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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 Jan 1, 2018, 2:30 pm
  #781  
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Originally Posted by minnyfly
Same way any subfleet is scheduled for certain flights. It's no different than the current split between 2 and 3-class 767s and 777s. In fact now there are only eight 3-class 763s flying, yet there's still dedicated flights with them. No excuse for UA not to do the same with Polaris seats.
You are correct, UA is currently running the 3 class ORD/EWR to LHR, with occasional side trips ORD-CDG and ORD-AMS. It make sense to keep them on the LHR route from both ORD and EWR, but if they try to push it to a guaranteed third or fourth route, they may have trouble fulfilling that guarantee.

Last edited by halls120; Jan 1, 2018 at 2:44 pm
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 7:12 pm
  #782  
 
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Hello
I've been out of the frequent flyer world for a year now and coming back now a bit befuddled by all the changes... so I have a few questions regarding a 767-300 flight from ORD to CDG (#987) this spring.
* The United reservations seat map shows 2 class Polaris service... which (based on my quick reading of this thread) is the new Polaris config... right?
* if the United seat map is correct, the only lav's for economy plus & regular economy are all the way in the back of the bus... is that correct? I guess DVT won't be an issue with a hike like that
* fan favorites?: row 18 (behind crew rest according to SeatGuru) or row 22 AB/KL exit row
* without looking at the 3 class seat map, how well do the seats line up if there is an equipment downgrade?
* did the Polaris makeover change the size of the overhead compartments from the old configuration?
Thanks
Dan
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 8:05 pm
  #783  
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Originally Posted by CVO 1K 2 Million
* The United reservations seat map shows 2 class Polaris service... which (based on my quick reading of this thread) is the new Polaris config... right?
Welcome back

It's not the Polaris seat unless they are showing the Version 3 seatmpa. See https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...R/default.aspx

Very unlikely they would be showing that now considering they only have something like 2 763s converted. More likely you are seeing "Version 2," the 2 class 763 with sCO seat.
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 8:22 pm
  #784  
 
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Here is what I see when in the early stages of making a reservation.... looks 2 class and says Polaris in the lower left corner.. and I did a brief search but am clueless about what sCO means. :-)
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 8:28 pm
  #785  
 
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Originally Posted by CVO 1K 2 Million
Here is what I see when in the early stages of making a reservation.... looks 2 class and says Polaris in the lower left corner.. and I did a brief search but am clueless about what sCO means. :-)
Polaris is the name of United's Business class, that is the former CO Seat that has been around for 12+ years, the new seats show up in blue if you see it
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 8:47 pm
  #786  
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@ CVO 1K 2M: Here's the seat map featuring the reconfigured 763:Seat map (30/184 configuration)

Interior Specification
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 8:48 pm
  #787  
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Originally Posted by CVO 1K 2 Million
Here is what I see when in the early stages of making a reservation.... looks 2 class and says Polaris in the lower left corner.. and I did a brief search but am clueless about what sCO means. :-)
United uses "Polaris" generically to refer to its business class product, whether using an old seat or the new seats. "sCO" is "subsidiary Continental." I believe that all of the 767-300s were operated by UA, but I feel like maybe they retrofit them with Continental seats after the merger...

To answer your questions about the best seats, try this thread: Everything You Want to Know About Where to Sit on 763 (Reconfig2-class International)
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 9:00 pm
  #788  
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Originally Posted by jsloan
I believe that all of the 767-300s were operated by UA, but I feel like maybe they retrofit them with Continental seats after the merger...
Yes, sCO BF seat, retrofitted to 763s operated by sUA.
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Old Jan 21, 2018, 9:10 pm
  #789  
 
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Originally Posted by CVO 1K 2 Million
I've been out of the frequent flyer world for a year now and coming back now a bit befuddled by all the changes... so I have a few questions regarding a 767-300 flight from ORD to CDG (#987) this spring.

* if the United seat map is correct, the only lav's for economy plus & regular economy are all the way in the back of the bus... is that correct? I guess DVT won't be an issue with a hike like that
* without looking at the 3 class seat map, how well do the seats line up if there is an equipment downgrade?
* did the Polaris makeover change the size of the overhead compartments from the old configuration?
Regardless if you end up on one with the new or old business seats, some questions still apply with this being a 2-class plane.

1) Yes, the lavs are all in the back in the 2-class planes.
2) They don't really match, but a switch back to 3-class is highly unlikely, so I wouldn't worry.
3) All 2-class 763s have the modern 767 interior with large pivot bins.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 2:14 pm
  #790  
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The fourth 763 (N656UA) just left HKG and is headed back to the US via Hawaii. No revenue flights listed yet but should be back in service shortly.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 2:18 pm
  #791  
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Originally Posted by UASleeper
The fourth 763 (N656UA) just left HKG and is headed back to the US via Hawaii. No revenue flights listed yet but should be back in service shortly.
Good to hear. Are there other ones "in the works" as well?
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 2:38 pm
  #792  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
Good to hear. Are there other ones "in the works" as well?

United Airlines Fleet Updates [2018 Edition]

That is the thrread that keeps track of every Air Frame, who is in what maintenance and which Frame is getting what upgrade or Polaris seats etc
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 2:50 pm
  #793  
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Originally Posted by UASleeper
The fourth 763 (N656UA) just left HKG and is headed back to the US via Hawaii. No revenue flights listed yet but should be back in service shortly.
boo...that means that frame likely never gets P+

i wish they would halt everything to slip in P+ as part of the conversions.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 2:54 pm
  #794  
 
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer


boo...that means that frame likely never gets P+

i wish they would halt everything to slip in P+ as part of the conversions.
Seems like that's gonna be on a limited number of frames/routes, and 763 certainly not on any ULH routes.
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 4:05 pm
  #795  
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This time United is fast. The progress tracker is already updated to four polarized 763: Polaris Tracker - Desktop
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