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

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Old May 29, 2017, 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, ....

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Old May 29, 2017, 12:45 pm
  #286  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
763 A/C #6444 is getting polaris seating. Configuration will be 30J/50Y+/134Y 214 total. Due out middle of July.
Kind of funny that there's one more Y+ and one fewer Y- than the current 2-cabin version. What orphan seat gets upgraded to Y+?
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Old May 29, 2017, 12:46 pm
  #287  
 
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Originally Posted by JAaronT
Pretty big increase from the IPTE version but nearly identical to the current 2-cabin config.
Thanks, I hadn't noticed that - makes sense.
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Old May 29, 2017, 12:47 pm
  #288  
 
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The 3-cabin 763s that are getting reconfigured will have the same seat count as the current 2-cabin 763s - 214. Only difference is this batch of 2-cabin 763s will have 1 additional E+ seat and 1 less E- Seat.

66xx 30/49/135 214 Total
64xx 30/50/134 214 Total

no mockups or seat maps available yet.
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Old May 29, 2017, 1:14 pm
  #289  
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Originally Posted by halls120
Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
763 A/C #6444 is getting polaris seating. Configuration will be 30J/50Y+/134Y 214 total. Due out middle of July.
A reduction of E+ over the current configuration. I'm shocked.
That aircraft is/was presently 6F/26BF/71E+/80E- -- 183 total

But 21 of the 35 763's are 30BF/49E+/135E- --- 214 Total

So for most of the 763 fleet this is pretty much the same allocation.
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Old May 29, 2017, 1:18 pm
  #290  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
The 3-cabin 763s that are getting reconfigured will have the same seat count as the current 2-cabin 763s - 214. Only difference is this batch of 2-cabin 763s will have 1 additional E+ seat and 1 less E- Seat.

66xx 30/49/135 214 Total
64xx 30/50/134 214 Total

no mockups or seat maps available yet.
Footprint would have to be similar to.current seats, only possibilities are a staggered 2-1-2 or 1-3-1 (with throne seats in the middle, similar to JetBlue
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Old May 29, 2017, 1:18 pm
  #291  
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
That aircraft is/was presently 6F/26BF/71E+/80E- -- 183 total

But 21 of the 35 763's are 30BF/49E+/135E- --- 214 Total

So for most of the 763 fleet this is pretty much the same allocation.
True - but it's more of the sad post merger rollback of customer comfort.
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Old May 29, 2017, 1:50 pm
  #292  
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If the first 763 retrofit is truly completed by mid July, UA will have managed to stay within its previously published (unofficial?) conversion time frame (see post #84 ) despite the production hiccup at Zodiac.
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Old May 29, 2017, 1:51 pm
  #293  
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Originally Posted by JAaronT
Kind of funny that there's one more Y+ and one fewer Y- than the current 2-cabin version. What orphan seat gets upgraded to Y+?
Could be 2 sets of outer seats (i.e. both sides of a row) get moved to E+ pitch, while a set of 3 center seats gets moved to E- pitch.
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Old May 29, 2017, 1:55 pm
  #294  
 
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Originally Posted by mduell
Could be 2 sets of outer seats (i.e. both sides of a row) get moved to E+ pitch, while a set of 3 center seats gets moved to E- pitch.
Well that's way less fun than the scenarios I was envisioning.
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Old May 29, 2017, 2:08 pm
  #295  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
The 3-cabin 763s that are getting reconfigured will have the same seat count as the current 2-cabin 763s - 214. Only difference is this batch of 2-cabin 763s will have 1 additional E+ seat and 1 less E- Seat.

66xx 30/49/135 214 Total
64xx 30/50/134 214 Total

no mockups or seat maps available yet.
Makes for relatively simple adjustments when there's an aircraft swap. Anxious to see the seat maps.

Originally Posted by UASleeper
If the first 763 retrofit is truly completed by mid July, UA will have managed to stay within its previously published (unofficial?) conversion time frame (see post #84 ) despite the production hiccup at Zodiac.
That's true.

My hunch is that the production problems are overblown and really not affecting UA's rollout schedule much, if any.
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Old May 29, 2017, 2:51 pm
  #296  
 
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With both UA and CX currently dealing with Zodiac production issues, the new 77Ws getting temporarily mothballed, and the prior documented issues over at AA, I highly doubt these production problems are overblown. I think this 763 is getting retrofitted first because someone at UA decided this decision would offer the highest ROI.

Originally Posted by minnyfly
My hunch is that the production problems are overblown and really not affecting UA's rollout schedule much, if any.
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Old May 29, 2017, 3:21 pm
  #297  
 
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Originally Posted by minnyfly
Anxious to see the seat maps.

.
Daniel Clucas, senior designer at Acumen Design Associates, which designed the seats, says Polaris will be arranged in a one-one-one configuration on the 767s and the same one-two-one configuration on the 777-200s as it is on the 777-300ERs.

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...ris-re-434124/
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Old May 29, 2017, 3:21 pm
  #298  
 
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Originally Posted by 764toHI
With both UA and CX currently dealing with Zodiac production issues, the new 77Ws getting temporarily mothballed, and the prior documented issues over at AA, I highly doubt these production problems are overblown. I think this 763 is getting retrofitted first because someone at UA decided this decision would offer the highest ROI.
The issues with with AA can't be completely extrapolated. They're different divisions of Zodiac. Cathay's issues were quality control on a initial small number of seats, and those problems haven't occurred with UA.

I'm basing my hunch more by UA's published schedule for switching to 77Ws and historical examples of airlines introducing a new type while retiring another. Simply put, airlines commonly don't switch over very quickly. If you've noticed, UA has never come close to not having the aircraft to operate their new 77W routes. They've been slow and methodical in the planning, and the airplanes are ready to roll on day 1 of a new route. Usually if real problems are occurring, the airplanes aren't ready to fly the schedule. Take the latest 77W, N2136U. It's just running as a sub until SFO-NRT starts in a couple weeks. Also, retiring one type and retraining the crew isn't an instant process. Boeing was able to manufacture 77Ws much faster than an airline typically takes delivery of widebodies. Of the top of my head I can't think of another example of a U.S. airline getting 14 of one widebody type this quickly. It's a complicated process to transition pilots, and a slower, steady process like UA is scheduling makes perfect sense from a logistics standpoint. There might be some delays in here with the 77Ws, but if they are, they don't appear to be major from my operations look at it.

Originally Posted by halls120
Other than the completed 77W's sitting in Paine with no seats, everything's just fine.
Very possible that it's a planned move. I've seen or heard no concrete evidence that it's not planned.

Last edited by minnyfly; May 29, 2017 at 3:30 pm Reason: added quote
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Old May 29, 2017, 3:25 pm
  #299  
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Originally Posted by minnyfly
My hunch is that the production problems are overblown and really not affecting UA's rollout schedule much, if any.
Other than the completed 77W's sitting in Paine with no seats, everything's just fine.
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Old May 29, 2017, 3:28 pm
  #300  
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
The 3-cabin 763s that are getting reconfigured will have the same seat count as the current 2-cabin 763s - 214. Only difference is this batch of 2-cabin 763s will have 1 additional E+ seat and 1 less E- Seat.

66xx 30/49/135 214 Total
64xx 30/50/134 214 Total

no mockups or seat maps available yet.
Which is consistent with the reports that the Polaris seat was designed to be space neutral compared to the B/E Diamond.
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