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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 27, 17, 7:52 pm
  #376  
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Originally Posted by aCavalierInCoach View Post
Nah - they'll do the same stupid program they did when they were running 3-class 777s SFO-EWR and have marketing allocate them to the chagrin of other HVFs on the flt.
Bad surprise, no delight.
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Old Jun 27, 17, 9:06 pm
  #377  
 
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Originally Posted by findark View Post
As best I could tell, those upgrades were by status and fare class, with a heavy focus on GS. At a minimum, GS were added to the upgraded standby list.
I got this upgrade twice, once transcon, once IAD-IAH, both times they asked me the same question first...

Are you traveling alone.......??
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Old Jun 28, 17, 1:10 am
  #378  
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Originally Posted by Hipplewm View Post
I got this upgrade twice, once transcon, once IAD-IAH, both times they asked me the same question first...

Are you traveling alone.......??
Slightly confused...

For three class aircraft flying any route except EWR-SFO/LAX, they are sold with three cabins and normal upgrade and purchase rules apply. Paid J is eligible for CPU/RPU/GPU/etc to F, and paid Y to J.

For the p.s. 3-class 772s, they did not sell the F cabin. They would do "secret sweeps" into the F cabin, and the most information I could get was that GS who checked in would show on the upgrade standby list for F. The one flight I took this config was 8/8 GS up front.
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Old Jun 28, 17, 6:43 am
  #379  
 
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Originally Posted by findark View Post
Slightly confused...

For three class aircraft flying any route except EWR-SFO/LAX, they are sold with three cabins and normal upgrade and purchase rules apply. Paid J is eligible for CPU/RPU/GPU/etc to F, and paid Y to J.

For the p.s. 3-class 772s, they did not sell the F cabin. They would do "secret sweeps" into the F cabin, and the most information I could get was that GS who checked in would show on the upgrade standby list for F. The one flight I took this config was 8/8 GS up front.
I was in the section that is in Italics, except for the P.S. part. These were normal flights but it was a 3 class plane (one 772, one 764) sold as 2 class and when you selected seats online all of the first class seats were blocked. at the gate there were 2-3 left, and they called me to the podium asked me if i was alone and handed me a new boarding pass.
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Old Jun 28, 17, 8:37 am
  #380  
 
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Originally Posted by findark View Post
Slightly confused...

For three class aircraft flying any route except EWR-SFO/LAX, they are sold with three cabins and normal upgrade and purchase rules apply. Paid J is eligible for CPU/RPU/GPU/etc to F, and paid Y to J.

For the p.s. 3-class 772s, they did not sell the F cabin. They would do "secret sweeps" into the F cabin, and the most information I could get was that GS who checked in would show on the upgrade standby list for F. The one flight I took this config was 8/8 GS up front.
Not always. For instance, UA runs a 3-cabin 772 daily in ORD-EWR that is sold as 2-class on the website. I suppose you could call and ask for an A or F fare class though and that would get you into the F cabin.
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Old Jun 28, 17, 8:54 am
  #381  
 
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Originally Posted by worldtrav View Post
With Zodiac involved you can't count on anything being on time. Why do you think they had to put brand new 77W's in to short term storage? Yep, late seats from Wales.
You've surely heard of fake news... well, this is old news. All but the last 77W of the initial order for 14 have Polaris interiors installed (or installation is underway) and N2644U will ultimately be delivered to United about 8 weeks behind schedule. As it stands right now, 10 of 14 are on United property and the only limiting factor is the deliberate pace at which United is inducting the new birds.

But yeah, we can keep making this out to be a complete meltdown...
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Old Jun 28, 17, 11:42 am
  #382  
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Originally Posted by CappuccinoAddict View Post
Not always. For instance, UA runs a 3-cabin 772 daily in ORD-EWR that is sold as 2-class on the website. I suppose you could call and ask for an A or F fare class though and that would get you into the F cabin.
This one?

Name:  Screen Shot 2017-06-28 at 10.37.50 AM.png
Views: 1890
Size:  103.0 KB

We're getting a little OT here, but the vast majority of 3-class a/c are sold as such. The notable exception right now is the 767s which are flying EWR-LHR, which are technically 3-class but are zeroed out up front and they start running upgrades at the last minute. If there start being Polaris-configured sUA 772s, they might start doing this with the sUA 777-200ER fleet as well.
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Old Jun 28, 17, 12:10 pm
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Originally Posted by findark View Post
This one?

