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✨ Polaris (& PP) Retrofits: Schedule, ....

Old May 29, 17, 1:21 pm
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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, ....

Old Jun 1, 22, 3:43 pm
  #2671  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA View Post
UA does not assign specific aircraft until about two days before departure. UA will try to use a PremPlus equip aircraft on a route where they have been selling PremPlus to avoid the downgrade issue. Where UA is not selling PremPlus, it will show the old config until the 2 day mark even thought the odd it will be a new config.

With the widebody shortage due to the extend grounding of the PW 772, UA is scrambling alot and hard to predict much in advance.
Just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly here. My flight from EWR-LAX was originally booked as a 787-10, but is now showing up as a domestic 772 (with only four rows of J seats and no PP).

Are you saying that UA is only displaying the domestic 772 as a default, but I could potentially get other 772 configurations at T-2 days? Or does the fact that it's showing up as a domestic 772 guarantee I will have non-polaris seats, assuming no further equipment changes?
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Old Jun 1, 22, 3:59 pm
  #2672  
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Originally Posted by Seph87 View Post
Just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly here. My flight from EWR-LAX was originally booked as a 787-10, but is now showing up as a domestic 772 (with only four rows of J seats and no PP).

Are you saying that UA is only displaying the domestic 772 as a default, but I could potentially get other 772 configurations at T-2 days? Or does the fact that it's showing up as a domestic 772 guarantee I will have non-polaris seats, assuming no further equipment changes?
There is no certain answer as UA is make significant system wide changes in June with the re-introduction of 772PW fleet. The odds are it will stay the 772HD but things are more fluid nowadays due to the return of the 772 PW aircraft.

In a more stable environment UA's practice is to select a type but the specific aircraft is not select until 2 days earlier. Generally that is not notice but for aircraft types with subfleets, like 739s or 789s, that can be noticed.

And of course in case of irrops, there can be last minute swaps.
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Old Jun 1, 22, 4:02 pm
  #2673  
 
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Originally Posted by DELee View Post
Probably. Talk to Scott - especially if other airlines start counterprogramming A/C with more comfortable seats and siphons off folks willing to spendy to HI.

David
EWR764 mentioned a few months ago that UA is looking at doing something with the 8 across birds as they have been getting high survey scores on the Polaris planes going to Hawaii. My guess is that it will be 28-32 Polaris type seats between doors 1 and 2

Originally Posted by Seph87 View Post
Just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly here. My flight from EWR-LAX was originally booked as a 787-10, but is now showing up as a domestic 772 (with only four rows of J seats and no PP).

Are you saying that UA is only displaying the domestic 772 as a default, but I could potentially get other 772 configurations at T-2 days? Or does the fact that it's showing up as a domestic 772 guarantee I will have non-polaris seats, assuming no further equipment changes?
So at T-2 UA has assigned an aircraft to your flight. If everything goes according to UAs plan that plane and seat map will stick, there is always a chance that something happens and they do a plane swap but I would put my money on the domestic 777 being the plane you fly on.
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Old Jun 1, 22, 4:12 pm
  #2674  
 
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In the before times, i.e., with a fully operational and utilized widebody fleet, the 772HD and 772 with Polaris/PP were more or less treated as separate subfleets. Most close-in and day-of aircraft swaps were limited to those in the same subfleet and configuration, but there are odd swaps here and there when they really need to get a flight out and they use whatever spare they have available. Further in advance, schedule changes, including equipment changes to a different aircraft type or subfleet, are possible.
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Old Jun 8, 22, 5:11 pm
  #2675  
 
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Is there any insight as to when the remaining 789s will start to enter MOD? Over 20 PW 772s have returned to service, what seems like more than enough to get the last 4 started up.

