May 29, 17, 2:21 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, ....
May 19, 22, 6:06 am
#2656
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM 1K
Posts: 3,201
Originally Posted by Plane-is-home
No idea, but tickets were 9.8K for biz; major devalue from Polaris to fauxlaris as the soft products is already devalued to the bare minimum. hard product was all that was left
May 19, 22, 7:58 am
#2658
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 59,068
Originally Posted by JimInOhio
Some people like the old configuration more than the new.
Polaris was introduced 6 years ago. Long past time to wrap it up.
May 19, 22, 10:56 am
#2660
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 8,846
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
Just criminally brutal - sympathies.
I wonder what comp they give Prem plus customers who get shafted with the ghetto 789
I wonder what comp they give Prem plus customers who get shafted with the ghetto 789
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
How many that booked PremPlus would share that view?
Polaris was introduced 6 years ago. Long past time to wrap it up.
Polaris was introduced 6 years ago. Long past time to wrap it up.
It's a contingency situation, not a deliberate strategy by United to torture its passengers. An interesting experiment would be to visit the gate area of a flight that's fallen victim to a swap, and ask the customers if they'd prefer United to cancel the flight entirely rather than operate with such a "brutal" configuration?
It just seems like we are flogging a dead horse with this issue. The 789s will be retrofit soon. I guess I'd rather see us expend our "complaint resources" on United's strategic, uncompetitive cheapness on things like inflight service or the lounge product!
Oh, and Premium Plus was announced in November 2018, and entered service in 2019. The aircraft availability issue is also why PP mods have not started on the 30J Polaris 76As. That was intended to start this winter.
May 19, 22, 11:25 am
#2661
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 59,068
As mentioned upthread, UAUA contained non-IPTE converted frames to fixed routes. Even on a shoestring it can be done. And having the newest product protected on ULH should be easy - all but 4 789s have it! And dont forget the curious decision to prioritize updating the -8 before the -9, that is all on UA.
btw, saying the old PMCO seat is comfy isnt relevant - UAs decision is to eliminate it. That isnt being revisited.
btw, saying the old PMCO seat is comfy isnt relevant - UAs decision is to eliminate it. That isnt being revisited.
May 19, 22, 11:43 am
#2662
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 8,846
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
As mentioned upthread, UAUA contained non-IPTE converted frames to fixed routes. Even on a shoestring it can be done. And having the newest product protected on ULH should be easy - all but 4 789s have it! And don’t forget the curious decision to prioritize updating the -8 before the -9, that is all on UA.
btw, saying the old PMCO seat is comfy isn’t relevant - UA’s decision is to eliminate it. That isn’t being revisited.
btw, saying the old PMCO seat is comfy isn’t relevant - UA’s decision is to eliminate it. That isn’t being revisited.
And in the UA days, there were plenty of IPTE to non-IPTE swaps over the years... I'm old enough to remember (and have experienced) those.
May 19, 22, 11:45 am
#2663
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM 1K
Posts: 3,201
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
As mentioned upthread, UAUA contained non-IPTE converted frames to fixed routes. Even on a shoestring it can be done. And having the newest product protected on ULH should be easy - all but 4 789s have it! And don’t forget the curious decision to prioritize updating the -8 before the -9, that is all on UA.
btw, saying the old PMCO seat is comfy isn’t relevant - UA’s decision is to eliminate it. That isn’t being revisited.
btw, saying the old PMCO seat is comfy isn’t relevant - UA’s decision is to eliminate it. That isn’t being revisited.
My *guess* as to why the 789s are the last to be finished is because they aren't changing the number of J seats on the a/c. It makes interoperability between old and new configurations a bit easier than with the 788.
May 24, 22, 11:20 am
#2664
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: ORD
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 16
Sorry for dumb question if discussed earlier in this thread... but what is current timetable for Polaris retrofit of Pratt & Whitney 772? My more self-interested question is whether the Polarized 773s and 772s I've been blessed with on ORD-SFO for the past year are gone forever or just temporarily for summer 2022...
May 24, 22, 12:27 pm
#2665
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 59,068
Originally Posted by matis11
Sorry for dumb question if discussed earlier in this thread... but what is current timetable for Polaris retrofit of Pratt & Whitney 772?
23 have 28-32 seats of the prior Gen Biz class lieflat seat, no Prem Plus and lots of Economy.
None of the 52 are in scope to be updated further AFAIK
May 25, 22, 1:27 pm
#2666
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: New York City (LGA/JFK/EWR)
Programs: AA, AS
Posts: 68
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
29/52 already have Polaris and Premium Plus
23 have 28-32 seats of the prior Gen Biz class lieflat seat, no Prem Plus and lots of Economy.
None of the 52 are in scope to be updated further AFAIK
23 have 28-32 seats of the prior Gen Biz class lieflat seat, no Prem Plus and lots of Economy.
None of the 52 are in scope to be updated further AFAIK
The 23 frames comprise of all 19/19 777-200 non-ER frames (all PW) with 28 lie-flat seats primarily for domestic hub-hub and transcons, and 4/33 PW-powered 777-200ER with 32 lie-flat seats, primarily to be used on EWR/ORD-Hawaii routes.
The other 29/33 PW 777-200ER and all 22/22 GE 777-200ER have been fitted with Polaris/Premium Plus.
May 28, 22, 9:30 pm
#2668
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 160
Last I read the plan is to make IAD-HNL a 767-400. Is that still the case? Based on the above posts (and also what I've read) it seems the UA end goal is to make all their lie flat mainland routes to Hawaii 2-4-2 and take Polaris off the table. Is that really the case?
May 28, 22, 11:59 pm
#2669
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott LTPP/Platinum Premier, Hyatt Lame-ist, UA !K
Posts: 16,643
Originally Posted by darkrider
Last I read the plan is to make IAD-HNL a 767-400. Is that still the case? Based on the above posts (and also what I've read) it seems the UA end goal is to make all their lie flat mainland routes to Hawaii 2-4-2 and take Polaris off the table. Is that really the case?
David
May 29, 22, 1:08 am
#2670
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,270
As of 24 hours ago there were 7 of the PW 772s in active service - meaning they've flown a few revenue routes and are lined up for more. Hopefully after the holiday weekend we'll have a few more in active service and can get a few more of the remaining 789s over to XMN. We have our first trip in Polaris coming up in less than two months and while I don't mind the older planes, I don't want an equipment swap to throw our seat assignments out the window.
