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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 Dec 19, 17, 8:18 pm
  #751  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Originally Posted by aCavalierInCoach View Post
Any predictability or are they tending to swap in fairly late?
They assign 2-3 days in advance (I am checking in flightaware). Actually right now they are operating only two 763. One is standing in ORD since the last Saturday.
I have a flight on Dec 27 from GRU-IAH in F. Still have some hope they can assign the 763 Polaris for my flight.
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Old Dec 19, 17, 8:32 pm
  #752  
 
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I keep hoping an upcoming EWR-PVG or SFO-PVG leg will have a 777-200 equipment swap with the 777-300 ... Don't think it'll happen, but never hurts to hope!
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Old Dec 19, 17, 11:04 pm
  #753  
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it will be interesting to learn, where the additional 4 (#15-18) B777-300s will be deployed.
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Old Dec 26, 17, 8:24 am
  #754  
 
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EWR-TLV

any idea by when they should have retrofitted 772's on this route, right now they have 2 flights there on the 77w with new polaris, wondering if there is any chance they will have retrofitted 772's on this route in may
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Old Dec 26, 17, 9:21 am
  #755  
 
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Originally Posted by Yossi Ruby View Post
any idea by when they should have retrofitted 772's on this route, right now they have 2 flights there on the 77w with new polaris, wondering if there is any chance they will have retrofitted 772's on this route in may
None of the 772s have been retrofitted yet; there's rumor one or two are in process now, but the first one takes a long time (needs certification). There has been no announcement about what routes the retrofitted 772s will be used on, so anything you read here is purely speculation. My speculation is that May is unlikely, but you never know until you set foot on the airplane! Also, there will be four more new 77Ws arriving in the second half of 2018, but not in time for your interest in May.
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Old Dec 26, 17, 9:28 am
  #756  
 
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happened on this thread, and just note to mods/wiki admins - the first bullet of the wiki seems silly saying "14 of 18 delivered". I think the intent is all 14 delivered out of 18 on order? (sorry to be nit picky but was actually confused at first why only 14 of the 18 had Polaris..)
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Old Dec 26, 17, 9:44 am
  #757  
 
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Originally Posted by hscottm View Post
happened on this thread, and just note to mods/wiki admins - the first bullet of the wiki seems silly saying "14 of 18 delivered". I think the intent is all 14 delivered out of 18 on order? (sorry to be nit picky but was actually confused at first why only 14 of the 18 had Polaris..)
I changed the wording to say:

777-300ER - All 14 of the planes were delivered with Polaris seating. There are four more on order, due in the second half of 2018 -- they will be delivered with Polaris seating as well.
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Old Dec 29, 17, 9:11 pm
  #758  
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Are there any additonal 763s in for the retrofit?
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Old Dec 30, 17, 11:05 pm
  #759  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g View Post
Are there any additonal 763s in for the retrofit?
Yes, N655UA and N656UA are currently being retrofitted in HKG.
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Old Dec 31, 17, 1:26 am
  #760  
 
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I thought 772 retrofit starts this winter, not next winter??
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Old Dec 31, 17, 1:47 am
  #761  
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Originally Posted by warrenw View Post
I thought 772 retrofit starts this winter, not next winter??
Where have you seen Winter 2019?
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Old Dec 31, 17, 1:52 am
  #762  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA View Post
Where have you seen Winter 2019?
The wiki says "United says these will start Winter 2018"

I feel dumb but i read that as like, December 2018. I'm assuming that's January 18?
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Old Dec 31, 17, 1:59 am
  #763  
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Originally Posted by warrenw View Post
The wiki says "United says these will start Winter 2018"

I feel dumb but i read that as like, December 2018. I'm assuming that's January 18?
Winter started 10 days ago and Winter is commonly a shorthand for January, Febraury and March.
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Old Dec 31, 17, 1:59 am
  #764  
 
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At what point will United publish Polaris 763 routes? Out of the 14 3-class birds, 3 are complete and 3 are in mod, so that leaves only 8 of the old configs left flying. The same can be said for the future 772 conversions; at what point are enough converted where UA can dedicate them to certain routes and promise a consistent product?
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Old Dec 31, 17, 5:32 am
  #765  
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Originally Posted by pushmyredbutton View Post
At what point will United publish Polaris 763 routes? Out of the 14 3-class birds, 3 are complete and 3 are in mod, so that leaves only 8 of the old configs left flying. The same can be said for the future 772 conversions; at what point are enough converted where UA can dedicate them to certain routes and promise a consistent product?
Given that a significant number of the 763 are apparently not going to be converted to Polaris, I doubt that UA ever publishes a Polaris route list for the 763, given all of the substitutions that will likely result.
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