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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 Sep 16, 2018, 5:38 am
  #1306  
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Originally Posted by mike2003242
The 78Js are going to be a fine aircraft with Polaris and PE!
Once the 767s are gone, this will be the best long haul bird in the fleet.
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Old Sep 17, 2018, 5:40 pm
  #1307  
 
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Planes at HKG for Polaris retrofits

Does anyone know how the 4 planes in Hong Kong did during the typhoon that passed through?
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Old Sep 17, 2018, 6:06 pm
  #1308  
 
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HAECO has a lot of hangar space, and extra planes can be squeezed in if necessary. Most all of their heavy work is done inside, and I assume airplanes that could fly were already outside and flown elsewhere to wait out the storm.
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Old Sep 19, 2018, 8:15 am
  #1309  
 
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So my seating map is blocked in Y with the PE seating but it is showing 3 class cabin. I understand the seat map is a placeholder, or at least I think it is.

So if the aircraft does have true PE does this mean it will have the Polaris hard product?

I ask as I have a GPU applied but also excited to try the new PE product. However for the return I have got the UG but in 6K. However if it truly does end up as retrofitted Polaris hard product I would prefer an odd window sest.

Does anyone know if PE will always have the Ploaris hard product?

TIA.
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Old Sep 19, 2018, 8:42 am
  #1310  
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Originally Posted by Aussienarelle
So if the aircraft does have true PE does this mean it will have the Polaris hard product?
Yes.

Which route?
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Old Sep 19, 2018, 10:55 am
  #1311  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Yes.

Which route?
UA900 and UA901 in November.

I have 20A for UA901. :-D
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Old Sep 21, 2018, 3:38 pm
  #1312  
 
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I just checked for 07-Nov-18 and both SFO/LHR flights are showing with the 3-cabin sUA 777-200. This is probably the type of aircraft they will use. As of now, there are 24 of them in service with this configuration and 5 more with the Polaris seating. UA will show the seat map of the older version and if they intend on using one of the planes with Polaris seats, they will update the seat map about 2 days before departure. Given that the ratio is 24/5 for the old configuration, I would expect that and be pleasantly surprised if you do end up with a Polaris bird.
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Old Sep 21, 2018, 6:04 pm
  #1313  
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Really, a few hours before departure?
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Old Sep 26, 2018, 10:34 pm
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
I just checked for 07-Nov-18 and both SFO/LHR flights are showing with the 3-cabin sUA 777-200. This is probably the type of aircraft they will use. As of now, there are 24 of them in service with this configuration and 5 more with the Polaris seating. UA will show the seat map of the older version and if they intend on using one of the planes with Polaris seats, they will update the seat map about 2 days before departure. Given that the ratio is 24/5 for the old configuration, I would expect that and be pleasantly surprised if you do end up with a Polaris bird.
I could be completely wrong but in my experience the 3 cabin aircraft typically fly out of ORD and IAD. I would not bank on a Polaris retrofit but i would guess at some point they may switch the seat map to a 2 class pmco 777
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Old Sep 27, 2018, 2:23 am
  #1315  
 
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Originally Posted by mike2003242
I could be completely wrong but in my experience the 3 cabin aircraft typically fly out of ORD and IAD.
While I admit that the bulk of the 77Ws, which are 2 class (for now) are SFO based, there still are 772s based in SFO and UA has made little effort to dedicate the Polaris birds any route or even bases. That said, the bulk of the 772s going in and out of SFO are the 3 class.

What you do have a decent chance of one of the SFO-LHR routes being changed to a 77W route, in which case you are pretty much guaranteed a Polaris bird.

Also, do the 2 class CO 772s frequent SFO? I was not aware of this, but I guess it is possible.
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Old Sep 27, 2018, 5:37 am
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
While I admit that the bulk of the 77Ws, which are 2 class (for now) are SFO based, there still are 772s based in SFO and UA has made little effort to dedicate the Polaris birds any route or even bases. That said, the bulk of the 772s going in and out of SFO are the 3 class.

What you do have a decent chance of one of the SFO-LHR routes being changed to a 77W route, in which case you are pretty much guaranteed a Polaris bird.

Also, do the 2 class CO 772s frequent SFO? I was not aware of this, but I guess it is possible.
After the October 1 FA integration date it will become "easier," as any FA will be able to fly it. Today, operations has to worry about matching sCO FAs to sCO planes and sUA FAs to sUA planes.
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Old Sep 27, 2018, 1:28 pm
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Originally Posted by wxguy
After the October 1 FA integration date it will become "easier," as any FA will be able to fly it. Today, operations has to worry about matching sCO FAs to sCO planes and sUA FAs to sUA planes.
Yes, however sCO and sUA 772s have different engines so they may stick to their traditional hubs due to maintenance efficiencies.
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Old Sep 27, 2018, 3:19 pm
  #1318  
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Originally Posted by phkc070408
Also, do the 2 class CO 772s frequent SFO?
No those are pretty much never seen here. We don't really see 763s either since the 787s have come on line.
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Old Sep 28, 2018, 11:44 am
  #1319  
 
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Originally Posted by atword
Yes, however sCO and sUA 772s have different engines so they may stick to their traditional hubs due to maintenance efficiencies.
Originally Posted by Kacee
No those are pretty much never seen here. We don't really see 763s either since the 787s have come on line.
That’s what I thought, and why. Also, because of the different style engines, the sUA tripples don’t have the range that the COs have. They would never do EWR-HKG. I believe even EWR-BOM is out of range.

It is true that the FA integrattion will make “subbing” a bird easier, but I suspect things will remain mostly the same, at least for now.


Last edited by phkc070408; Sep 28, 2018 at 11:46 am Reason: Clarification
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Old Sep 28, 2018, 1:32 pm
  #1320  
 
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What's up with N791UA? It's been in XMN for now almost 2 months, shouldn't the retrofit be done by now?

(Incidentally, it looks like unitedfleetsite has the wrong XMN entry date for that one)

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N791UA
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