Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > United Airlines | MileagePlus
Reload this Page >

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

Community
Wiki Posts
Search
Old May 29, 2017, 1:21 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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

Print Wikipost

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

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Dec 7, 2018, 10:14 pm
  #1471  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
I’m also curious about the lav situation with sCo vs sUA 772s.

One clue could be that the lavs near doors 3L3R on the sUA 772s were slightly repositioned, but everything else remained the same.

If they are going to make the aircraft uniform, there are fewer sCO birds to modify than sUA birds.
phkc070408 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2018, 1:04 am
  #1472  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC 35K, SPG GOLD
Posts: 264
N799UA just came out of XMN today.
Flew UA2756 to HKG and operates UA896 to ORD now.

N226UA just flew in XMN from HKG as UA2757 to be modified.
chebert999 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 12:52 am
  #1473  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Well the pace has finally picked up a bit with 7 planes in mod at the moment. The final 3 cabin 763 is enroute to HKG as I type this, there are 2 other 763s in for 3 class mod, the standard 3 sUA 772s, and the one sCO 772.

Also to be noted is sCO 772 N77012, while not noted on the fleet site as having Polaris, has been in HKG for over two weeks. Could this be a second sCO 772 in the mod line as well?
phkc070408 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 1:24 am
  #1474  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Portland OR
Programs: United 1K 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 560
Originally Posted by phkc070408
Well the pace has finally picked up a bit with 7 planes in mod at the moment.
Yup. I posted this earlier (possibly on here) that 7 mod lines is exactly the number needed to get the entire fleet done by December 2020.

By my back of an envelope calculation there are 113 ships to be retrofitted with one more likely out this month. At 8 mods per line per year and 7 lines that’s 56 per year and so 112 by end 2020. I’m pretty sure the number of lines will go up and down as fleet demands dictate, but UA is right on track.
usbusinesstraveller is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 2:33 am
  #1475  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Originally Posted by usbusinesstraveller
United's Polaris fleet tracker is saying there are 5 772's in mod.Coupled with the 2 lines dong 763's that brings the number of mod lines to 7, which my my calculations is exactly what's needed to complete the entire fleet by end of 2020.

The Polaris Tracker does in fact show 5 772s in mod, but the Fleet site only shows 4 (3 sUA and 1 sCO). I suspect that there is in fact a second sCO bird in fro Mod, N77012. That means we now have 8 lines going.

Last edited by phkc070408; Dec 16, 2018 at 2:34 am Reason: Proofreading
phkc070408 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 8:03 am
  #1476  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,341
Originally Posted by phkc070408
I’m also curious about the lav situation with sCo vs sUA 772s.
Could the large lav on the 77Y possibly survive the mod?
narvik is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 1:56 pm
  #1477  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: In between IAD and DCA
Programs: UA Plat 1.1MM , Marriott Gold Elite, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,262
Definitely picking up pace, and that makes sense. Summer travel period is over, and we're entering the deadest part of the year for many intl destinations. UA should be able to churn out quite a few 772s this winter.
UAL250 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 3:24 pm
  #1478  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: UA GS (1MM), DL Gold, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Avis CC
Posts: 526
Interesting note: today, the last 3-cabin 763 went to HKG for Polaris. That means no sUA/GF configured 767s left in the fleet! Interesting, that plane lingered for a long time as the only 3-cabin left and almost exclusively flew ORD/LHR.
SteveHK is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 3:38 pm
  #1479  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,026
it is finally picking up steam which is long overdue.
cfischer is online now  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 3:42 pm
  #1480  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: UA*Lifetime GS, Hyatt* Lifetime Globalist
Posts: 12,324
Originally Posted by SteveHK
Interesting note: today, the last 3-cabin 763 went to HKG for Polaris. That means no sUA/GF configured 767s left in the fleet! Interesting, that plane lingered for a long time as the only 3-cabin left and almost exclusively flew ORD/LHR.
Anyone know the plan for s/CO 763 and 764?
UA_Flyer is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 3:46 pm
  #1481  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: UA GS (1MM), DL Gold, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Avis CC
Posts: 526
Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
Anyone know the plan for s/CO 763 and 764?
763s will continue. 764s will be the very last to go according to the plan I've seen most recently. Not quite sure why, but they and the Dreamliners are at the tail end of retrofits.
SteveHK is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 4:44 pm
  #1482  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,448
Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
Anyone know the plan for s/CO 763 and 764?
I think you mean the sUA 763s with the B/E Diamond seat

They've already started mods. Seven of them will not be Polarised.
Kacee is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 9:42 pm
  #1483  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 11,468
Originally Posted by SteveHK
Not quite sure why, but they and the Dreamliners are at the tail end of retrofits.
Possibly because the 788/9 seats are the newest in the fleet, except for the 78J, which will launch with true Polaris.
cesco.g is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2018, 11:51 pm
  #1484  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
Last I heard, the Dreamliners were supposed to start MOD in August 2019. I'm assuming this is still the plan.
phkc070408 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2018, 7:49 am
  #1485  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: UA GS (1MM), DL Gold, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Avis CC
Posts: 526
Originally Posted by cesco.g
Possibly because the 788/9 seats are the newest in the fleet, except for the 78J, which will launch with true Polaris.
That I understand, it's more the 764s that I don't quite get why they're at the very end especially considering they do a ton of high-yield EWR-Europe flying (ZRH, LHR, MUC, etc).
SteveHK is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.