm
  #1966  
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Originally Posted by Brucemcdou
Hmm, perhaps I’m not reading the UA site correctly but 862/869 is/are the flights I’m on which were originally 777-300 w Polaris/PE but now pmCO 777-200 without Polaris or PE.
Sorry, brain fade. I'm on 862 in October and it's still Polaris. But you're right, both are being switched to the pmCO 772 later in the year.

As reported in the other thread, not great results so far in terms of rebooking options. Though one or two 1Ks were able to get their GPUs confirmed into J.
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Old Sep 26, 2019, 11:58 pm
  #1967  
 
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Does abolishing the cabin you were booked in constitute a penalty-less change / cancellation? Change in seating configuration? You could go somewhere else that does have P+, that is, if you're interested.
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Old Sep 27, 2019, 12:04 am
  #1968  
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
Does abolishing the cabin you were booked in constitute a penalty-less change / cancellation?
It's a penalty free refund situation for sure.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 2:28 am
  #1969  
 
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Well, given that it's now October, I gueee we'll see the first 787-8 going into MOD soon. With a nearly 90 day turnaround to get certification on tte first unit, it needs to go in soon if United plans on having it done by year's end.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 5:40 am
  #1970  
 
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Originally Posted by ASA_1
Do the retrofitted 777s and 767s have LED mood lighting installed? or did they keep the old fluorescent lighting?
No for both fleets. Lighting wasn’t changed. Combination of cost and additional downtime nixed the LED mood light mods.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 5:45 am
  #1971  
 
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Originally Posted by Brucemcdou
Just checked the schedule/seat and the plane's been swapped for a pmCO 772 (2-2-2 in biz and 9-across in E+). Obviously my P+ seat is gone, no contact from United.
Originally Posted by Brucemcdou
The other daily round trip would be 877/878 which also currently show as pmCO 777-200 without Polaris or PE.

Just because it's a pmCO 772 doesn't mean it doesn't have Polaris and PE seats!
The seatmap on United always shows the old 77Y layout initially during booking, but that can change once they decide to use a converted pmCO plane.
In about a week there will be 9 already converted, 2 in conversion, and 11 not converted. By the end of the year there should be more converted than not.

FWIW:
77Y is the old designation with old 2-2-2 in J and 3-3-3 in E layout.
77E is the new layout with Polaris and PE seats and 3-4-3 in E.


Added:
I wouldn't be surprised if they'd try and use the converted planes on SFO-HKG-SFO, or at least keep them on the same routes as much as possible. They seem to deploy them willy-nilly right now, but with more and more converted planes they should be able to plan better in advance, and have designated "Polarized" routes. Or so it would seem.
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Last edited by narvik; Oct 1, 2019 at 5:56 am
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 7:01 am
  #1972  
 
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Originally Posted by narvik
I wouldn't be surprised if they'd try and use the converted planes on SFO-HKG-SFO, or at least keep them on the same routes as much as possible. They seem to deploy them willy-nilly right now, but with more and more converted planes they should be able to plan better in advance, and have designated "Polarized" routes. Or so it would seem.
Thanks Narvik - I know there's a decent chance they'll revert to using Polarized planes on the SFO-HKG route but since this was just a personal, mileage run trip I didn't want to take the chance and wait around til the last minute just to see. I phoned UA yesterday and cancelled for a full refund. Interestingly, the CSA originally told me there was a $300 cancellation fee. When I pushed back she "checked with her supervisor" and agreed to the full refund.

Now I'll be looking for another 3-day mileage run over MLK weekend in January!
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 7:03 am
  #1973  
 
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Originally Posted by brucemcdou

now i'll be looking for another 3-day mileage run over mlk weekend in january!

sfo-akl?
Sfo-ppt?

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Old Oct 1, 2019, 7:40 am
  #1974  
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Originally Posted by narvik
They seem to deploy them willy-nilly right now, but with more and more converted planes they should be able to plan better in advance, and have designated "Polarized" routes. Or so it would seem.
They are definitely designating routes for the Polaris seat, which ties up many of the converted aircraft, so if your seat map for departure in the next few months shows old seating there is actually a substantial chance that you will get the old seating.

Originally Posted by narvik
sfo-akl?
Sfo-ppt?
SFO-PPT is 788.

SFO-ICN and SFO-TPE are both dedicated Polaris routes with relatively cheap Ws and lots of PZ. SFO-NRT it can be hard to find a fare below H or Q.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 7:53 am
  #1975  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
They are definitely designating routes for the Polaris seat, which ties up many of the converted aircraft, so if your seat map for departure in the next few months shows old seating there is actually a substantial chance that you will get the old seating.
Not sure I agree with this part.
N79011 -for instance- is a converted pmCO 772 that they seem to deploy on non-Polaris routes quite often.
I reckon they have reached a tipping point where the NON-Polarized pmCO 772s will be the exception.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 7:57 am
  #1976  
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Originally Posted by narvik
Not sure I agree with this part.
N79011 -for instance- is a converted pmCO 772 that they seem to deploy on non-Polaris routes quite often.
I reckon they have reached a tipping point where the NON-Polarized pmCO 772s will be the exception.
I hope you're right. I thought I had read that no further pmCO 772 mods were currently scheduled.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 8:02 am
  #1977  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
I hope you're right. I thought I had read that no further pmCO 772 mods were currently scheduled.
WHAAAAT?
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 9:58 am
  #1978  
 
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Originally Posted by narvik
Not sure I agree with this part.
N79011 -for instance- is a converted pmCO 772 that they seem to deploy on non-Polaris routes quite often.
I reckon they have reached a tipping point where the NON-Polarized pmCO 772s will be the exception.
This is correct. At the moment, there are no dedicated Polaris/PE markets for the pmCO 777-224ER, all show a 77Y (old CO config) seat map at booking, and if a Polaris-equipped airplane (77E) is assigned closer to departure, then the correct seat map will appear. In some cases, 77E are swapping out 77N/Q (777-222ER Polaris) close to departure, but this does not appear to be a regular thing.

Originally Posted by Kacee
I hope you're right. I thought I had read that no further pmCO 772 mods were currently scheduled.
One more 77E is due out of mod in the next week or two, and another one should follow a bit later. Once the converted airplanes are ready to go, we'll see their replacements scheduled to HKG. That gets the fleet to 9/22 converted to 77E, 2 in the shop and 11 77Y in service.

As far as I know, the company plans to run two 77Y -> 77E mod lines through the winter; no change there. With 9 airplanes, that should be sufficiently redundant to at least cover HKG-EWR/SFOx2 with 77E when those flights go to 772 service this winter.
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 12:07 pm
  #1979  
 
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Sorry, I know already posted, but no idea how to find the thread

How can i tell the exact aircraft # for my flight, and then where do i go to find out if it has been retro-fitted for Polaris

tia
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Old Oct 1, 2019, 12:10 pm
  #1980  
 
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Originally Posted by caseminole
Sorry, I know already posted, but no idea how to find the thread

How can i tell the exact aircraft # for my flight, and then where do i go to find out if it has been retro-fitted for Polaris

tia

Best place to see which aircraft is being used is probably united.com's Flight Status, or their app (keep in mind that it can change up to about 48 hours (or even less) before flight.)

Retrofit list is here: https://sites.google.com/site/united...fleet-tracking
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