Slightly OT, but relevant, why are they still using 787s for Domestic TCons? I would think that the PWs, that are restricted to Mainland US would be used to free up the eights and GE 772s for over water flights.
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Old Jun 8, 22, 5:40 pm
  #2676  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408 View Post
Is there any insight as to when the remaining 789s will start to enter MOD? Over 20 PW 772s have returned to service, what seems like more than enough to get the last 4 started up.
My guess is probably July as they cut several route for all of June. That will let them to continue to build slack in the network. I am unsure if the 772 and 789s take up the same physical lines while at XMN, but there are 5 772s currently there and 1 777ER. I would think until they are comfortable with the planes for the summer season, cosmetic cabin upgrades are on the back burner to ensure revenue opportunities are realized.
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Old Jun 8, 22, 7:29 pm
  #2677  
 
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Originally Posted by Cris View Post
My guess is probably July as they cut several route for all of June. That will let them to continue to build slack in the network. I am unsure if the 772 and 789s take up the same physical lines while at XMN, but there are 5 772s currently there and 1 777ER. I would think until they are comfortable with the planes for the summer season, cosmetic cabin upgrades are on the back burner to ensure revenue opportunities are realized.
There is also the timing of getting everything in, I doubt UA will pay to hold a slot in XMN when they didn't know exactly the 772s would return. They need to be sequenced in
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Old Jun 9, 22, 6:16 am
  #2678  
 
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Originally Posted by N104UA View Post
EWR764 mentioned a few months ago that UA is looking at doing something with the 8 across birds as they have been getting high survey scores on the Polaris planes going to Hawaii. My guess is that it will be 28-32 Polaris type seats between doors 1 and 2
Hope and pray that EWR764 is on to something. The 773 stay on the SFO<->HNL for now.. (:
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Old Jun 21, 22, 2:33 pm
  #2679  
 
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Is there any pattern if Polaris 789s are more frequently found on ex-LAX or ex-DEN routes? Considering NRT shortly, and I know only about 50% of the 789s are retrofitted. My options are LAX or DEN.
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Old Jun 21, 22, 2:38 pm
  #2680  
 
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Originally Posted by loganre17 View Post
Is there any pattern if Polaris 789s are more frequently found on ex-LAX or ex-DEN routes? Considering NRT shortly, and I know only about 50% of the 789s are retrofitted. My options are LAX or DEN.
Not true--at this time 34 out of 38 789s have been retrofitted. There is no systematic rhyme or reason over where the remaining unretrofitted frames show up, so book the routing that is more convenient for you.
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Old Jun 21, 22, 3:29 pm
  #2681  
 
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Originally Posted by dkc192 View Post
Not true--at this time 34 out of 38 789s have been retrofitted. There is no systematic rhyme or reason over where the remaining unretrofitted frames show up, so book the routing that is more convenient for you.
Ah higher than I have written down here. Thanks for this
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Old Jul 10, 22, 1:40 pm
  #2682  
 
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Traveling solo from ORD-DEL and just had a last minute switch to a non-retrofitted 789… Luckily I have the window and don’t anticipate getting up much, but still frustrating that they’d use this aircraft on this 15hr route
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Old Oct 16, 22, 1:00 pm
  #2683  
 
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We've made it to the end of the pre-polaris 789s!

27958 is headed to Guam on Tuesday.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...710Z/KSFO/PGUM

Feeling better about my November trips now.
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Old Oct 17, 22, 6:10 am
  #2684  
 
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Originally Posted by phranticaw View Post
We've made it to the end of the pre-polaris 789s!

27958 is headed to Guam on Tuesday.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...710Z/KSFO/PGUM

Feeling better about my November trips now.
Woohoo!!! I have multiple SYD & SIN trips coming up, was definitely sweating last-minute swap.
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Old Oct 17, 22, 11:20 am
  #2685  
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Originally Posted by phranticaw View Post
We've made it to the end of the pre-polaris 789s!

27958 is headed to Guam on Tuesday.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...710Z/KSFO/PGUM

Feeling better about my November trips now.
I’ll hold off the confetti until Tuesday

I figured they would try to stick it to SFO-SIN one last time….
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