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, ....
Oct 6, 2021, 1:47 am
#2521
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: All over
Programs: AA-LTP, HH-DIA, Marriott-LT+AMB, Hyatt-Globalist, Hertz-PC, UA-GS
Posts: 6,828
Oct 6, 2021, 9:43 am
#2522
Join Date: Sep 2021
Posts: 34
Interesting to note that my outbound flight (UA 901) SFO-LHR in a month and a half has the Fauxlaris 2-2-2 layout for the seat map, but United has loaded my return (UA 900) LHR-SFO on Christmas Eve with a true Polaris 789 seat map.
Maybe by the end of Q-4 UA is confident they'll have retrofitted enough of their 789 fleet to begin promising the new layout on routes? It seems they are chugging through retrofits three airframes at a time for a month or so now.
Maybe by the end of Q-4 UA is confident they'll have retrofitted enough of their 789 fleet to begin promising the new layout on routes? It seems they are chugging through retrofits three airframes at a time for a month or so now.
Oct 6, 2021, 10:21 am
#2524
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,456
Interesting to note that my outbound flight (UA 901) SFO-LHR in a month and a half has the Fauxlaris 2-2-2 layout for the seat map, but United has loaded my return (UA 900) LHR-SFO on Christmas Eve with a true Polaris 789 seat map.
Maybe by the end of Q-4 UA is confident they'll have retrofitted enough of their 789 fleet to begin promising the new layout on routes? It seems they are chugging through retrofits three airframes at a time for a month or so now.
Maybe by the end of Q-4 UA is confident they'll have retrofitted enough of their 789 fleet to begin promising the new layout on routes? It seems they are chugging through retrofits three airframes at a time for a month or so now.
Oct 6, 2021, 10:22 am
#2525
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,126
Oct 6, 2021, 7:35 pm
#2526
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,511
By the way, if you are hoping no one would take 16B, assuming the aircraft configuration stays as is, don't count on it. If agents need to allocate additional seats in E+ during boarding, they would generally start from front to back.
Oct 15, 2021, 4:22 pm
#2527
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: DL, UA, AA, VS
Posts: 5,226
Big Polaris retrofit update from UA as they announced the TATL expansion.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...ofit-timeline/
Slowly getting there.
All 767-300ER should be finished by February, as there are only 4 or 5 left to retrofit.
Only half the 787-9 fleet has Polaris but by "early summer" the rest should be done.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...ofit-timeline/
Slowly getting there.
All 767-300ER should be finished by February, as there are only 4 or 5 left to retrofit.
Only half the 787-9 fleet has Polaris but by "early summer" the rest should be done.
Oct 15, 2021, 4:29 pm
#2528
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
Big Polaris retrofit update from UA as they announced the TATL expansion.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...ofit-timeline/
Slowly getting there.
All 767-300ER should be finished by February, as there are only 4 or 5 left to retrofit.
Only half the 787-9 fleet has Polaris but by "early summer" the rest should be done.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...ofit-timeline/
Slowly getting there.
All 767-300ER should be finished by February, as there are only 4 or 5 left to retrofit.
Only half the 787-9 fleet has Polaris but by "early summer" the rest should be done.
Oct 15, 2021, 6:13 pm
#2530
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: SNA (home), LAX, BOM/PNQ, LHR
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Marriott Gold Elite, IHG Platinum, HHonors Silver
Posts: 965
Has anyone flown FRA-ORD with experience of if that's new or old seats? Flying in mid Dec and currently have the old seats but wondering if it would at all switch to the new seats.
Oct 15, 2021, 6:25 pm
#2531
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: 66,855
As 789s get retrofited, the chance of an older config lessens. Look for UA to start selling PremPlus, which then fixes it to the retrofited config.
Oct 15, 2021, 7:35 pm
#2532
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: SNA (home), LAX, BOM/PNQ, LHR
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Marriott Gold Elite, IHG Platinum, HHonors Silver
Posts: 965
There are two flights presently, one with 788 (all new seats) and one with 789 with have been retrofitted seats -- but UA is not selling PremPlus, so it is possible for UA to swap in the old config (as shown at booking).
As 789s get retrofited, the chance of an older config lessens. Look for UA to start selling PremPlus, which then fixes it to the retrofited config.
As 789s get retrofited, the chance of an older config lessens. Look for UA to start selling PremPlus, which then fixes it to the retrofited config.
Oct 16, 2021, 7:30 am
#2533
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,126
I wouldn't assume anything. It's probably around a 50:50 chance you'll have the new configuration and you won't know for sure until a couple days ahead of departure.
Oct 18, 2021, 1:17 am
#2534
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
The news about the Polaris seats is welcomed news. We have two trips planned for next summer, EWR-FCO and EWR-SYD/MEL-EWR.
The Rome flights are on 763s which, while 95% of them have Polaris, show the old seat map, preventing us from selecting actual seats.
The Australia Flights are on 789s and again, even though we will most likely get Polarised planes, we're currently stuck with the old seat map and could be forced to shuffle at T-72 when the assign an actual plane (Hoping that add P+ to IAH-SYD and MEL-LAX or MEL-SFO by then).
The Rome flights are on 763s which, while 95% of them have Polaris, show the old seat map, preventing us from selecting actual seats.
The Australia Flights are on 789s and again, even though we will most likely get Polarised planes, we're currently stuck with the old seat map and could be forced to shuffle at T-72 when the assign an actual plane (Hoping that add P+ to IAH-SYD and MEL-LAX or MEL-SFO by then).
Oct 18, 2021, 9:02 am
#2535
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
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Posts: 9,454