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

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, ....

Old May 10, 2018, 4:48 am
  #1006  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 553
EDIT: Sorry, didn't see the previous post when I replied to this. The mobile site is funky, especially when it automatically loads previous pages!

Originally Posted by juan516
is there a faint chance that the Boeing 767-400 flying UA 363 EWR to HNL gets Polaris seats by the end of June, 2018 and - if no - could we be admitted with our tickets in (domestic) booking class A Newark to Honolulu the Polaris lounge - to be opened during this month of June, 2018 ?
You will not be able to gain access to the Polaris lounge regardless of the seats in the plane.The ticketed cabin/service must be Polaris business class in order to gain access. As it is a domestic flight, the service for EWR-HNL in A will be United First. No lounge access in first on domestic flights unless you have a United Club membership or passes. In either case, the ride on a 767-400 is fairly comfortable, and enjoy Hawaii!

Last edited by windhund; May 10, 2018 at 8:47 am
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Old May 15, 2018, 12:03 pm
  #1007  
 
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For the 777-200ER retrofits, are they planning on doing the 3-cabin sUA planes first and then the 2-cabin sCO planes?
swiftaw is offline  
Old May 15, 2018, 12:21 pm
  #1008  
 
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Originally Posted by swiftaw
For the 777-200ER retrofits, are they planning on doing the 3-cabin sUA planes first and then the 2-cabin sCO planes?
Yes, believe that is the case / plan, particularly since they will no longer sell any international F fares starting next month.
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Old May 20, 2018, 5:15 pm
  #1009  
 
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I am booking CDG-SFO-CDG for my friend and AF and UA are the same price for flights that are within about 45 minutes of each other. The AF is A380 and the UA shows 3 class 777. I'd most likely buy E+ for him which is why I am leaning towards UA.
It's probably slim chances that this August he'd end up being on a retrofitted 777 with 3-4-3 in the back?
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Old May 20, 2018, 6:31 pm
  #1010  
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Originally Posted by JVPhoto
I am booking CDG-SFO-CDG for my friend and AF and UA are the same price for flights that are within about 45 minutes of each other. The AF is A380 and the UA shows 3 class 777. I'd most likely buy E+ for him which is why I am leaning towards UA.
It's probably slim chances that this August he'd end up being on a retrofitted 777 with 3-4-3 in the back?
agreed.
cfischer is online now  
Old May 20, 2018, 7:50 pm
  #1011  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: AA Plat, UA 1K>Plat>moving to Silver
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AF Premium Economy is a real PE, much better than UA E+. Personally, I also prefer AF E over UA E. But there are also the strikes....
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Old May 21, 2018, 6:56 am
  #1012  
 
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As SFO is primarily 77W - EWR is primarily 772 correct? so I would have a while to wait before expecting EWR - HKG in a polaris configuration, correct?
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Old May 21, 2018, 7:27 am
  #1013  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Originally Posted by chichow
As SFO is primarily 77W - EWR is primarily 772 correct? so I would have a while to wait before expecting EWR - HKG in a polaris configuration, correct?
The pmUA 772s don't quite have the legs for EWR-HKG (the pmCO 772s have different engines for a bit more range. And the 3-class 772s are being done first, so yes. Unless there's a swap and 772s move into a route that now has 77W and the 77W is moved to EWR-HKG.
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Old May 21, 2018, 8:01 am
  #1014  
 
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Originally Posted by wxguy
The pmUA 772s don't quite have the legs for EWR-HKG (the pmCO 772s have different engines for a bit more range. And the 3-class 772s are being done first, so yes. Unless there's a swap and 772s move into a route that now has 77W and the 77W is moved to EWR-HKG.
ORD-HKG is <300 miles longer than EWR-HKG...would be interested to know how big that difference is!
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Old May 21, 2018, 8:09 am
  #1015  
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
ORD-HKG is <300 miles longer than EWR-HKG...would be interested to know how big that difference is!
It's in that range.

Since the redone 3-class 772s will match the 2-class in J seats (50) it would actually make sense to sub them in on the sCO routes, but doesn't appear UA is following that strategy.
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Old May 21, 2018, 8:17 am
  #1016  
 
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Originally Posted by Artpen100
AF Premium Economy is a real PE, much better than UA E+. Personally, I also prefer AF E over UA E. But there are also the strikes....
I wasn’t going to book him in PE on AF I was going to get UA E+. But when I did mock bookings I can get him a window on AF in the 2nd row that doesn’t have a seat in front of it for half the $ than E+.
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Old May 30, 2018, 10:07 pm
  #1017  
 
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Ua 895 ord-hkg

June 1, 2018 UA 895 ORD-HKG is showing the (77K) configuration with 50/242.



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Old Jun 4, 2018, 5:02 am
  #1018  
 
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Where on the UA website do I find the schedule for the planes which are completed in the refit, and the number not completed?

Thanks
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Old Jun 4, 2018, 9:56 am
  #1019  
 
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Did a search for transcon (jfk - sfo/lax) 757-200s with no results; does it mean that these planes will never see Polaris seats?
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Old Jun 4, 2018, 10:00 am
  #1020  
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Originally Posted by jbeans
Did a search for transcon (jfk - sfo/lax) 757-200s with no results; does it mean that these planes will never see Polaris seats?
Have not seen or heard any plans for such.
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