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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 Apr 13, 2018, 5:24 pm
  #946  
 
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I think 3 mod lines for the 772 is evidence of a quickened retrofit.
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 6:07 pm
  #947  
 
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Originally Posted by warrenw
I think 3 mod lines for the 772 is evidence of a quickened retrofit.
Sounds like there will be a lot more Polaris 772s by year's end than anyone else on this forum could have imagined given the implementation of IPTE. Unlike with IPTE, UA can afford a speedy retrofit whereas the IPTE retrofit happened when UA was in much rougher financial shape, similar to the slow pace of UA Rising livery, which was never completed. I'm expecting we'll see another one or two more 772 Polaris lines after the Summer season ends, which is roughly when the Polaris 767 retrofit will be winding down.
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Old Apr 13, 2018, 6:13 pm
  #948  
 
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Originally Posted by Longboater
Sounds like there will be a lot more Polaris 772s by year's end than anyone else on this forum could have imagined given the implementation of IPTE. Unlike with IPTE, UA can afford a speedy retrofit whereas the IPTE retrofit happened when UA was in much rougher financial shape, similar to the slow pace of UA Rising livery, which was never completed. I'm expecting we'll see another one or two more 772 Polaris lines after the Summer season ends, which is roughly when the Polaris 767 retrofit will be winding down.
Given the new J seat map for the 763s, it might not be winding down as soon as you think...
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 12:47 am
  #949  
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
Given the new J seat map for the 763s, it might not be winding down as soon as you think...
e.g. they might just roll on and convert the entire 763 fleet (?)
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Old Apr 14, 2018, 12:53 am
  #950  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
e.g. they might just roll on and convert the entire 763 fleet (?)
I suspect the 7 planes they are cutting from the fleet are of the old Ghetto bird aircraft presently in the old sCO config, leaving the remaining ones to be retrofitted to this new high J 76L config, eventually used to augment or replace high yielding routes, including transcons. What remains to be seen is how the pending HA aircraft are configured.
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Old Apr 16, 2018, 12:27 am
  #951  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
According to Oscar, they plan to have this done within 3 1/2 years, vs. 6 years on the last reconfiguration.
Originally Posted by EWR764
Oscar is actually referring to the company’s plan to have the entire widebody fleet in the Polaris configuration by the end of 2021.
Originally Posted by Kacee
Does that include converting 788s and 789s?
Originally Posted by EWR764
Apparently so... came straight from Oscar's mouth in a public forum.
Considering we are planing an EWR-SYD/MEL trip in Fall 2021 (A graduation celebration), this is great news for us. I was expecting that the 789s wouldn't be complete by then. I'm still not going to count on it, since UA has a reputation of over-promise and under-deliver, but we'll take it if it does happen.
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Old Apr 16, 2018, 1:39 am
  #952  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
Considering we are planing an EWR-SYD/MEL trip in Fall 2021....
Wow, I don't think I have EVER planned ANYTHING that far in advance!
Here's wishing you an updated/upgraded plane!
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Old Apr 16, 2018, 9:21 am
  #953  
 
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Originally Posted by Longboater
Sounds like there will be a lot more Polaris 772s by year's end than anyone else on this forum could have imagined given the implementation of IPTE. Unlike with IPTE, UA can afford a speedy retrofit whereas the IPTE retrofit happened when UA was in much rougher financial shape, similar to the slow pace of UA Rising livery, which was never completed. I'm expecting we'll see another one or two more 772 Polaris lines after the Summer season ends, which is roughly when the Polaris 767 retrofit will be winding down.
there will be more polaris aircraft than what everyone gives United credit for.

Last edited by amtrakusa; Apr 16, 2018 at 1:51 pm
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Old Apr 16, 2018, 12:12 pm
  #954  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
Considering we are planing an EWR-SYD/MEL trip in Fall 2021 (A graduation celebration), this is great news for us. I was expecting that the 789s wouldn't be complete by then. I'm still not going to count on it, since UA has a reputation of over-promise and under-deliver, but we'll take it if it does happen.
Originally Posted by narvik
Wow, I don't think I have EVER planned ANYTHING that far in advance!
Here's wishing you an updated/upgraded plane!
​​​​​​​Here is hoping you will have a non-stop option by then
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Old Apr 17, 2018, 5:15 am
  #955  
 
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Originally Posted by narvik
Wow, I don't think I have EVER planned ANYTHING that far in advance!
Here's wishing you an updated/upgraded plane!
Originally Posted by N104UA
Here is hoping you will have a non-stop option by then
Well, with two rug-rats and only one income, we need this headway to start to save. Wifey and I have always wanted to do this, and with me finally getting my degree then, and the kids will be old enough to go to their grandparents for a few weeks, this seems like a good time to do it.

A nonstop EWR - SYD/MEL on UA? I guess anything's possible, but I won't hold my breath on that. Can the 789 even handle that long of a route?
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Old Apr 17, 2018, 5:32 am
  #956  
 
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
A nonstop EWR - SYD/MEL on UA? I guess anything's possible, but I won't hold my breath on that. Can the 789 even handle that long of a route?
UA won’t fly it, but Qantas has been pretty clear about wanting to fly SYD-JFK nonstop in the not-too-distant future.
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Old Apr 17, 2018, 7:00 am
  #957  
 
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37


UA won’t fly it, but Qantas has been pretty clear about wanting to fly SYD-JFK nonstop in the not-too-distant future.
the DFW-SYD A380 flight, which is 8500m instead of 9500m is already weight restricted . . . looks like an A350 ULR might be capable if developed.

Qantas non-stop flights to New York, London: Plan to launch flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane by 2022

Hardly seems like United would have an incentive thought . . .
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Old Apr 17, 2018, 11:34 am
  #958  
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
...nonstop EWR - SYD/MEL on UA? ...
@ 10354 mi for EWR-MEL, not likely, nothing available today can handle that with any profitable load
Originally Posted by phkc070408
Can the 789 even handle that long of a route?
no
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Old Apr 18, 2018, 12:10 am
  #959  
 
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OK, getting this back on topic (I apologize for causing the stray), N786UA has been back in SFO for almost a week now, but hasn't taken a revenue flight yet. I guess they are doing crew training, etc. I don't remember this lag with the 763s.
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Old Apr 18, 2018, 6:30 am
  #960  
 
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N659UA scheduled to HNL as UA2808 today, appears to be headed to HKG.
EWR764 and Longboater like this.
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