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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 Jun 21, 2019, 12:54 pm
  #1726  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764
Anywhere there were opportunities to keep original fixtures, they did, though this was not the case across the board.
Any speculation why? Would delay return? Or just being typically cheap?
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Old Jun 21, 2019, 1:16 pm
  #1727  
 
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Originally Posted by manstein58

Any speculation why? Would delay return? Or just being typically cheap?
I would imagine cost. Replacing every lav on the 50+ 777s to be converted would be a multimilion-dollar expenditure, and it was probably an opportunity to shave some capex.
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Old Jun 21, 2019, 1:30 pm
  #1728  
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Originally Posted by FlyingHighlander
Are any 757 getting the new Polaris?
I would imagine the replacements of the current 757 would come with an upgraded seat from the current one, e.g. all-aisle access including some Polaris features.
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Old Jun 21, 2019, 3:26 pm
  #1729  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
I would imagine the replacements of the current 757 would come with an upgraded seat from the current one, e.g. all-aisle access including some Polaris features.
They were talking about using the max 10, which would have lay flat but not all aisle access.
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Old Jun 21, 2019, 3:37 pm
  #1730  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764
I would imagine cost. Replacing every lav on the 50+ 777s to be converted would be a multimilion-dollar expenditure, and it was probably an opportunity to shave some capex.
Why do something first class when you can do it half assed? The United Way
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Old Jun 21, 2019, 3:38 pm
  #1731  
 
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Originally Posted by mike2003242
They were talking about using the max 10, which would have lay flat but not all aisle access.
I don't think anyone knows what the MAX 10 lie-flat seat looks like. Kirby mentioned they were looking into it, but outside of that, it's been crickets.
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 2:34 am
  #1732  
 
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Originally Posted by manstein58
Why do something first class when you can do it half assed? The United Way
It might be that there would be too much wasted aisle space if a narrow-body were to go to all-aisle access.

Comparing the 772 to the 752 and 739 (a close relative of the 73M),
The 772 has 8 sUA seats across at 18"-19" wide, giving us 4 Polaris seats, in a 1-2-1 layout.
Split that down the middle into a narrow-body, 4 sUA seats (across at 18"-19" wide, giving us 2 Polaris seats, in a 1-1 layout.
Compare that to the 752 which has 4 sCO seats across , at 20.6" wide, giving us 2 Polaris seats in a 1-1 layout.
Compare that to the 739 that has 4 domestic seats across at 20" wide, again giving us 2 Polaris seats in a 1-1 layout.

Also, the 772 interior is 19'3", while the 752 interior is 11'6", much more than half of a 772. Even the 737-900 interior is 11'5"

So the 752 and 739 ends of having a wider aisle with the 772 Polaris seats installed. I don' know how they could add another column of seats, especially without adding an aisle. They might be able to angle all of the seats a little more, but one of the benefits of the alternating straight / angled layout is that they can utilize 100% of the wall space while the angled seats utilize excess aisle space. 100% angled seats would cost wall space because of the door on the side of the pod.

Sources:
modern airliners.com - 772
modern airliners.com - 752
modern airliners.co - 739
United sUA 772
United 752
United 739

Last edited by phkc070408; Jun 22, 2019 at 2:51 am
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 4:05 am
  #1733  
 
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Originally Posted by manstein58

Why do something first class when you can do it half assed? The United Way
I’ll be the first one to knock UA for cheaping out on things, but when it comes to lavatories, what’s the difference?

Originally Posted by mike2003242
They were talking about using the max 10, which would have lay flat but not all aisle access.
Rumor has it the 737-MAX10 (I hate that branding... hope it goes away) will be all-aisle-access in business class, essentially a herringbone configuration. Thompson has proposed such a layout.
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 5:42 am
  #1734  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764


I’ll be the first one to knock UA for cheaping out on things, but when it comes to lavatories, what’s the difference?



Rumor has it the 737-MAX10 (I hate that branding... hope it goes away) will be all-aisle-access in business class, essentially a herringbone configuration. Thompson has proposed such a layout.
maybe because these tired old loos are dingy and unattractive? A clean, wel-lighted lav is not so much to ask when you are paying the prices UA charges


Last edited by manstein58; Jun 22, 2019 at 7:01 am
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 6:18 am
  #1735  
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Originally Posted by EWR764
I’ll be the first one to knock UA for cheaping out on things, but when it comes to lavatories, what’s the difference?
Fly a LH A346 in business, and then compare it to a tired UA 777 lab. You'll see the difference.
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 12:11 pm
  #1736  
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Originally Posted by halls120
Fly a LH A346 in business, and then compare it to a tired UA 777 lab. You'll see the difference.
Yes this is a major difference between the better carriers and UA. Some may not mind it so much, but I do, especially on a 12-14 hour flight.

I recently flew AF J and they had the same falling apart 20 year old lav on a 772 as UA.
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 3:26 pm
  #1737  
 
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Yes this is a major difference between the better carriers and UA. Some may not mind it so much, but I do, especially on a 12-14 hour flight.

I recently flew AF J and they had the same falling apart 20 year old lav on a 772 as UA.
Are the lavs on the retrofitted 772s redone (so they match the 77W), or are they still the old ones?
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 4:23 pm
  #1738  
 
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
Are the lavs on the retrofitted 772s redone (so they match the 77W), or are they still the old ones?
Old ones
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 8:32 pm
  #1739  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764


I’ll be the first one to knock UA for cheaping out on things, but when it comes to lavatories, what’s the difference?



Rumor has it the 737-MAX10 (I hate that branding... hope it goes away) will be all-aisle-access in business class, essentially a herringbone configuration. Thompson has proposed such a layout.
You're right, I thought i had read awhile ago they weren't doing all aisle access, thankfully they are!
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Old Jun 22, 2019, 8:45 pm
  #1740  
 
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Only thing I care about in a lavatory is the cleanliness. That's my biggest issue with UA. I've been in lavs with pee on the floor and some crap sticking in the toilet, as well as towels on the sink area. It's repulsive. I'm not expecting ANA/JAL level attention to the lavs, but that's unacceptable.
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