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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 13, 2020, 9:37 pm
  #2326  
 
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Originally Posted by ctownflyer
It will be Polarized.
And a guaranteed PE seat to HI as well provided they sell it as PE.

And I say "seat" instead of "service" because being a domestic leisure route with yields lower that PS TCon, it's possible that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to market it as PE. UA could just sell them as expensive E+ seats.
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Old Dec 19, 2020, 8:11 pm
  #2327  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
And a guaranteed PE seat to HI as well provided they sell it as PE.

And I say "seat" instead of "service" because being a domestic leisure route with yields lower that PS TCon, it's possible that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to market it as PE. UA could just sell them as expensive E+ seats.
Interestingly, AA is selling PE on their widebody flights to Hawaii. Runs about $200 more each way. Smart move.
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Old Dec 19, 2020, 10:40 pm
  #2328  
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Originally Posted by dkc192
The Polaris/PP 789s are currently just floating throughout the network without being assigned to any given routes in particular. There is indeed a chance that they end up on SFO-SIN, but unless told otherwise one should assume that SFO-SIN on any given day has an equal chance of getting a Polaris/PP frame as any other 789 route in the network (except EWR-JNB and SFO-BLR as previously discussed).
There has been consistent use of 789 between LAX/SFO and SYD, and the likelihood of getting the retrofitted version is good. Also of benefit is the incoming domestic transcon flight from the east coast.
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Old Dec 20, 2020, 12:57 am
  #2329  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
There has been consistent use of 789 between LAX/SFO and SYD, and the likelihood of getting the retrofitted version is good. Also of benefit is the incoming domestic transcon flight from the east coast.
True Polaris 789s recently on SFO-FRA, whenever it is not run by 777s.
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Old Feb 9, 2021, 8:57 am
  #2330  
 
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1. Is there any information out there about the Polaris MODs on the Eight-Eights and then the Eight-Nines? The only thing I noticed is according to the fleet site, a lot of wide bodys (5 763, 6 772s and 2 789s) are in HKG and XMN for "maint." I'm hoping that this is indeed the resumption of maintenance that was talked about earlier, and that Polaris Mods will happen after all of the PM is caught up. It is definitely more important for UA to keep their fleet run-ready than focusing on Polaris.

2. I did notice, that one of the 763's, N674UA, entered HKG for a Polaris MOD on 23-Dec-20. Given the limited resources and the complications from a half-complete fleet of 788s, why retro a 763 right now?
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Old Feb 9, 2021, 10:07 am
  #2331  
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
2. I did notice, that one of the 763's, N674UA, entered HKG for a Polaris MOD on 23-Dec-20. Given the limited resources and the complications from a half-complete fleet of 788s, why retro a 763 right now?
Possibly due to hardware ordered pre-CV.
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Old Feb 10, 2021, 8:20 am
  #2332  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
True Polaris 789s recently on SFO-FRA, whenever it is not run by 777s.
For my flight next month from SFO to FRA and back, with flights UA58 and UA59 respectively, they are now both 789s without the true polarization. UA59 was originally a 777-300LR then got equipment swapped to the 789. Hoping that this switches abck.
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Old Feb 10, 2021, 8:30 am
  #2333  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
1. Is there any information out there about the Polaris MODs on the Eight-Eights and then the Eight-Nines? The only thing I noticed is according to the fleet site, a lot of wide bodys (5 763, 6 772s and 2 789s) are in HKG and XMN for "maint." I'm hoping that this is indeed the resumption of maintenance that was talked about earlier, and that Polaris Mods will happen after all of the PM is caught up. It is definitely more important for UA to keep their fleet run-ready than focusing on Polaris.

2. I did notice, that one of the 763's, N674UA, entered HKG for a Polaris MOD on 23-Dec-20. Given the limited resources and the complications from a half-complete fleet of 788s, why retro a 763 right now?
N674UA is one of the newer batch of UA 763s (2000 delivery), so it wouldn't be a retirement candidate unless the entire 767 fleet was to be pulled down. Even if the mod calls for new money, theoretically this frame has enough life (cashflow) left that it will generate a return on that investment.

OTOH, unless the shipsets of Polaris seats are on property, or UA can't get out of the contract, I wouldn't expect to see new Polaris on 653UA, 657, 658, 661, 662, 663 unless conditions materially improve in the next few months. These are 1992/93 deliveries that probably don't have sufficient useful life in a depressed international demand environment to justify a $10m mod. The 764s would likely be brought back into service and modded before these old birds, which are now among the oldest in the active fleet following retirement of some 1989-vintage 75Ks.
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Old Feb 10, 2021, 10:39 am
  #2334  
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Originally Posted by turbox3
For my flight next month from SFO to FRA and back, with flights UA58 and UA59 respectively, they are now both 789s without the true polarization. UA59 was originally a 777-300LR then got equipment swapped to the 789. Hoping that this switches abck.
789s on all routes generally do show non-Polaris seat maps; closer to flight date - like 3 days out - actual equipment configuration will appear.
In the case of SFO-FRA reconfigured 789s pretty much run every other day.
Keep checking the seat map for your flight!
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Old Mar 6, 2021, 6:12 pm
  #2335  
 
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Well we're soon to be 3 steps closer to completing the 787-8s and hopefully starting the 787-9s. Three of the five 787-8s in the old configuratin are showing in XMN for an overhaul. N27901 and N27902 entered on 28-Feb and N20904 entered on 05-Mar.
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Old Mar 6, 2021, 7:06 pm
  #2336  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
Well we're soon to be 3 steps closer to completing the 787-8s and hopefully starting the 787-9s. Three of the five 787-8s in the old configuratin are showing in XMN for an overhaul. N27901 and N27902 entered on 28-Feb and N20904 entered on 05-Mar.
Wow, the Ceros site shows 12 long-haul birds in the retrofit shop. Is this typical, or is UA taking advantage of financially weaker airlines giving up their spots?
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Old Mar 6, 2021, 7:10 pm
  #2337  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g;[url=tel:33028545
33028545[/url]]789s on all routes generally do show non-Polaris seat maps; closer to flight date - like 3 days out - actual equipment configuration will appear.
In the case of SFO-FRA reconfigured 789s pretty much run every other day.
Keep checking the seat map for your flight!
you’re saying there’s a 50/50 chance of getting new seats on sfo-fra , but it won’t be known until just before departure ?

I’m pretty flexible with my departure but right now only iad and ewr are guaranteed for new config (on 787-10). having longer flight from sfo is nice for sleep
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Old Mar 6, 2021, 7:16 pm
  #2338  
 
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Originally Posted by spartacusmcfly
Wow, the Ceros site shows 12 long-haul birds in the retrofit shop. Is this typical, or is UA taking advantage of financially weaker airlines giving up their spots?
This site hasn't been updated in a while. While it's possible that the "3 of 12 in progress" for the 788s was a recent update, everything else is out of date. You're much better getting your information from the United Mainline Fleet website.

The three 788s are the only ones currently in for MOD.
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Old Mar 8, 2021, 4:18 pm
  #2339  
 
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I'm thinking of booking DUB-SFO in September. It shows is will be a 788 both ways in the old seats. Is there a chance they will be Polaris seats by then?
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Old Mar 8, 2021, 4:22 pm
  #2340  
 
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Originally Posted by AHC96
I'm thinking of booking DUB-SFO in September. It shows is will be a 788 both ways in the old seats. Is there a chance they will be Polaris seats by then?
Anything from May onward is just a placeholder.
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