May 29, 2017, 1:21 pm
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, 4686 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
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
- 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
✨ Polaris (& PP) Retrofits: Schedule, ....
Jun 10, 2018, 6:11 pm
#1036
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Programs: United Gold
Posts: 2,047
so does anyone have insights into what happened with this bird? Its almost a week overdue leaving HKG and seems to just do a 1 hr test flight every few days. Makes me wonder if wingtip/etc mod went awry.
Jun 10, 2018, 7:21 pm
#1037
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,450
I strongly doubt that. Most issues are technology-related squawks, especially IFE.
Jun 10, 2018, 10:06 pm
#1038
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Looking at the 772 page on the fleet site, N796UA is making its test hop on Wednesday and N788UA is headed to HKG on Wednesday. I can't remember, but was one of these two the inaugural for P+? If so, which one?
UA isn't doing Y and J in XMN and then shipping the planes to HKG for P+, are they?
UA isn't doing Y and J in XMN and then shipping the planes to HKG for P+, are they?
Jun 10, 2018, 11:48 pm
#1039
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Washington DC
Programs: Delta DM CO PE OZ GE AMTRAK
Posts: 524
currently UA is doing slightly below the "promised" 1 aircraft per 10 day thing (on average about 5 to 6 in mod at any given time). again, you have to know this is a long run average, they are not literally promising 3 airplanes in June 2018 (though at least 3 will actually come out in June 2018, but then July 2018 will be less, etc.).
considering this is Summer peak season and 777-200 has just finished initiation process. I would say this is pretty reasonable.
considering this is Summer peak season and 777-200 has just finished initiation process. I would say this is pretty reasonable.
Jun 11, 2018, 1:25 am
#1040
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
I'm agreeing that it's peak season and there will likes be a lower turnover now than in the winter. When they announced the average of 1 every 10 days, I would have expected then to be moving slightly faster than they are now.
Also, last winter had even fever planes in mod than we do now. We had at one time 3 767's in. Now it's summer & we have 2 763's and 3 772's in the shop.
Finally, is there really a time of year when any airline needs fewer planes continuously? After summer is over, you only have 3 months until the Thanksgiving Rush, (long enough for one mod) and then Christmas isn't long after that, and Spring Break is 2 months after that. The "low" season keen getting interupted by these short periods of higher demand that prevent a major sweep of overhauls from happening. I realize you might be able to get one or two more overhauls done in winter if they are strategically scheduled, but I don't see the opportunity for doubling the number of the summer mods.
Also, last winter had even fever planes in mod than we do now. We had at one time 3 767's in. Now it's summer & we have 2 763's and 3 772's in the shop.
Finally, is there really a time of year when any airline needs fewer planes continuously? After summer is over, you only have 3 months until the Thanksgiving Rush, (long enough for one mod) and then Christmas isn't long after that, and Spring Break is 2 months after that. The "low" season keen getting interupted by these short periods of higher demand that prevent a major sweep of overhauls from happening. I realize you might be able to get one or two more overhauls done in winter if they are strategically scheduled, but I don't see the opportunity for doubling the number of the summer mods.
Jun 11, 2018, 7:34 am
#1042
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
If UA currently has 5 in mods, @70 days per, that's one every 14 days. In other words, 40% behind the "one every 10 days" that was referenced. They also seem to be staying in longer than expected.
Jun 11, 2018, 8:55 am
#1044
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,477
At the end of May they switched the expected 3-class 772 to a retrofitted 772 on MUC-ORD. There was a passenger who was wondering where his First Class seat was. He asked the FA who reassured him that he was in the most premium cabin on the plane: she called it Business-First. But, it's probable that he paid more than a Business Class ticket.
Is there only one retrofitted 772 at this point or did they finish more?
Jun 11, 2018, 9:09 pm
#1045
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: AA PLT/2MM, UA PLT, Inspirato, Wheels Up, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, Amex Plat
Posts: 431
United's Polaris Tracker is now showing three 777-200s completed with the Polaris retrofit. Polaris Tracker - Mobile
Jun 11, 2018, 9:21 pm
#1046
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
United's Polaris Tracker is now showing three 777-200s completed with the Polaris retrofit. Polaris Tracker - Mobile
Jun 11, 2018, 9:29 pm
#1047
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: AA PLT/2MM, UA PLT, Inspirato, Wheels Up, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, Amex Plat
Posts: 431
Jun 13, 2018, 3:19 am
#1048
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
It looks like N788UA is now in HKG and will be on UA896(14) HKG-ORD.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N788UA
N223UA is currently enroute on UA895(12) ORD-HKG and is off to XMN only hours after landing in HKG.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N223UA
That said, make that two in service.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N788UA
N223UA is currently enroute on UA895(12) ORD-HKG and is off to XMN only hours after landing in HKG.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N223UA
That said, make that two in service.
Jun 13, 2018, 5:57 am
#1049
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: YEG
Programs: UA 1K, AC SE, WJ Gold
Posts: 352
Does anyone have a sense on when the loaded schedule actually should reflect the aircraft planned? I recognize things can change up to boarding, but I have a flight ORD-LHR on July 4 currently showing the older seat map. Curious if it will be a refitted bird or not.
Jun 13, 2018, 7:46 am
#1050
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,450
At ORD, nothing is particularly reliable until a few hours before departure. It seems that UA is isolating the remaining three-cabin 767s to LHR for now (EWR/ORD). By July 4, there will be 3-4 frames in service, so while your chances are diminished, there's still a pretty good probability you'll be on the old configuration.