Attachment 35041

We're getting a little OT here, but the vast majority of 3-class a/c are sold as such. The notable exception right now is the 767s which are flying EWR-LHR, which are technically 3-class but are zeroed out up front and they start running upgrades at the last minute. If there start being Polaris-configured sUA 772s, they might start doing this with the sUA 777-200ER fleet as well.
I stand corrected! For some reason when I was searching earlier I didn't see the option to book First. It showed up only as Economy and Business, perhaps because I was searching Economy fares?
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Old Jul 9, 17, 8:04 pm
  #384  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28 View Post
First polaris 763 has been pushed back a bit...now due out 2nd half of August.
Any updates on the route or schedule for the first 763 Polaris to be delivered?
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Old Jul 9, 17, 8:36 pm
  #385  
 
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Originally Posted by brodes View Post
Any updates on the route or schedule for the first 763 Polaris to be delivered?
Still due out in August and route is not known yet likely EWR/ORD-LHR.
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Old Jul 10, 17, 1:17 am
  #386  
 
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I wonder if they'll even assign it to a specific route until there are a few more reconfigs complete.

Look at how there are 7 or 8 77Ws in service but only 3 dedicated routes. Using a few birds on non-dedicated routes keeps them available incase one of them is needed for a dedicated route. It's a lot easier to swap a 772 in for a random domestic route than for the SFO-HKG route. Having at least one extra 763 in Polaris configuration protects the dedicated route. You can use your spare for other routes, just make sure it doesn't wander too far from the master in case it's needed.
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Old Jul 26, 17, 4:13 pm
  #387  
 
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Originally Posted by Pat89339 View Post
At the United Polaris event in San Francisco last September, I was told:

The 777-300 is due for delivery in January and will come with the new Polaris seats. There will be 60 seats in C.

The planned retrofit is the 767s first, starting sometime between 2/17-4/17. There will be 30 seats in C. They will have a 1-1-1 configuration.

The 777-200 (excluding Hawaii Configuration) is planned to start sometime between 7/17-9/17. There will be 50 seats in C. 1-2-1 configuration.

The 787-900 will not be retrofitted with Polaris seats, even those still not delivered. The 787-10 orders will be delivered with the Polaris seats.

The Hawaii configured 772s will receive the old C lie flat international seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. They weren't sure how many or the time frame, but it would be similar to current C seating. They will receive the Saks linen.

The international 757s will receive some kind of Polaris seats. They haven't made a decision yet. They will receive the linens, as will the ps aircraft.

No new seats in the 747 which they will retire in 2018. (Now 2017)
None of the 787s, 787-8, 787-9, or 787-10 would be retrofitted. Perhaps one can argue 787s are used on the relatively less business-heavy routes, but I don't know what they are going to say with the SFO-SIN ones.
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Old Jul 26, 17, 5:39 pm
  #388  
 
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Originally Posted by PaulInTheSky View Post
None of the 787s, 787-8, 787-9, or 787-10 would be retrofitted. Perhaps one can argue 787s are used on the relatively less business-heavy routes, but I don't know what they are going to say with the SFO-SIN ones.
They won't be retrofitted ever, or just not in the next few years as they're new?

And I thought the -10's were getting them?
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Old Jul 26, 17, 5:50 pm
  #389  
 
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Originally Posted by warrenw View Post
They won't be retrofitted ever, or just not in the next few years as they're new?

And I thought the -10's were getting them?
The 787-10s will be getting delivered with Polaris seats installed.
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Old Jul 26, 17, 6:17 pm
  #390  
 
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I find it ironic that none of the Polaris seated aircraft fly from the only Polaris lounge in Chicago. In other words it is impossible to experience the full Polaris experience in 2017.

You can either fly a Polaris seated aircraft or visit a Polaris lounge, but United doesn't see the need to combine the two. A pretty disjointed rollout if you ask me.

That being said, I really enjoy the Polaris lounge at ORD and have even booked a bit longer layover to visit the lounge in the past.

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