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, ....
Dec 17, 2018, 9:25 pm
#1488
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 11,468
IIRC, the decision re retrofit the 764 has been on hold for quite some time. e.g. has not been in the planning stage for that long.
Dec 17, 2018, 9:38 pm
#1489
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 747
It’s a relatively small fleet with no secondhand options available unless UA works something out with DL. Could this be a limiting factor? Can we trade the 753 for the 764? :-)
Dec 19, 2018, 8:53 pm
#1490
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Houston TX
Programs: United Premier 1k, Hertz Presidents Circle, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 408
My guess is a mix of 787-10s and 76JJs will cover these routes. The 787 will increase total seats while the high J will cut overall capacity. Those routes are high yield J so even if they lose capacity in the back, thats not where they make their money.
Dec 21, 2018, 8:13 am
#1491
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY Metro
Programs: SPG Titanium, United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,601
I am flying PVG - EWR on Jan 3 and the seat map is wide open with 31 business seats showing available. However the phone agent says 40 seats are sold and only 10 available and the reason for this is perhaps a aircraft change is about to happen. Anyone heard of this logic before? I had a farelock on this flight a couple of days ago and it allowed me to select a business seat and it stuck while the farelock was active. So seats seem selectable but not sure why the seatmap is empty. Anyone see this before and is the agent right?
Available fare classes:
Available fare classes:
- J9
- JN9
- C9
- D5
- Z0
- ZN0
- P0
- PN0
- PZ0
- IN0
Dec 21, 2018, 8:21 am
#1492
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Platinum Elite, National Executive, United Gold
Posts: 1,181
This post should be moved, but UA87 has always been operated with a pmCO 77E and an aircraft swap is highly unlikely. A switch to a pmUA or retrofitted 77E would not change the J seat count. I don't think the agent is lying to you though because UA is only willing to sell higher fare buckets at this point (no Z or P availability).
I am flying PVG - EWR on Jan 3 and the seat map is wide open with 31 business seats showing available. However the phone agent says 40 seats are sold and only 10 available and the reason for this is perhaps a aircraft change is about to happen. Anyone heard of this logic before? I had a farelock on this flight a couple of days ago and it allowed me to select a business seat and it stuck while the farelock was active. So seats seem selectable but not sure why the seatmap is empty. Anyone see this before and is the agent right?
Dec 21, 2018, 8:49 am
#1493
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,459
Flight is booked 38/50. The week after new year's is very difficult for upgrades eastbound TPAC. Not a time period I would waitlist.
ETA: Why are we posting upgrade questions in this thread? Mods please move. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ht-2018-a.html
Last edited by Kacee; Dec 21, 2018 at 8:55 am
Dec 21, 2018, 1:16 pm
#1495
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
The 787-8 and 9 will have a similar configuration with 1-2-1 in J, 2-3-2 in W, and 3-3-3 in Y.
Dec 21, 2018, 5:50 pm
#1497
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY Metro
Programs: SPG Titanium, United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,601
That's meaningless ex-China. At least half the pax won't select their seat until they get to the airport.
Flight is booked 38/50. The week after new year's is very difficult for upgrades eastbound TPAC. Not a time period I would waitlist.
ETA: Why are we posting upgrade questions in this thread? Mods please move. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ht-2018-a.html
Flight is booked 38/50. The week after new year's is very difficult for upgrades eastbound TPAC. Not a time period I would waitlist.
ETA: Why are we posting upgrade questions in this thread? Mods please move. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ht-2018-a.html
Dec 21, 2018, 7:12 pm
#1498
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,459
Dec 21, 2018, 8:22 pm
#1499
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: SYR
Posts: 27
United Polaris
I am flying EWR-HKG in summer of 2019. Are United retrofitting the 772ERs that already have the B/E seats? And are they focusing on shorter routes to implement the new Polaris like TransAtlantic flights? Basically, is there a good chance I’ll be on a retrofitted aircraft?
Dec 21, 2018, 10:58 pm
#1500
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Delaware
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 1,393
I am flying EWR-HKG in summer of 2019. Are United retrofitting the 772ERs that already have the B/E seats? And are they focusing on shorter routes to implement the new Polaris like TransAtlantic flights? Basically, is there a good chance I’ll be on a retrofitted aircraft?
Just as information, currently EWR-HKG is flown by the sCO 777-200. The sUA 777-200s do not have the range to fly EWR-HKG due to the two birds having different engines. The first sCO 777-200 is in for mod now, and there is a slight chance there is a second one in as well.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Dec 22, 2018 at 2:14 pm Reason: split post