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, ....
Jul 19, 2021, 10:31 pm
#2506
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,450
t that any of us expect those to ever actually be delivered to UA.That said, United is clearly taking a wait-and-see approach here. As they should… the 77E fleet has been sparingly utilized (as compared to normal) over the past 15 months and largely has a great deal of useful life remaining. But, when the time comes, considering the size of the fleet, the 787 economy of scale might not matter as much as having the right airplane (in considerable numbers) for the job. To grossly oversimplify things: the 789 has the legs but can’t haul as much; the 78X can haul but not nearly as far.
Aug 26, 2021, 9:42 pm
#2507
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,342
If I look at the fleet side, it looks like all the 787-8's are complete with the updated Polaris and Premium Plus cabins, correct? If so, why is UA selling overseas flights later this year on a 788 with the old seatmap and no PP for sale? Looking at SFO-KIX in November specifically. I'm sure there's plenty of possibilities such as subbing a 789 or cancelling the route, but why would they be using the old 788 seatmap if there aren't any of those in the fleet anymore?
Aug 26, 2021, 11:30 pm
#2508
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 60,174
If I look at the fleet side, it looks like all the 787-8's are complete with the updated Polaris and Premium Plus cabins, correct? If so, why is UA selling overseas flights later this year on a 788 with the old seatmap and no PP for sale? Looking at SFO-KIX in November specifically. I'm sure there's plenty of possibilities such as subbing a 789 or cancelling the route, but why would they be using the old 788 seatmap if there aren't any of those in the fleet anymore?
just one more reason UA screwed up by slow walking the Dreamliner conversions while the planes were idle
Aug 27, 2021, 12:33 am
#2509
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,451
If I look at the fleet side, it looks like all the 787-8's are complete with the updated Polaris and Premium Plus cabins, correct? If so, why is UA selling overseas flights later this year on a 788 with the old seatmap and no PP for sale? Looking at SFO-KIX in November specifically. I'm sure there's plenty of possibilities such as subbing a 789 or cancelling the route, but why would they be using the old 788 seatmap if there aren't any of those in the fleet anymore?
Aug 27, 2021, 7:01 am
#2510
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,450
If I look at the fleet side, it looks like all the 787-8's are complete with the updated Polaris and Premium Plus cabins, correct? If so, why is UA selling overseas flights later this year on a 788 with the old seatmap and no PP for sale? Looking at SFO-KIX in November specifically. I'm sure there's plenty of possibilities such as subbing a 789 or cancelling the route, but why would they be using the old 788 seatmap if there aren't any of those in the fleet anymore?
We’ll probably see a major update to the W21/22 international schedule in the coming weeks, at which point the old 788 seat maps will go away (along with dozens of international routes currently for sale, but won’t actually be flying).
Sep 6, 2021, 7:04 am
#2511
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PHL
Programs: UA Plat, 2MM
Posts: 1,860
Old Config on 787 8,9
Why is UA still using the old Business configuration on the 787 8, 9 and not the new seat? Why have they not finished reconfiguring the fleet, they had a lot of down time for the aircraft?
Sep 6, 2021, 8:31 am
#2512
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,450
Multiple 787-9 mod lines are underway (in China) and that program should finish by next summer.
It’s easy to be critical of UA for not using the COVID-related “downtime” to finish the mods, but consider a few things:
1) all capex was suspended in early 2020 because, at the time, the financial viability of the airline industry was very much in doubt;
2) restarting the mod program (in China) took time due to labor/supply chain/availability issues; and
3) the 787 fleet was heavily utilized with nearly all 767/772 parked and a significant all-cargo network during most of 2020.
I’m just glad the program has resumed. United’s conduct with regard to the fleet during COVID is hard to criticize… I would look to prior management and wonder why 787-9s were coming into the fleet with old interiors months after the Polaris seats had been introduced. That was all about cost savings.
Sep 10, 2021, 11:33 pm
#2514
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Except for the few extremely long haul routes that require the 2nd generation on the 789s, that came with Polaris and PE installed at the factory, all of the other 789 routes are using whatever is available. UA.com will show the old seat map until about 3 days before when they assign a particular airframe to a flight.
So it's anybody's guess what type of seating a flight will have.
So it's anybody's guess what type of seating a flight will have.
Sep 10, 2021, 11:34 pm
#2515
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
Sep 20, 2021, 1:12 pm
#2516
Join Date: Sep 2021
Posts: 34
Hopefully, with the dropping of the US international travel ban effective in early November 2021, airlines will be keen on increasing frequencies and service levels at a much more aggressive pace. Looking at you, United. I'd be delighted to get a fully Polaris'd 777 instead of the "fauxlaris" 787-9 I got rescheduled to for SFO-LHR on November 30th!
And if they manage to pull a rabbit and open the Polaris lounge, and maybe even bring back the sundaes... And... And! (Yeah, probably not by then. But one can dream!)
And if they manage to pull a rabbit and open the Polaris lounge, and maybe even bring back the sundaes... And... And! (Yeah, probably not by then. But one can dream!)
Sep 20, 2021, 3:11 pm
#2517
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 60,174
Hopefully, with the dropping of the US international travel ban effective in early November 2021, airlines will be keen on increasing frequencies and service levels at a much more aggressive pace. Looking at you, United. I'd be delighted to get a fully Polaris'd 777 instead of the "fauxlaris" 787-9 I got rescheduled to for SFO-LHR on November 30th!
Instead those nicer configs are prowling ORD-DEN/SFO-HNL and the like. Which is fine by me at the moment
but clearly not the right priority once the key INTL routes pick up again.
Sep 20, 2021, 3:59 pm
#2518
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,123
They could choose to put real Polaris (which comes with a Prem Plus option for more budget folks) on SFO-LHR today
Instead those nicer configs are prowling ORD-DEN/SFO-HNL and the like. Which is fine by me at the moment but clearly not the right priority once the key INTL routes pick up again.
Instead those nicer configs are prowling ORD-DEN/SFO-HNL and the like. Which is fine by me at the moment
but clearly not the right priority once the key INTL routes pick up again.
Oct 5, 2021, 10:39 pm
#2519
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Left Coast
Programs: UA 1K & 1MM, HH Diamond, Marriott/SPG Gold (UA comp)
Posts: 1,353
Services in PP on a retrofitted 788
Hi do the three rows 20-22 on these planes also offer a more premium service on transcons (meals/amenities/etc) or just better seat configuration?
Oct 6, 2021, 1:02 am
#2520
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,451
Depends on if they are sold as Premium Plus (a separate cabin) or just regular E+. If the former, you will get meals similar to J and I believe an amenity kit. If the latter, you will get standard E+ service for the route in question.