zrs70

Any idea when the final 777-200 with international will be?

mduell

Based on the prior round of conversions and the lackadaisical Polaris rate, I'd guess 2019.

rittenhousesq

The only reason that date might be sooner would be if UA decided to pull the plug on Polaris First at some point in the near future and the first class seats on planes that hadn't yet been reconfigured would be assigned to Global Service flyers and full fare customers but otherwise wouldn't be distinguished from business class.
If you have been around a while you might remember that at one point USair had three classes on their A330s. They had a single row of lie flat seats in the very front of the plane (business class had recliners), but they eventually did away with their first class and those seats were assigned to high level elites (until the planes were reconfigured).

Hipplewm

Exactly, at some point the availability of planes with FC will be so rare that IT can't predict with certainty that they will be available on XXX flight, so they can't reliably sell FC without possibly having to downgrade etc.

I still think it will be 2019 as the Polaris conversions are moving at a snails pace.

mozilla

The later it happens, the better. A lot of INTL F inventory was closed EFF 1 may 2018 back in July, but has since been reopened (phew), at least for the markets where I'm flying.

UA_Flyer

I have an upcoming international flight on the s/UA 772, and I cannot upgrade into F. Agent told me the flight is sold as a two-cabin flight. Seat Map shows empty F cabin. Hope my GS status and full C fare will get me into F.

Regarding the 2019 date others have expressed, I think the coversion is progressing at snail speed at best. It is hard to see UA convert 55 772 in two years. We are about one year away from the original Polaris roll out date of Dec 1, 2016, and there is less than a handful of aircrafts being converted into Polaris cabin.

sbm12

A confluence of bad timing also hurt the first year roll-out pace. Zodiac struggled to deliver the seats during the Winter '16-'17 window when aircraft utilization was low enough that the planes could be retrofit without hampering operations. I think the hope is that sufficient stock is now available that the retrofits can proceed quickly, especially on the 777s that aren't also receiving the major overhaul work that the 763s will take. UA is also willing to put the 77H on DUB flights to free up frames for conversion in the near term, accelerating the process.

Doesn't mean it will all happen spectacularly quickly, but the stage is set for a faster process.

Also, only 33 IPTE configs remain to be converted, not 55. I'm assuming the 22 sCO birds will be last to go.

tarheelnj

Surprised to see F zero'd out on routes like EWR-LHR, where you would think there would be people willing to pay retail. Checked several dates for the 6:50pm departure, which has been 3 class for a long time, and it's not selling F seats. Flight below is in January.

rmadisonwi

My guess is that with the Polaris 767s in the rotation now, they don’t want to sell Global First and then have to take it away if the actual assigned plane doesn’t have it.

UA_Flyer

My flight on s/UA 772 also has the F section blocked. Not ticketable and upgradable.

My partner and I purchased full C fare and are trying to upgrade using GPUs, but no luck.

Hipplewm

As I said earlier, the threat of paying downgrade compensation, along with uncertainty, this will most like be the norm. If I had to guess it will be treated like they are on domestic trips a lot of time. At the gate the GA will select from people in business and call them up and ask if they are alone etc, then offer them an upgrade to "First" at least that is the way it has worked for me on the past 3-4 domestic 3 class flights i have been on.

tarheelnj

Same here recently (ORD-EWR). The meal service in F was the same as J. Wonder if that will now be the case in Global First (no soup?)

UA_Flyer

my flight is an international flight not domestic.

CappuccinoAddict

UA hasn't been selling F on EWR-LHR for months now, if not over a year, well before the first 767 was converted to the Polaris config.

aCavalierInCoach

I guess that explains why my C-F upgrade still didn't clear until the gate despite F being booked at zero....