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[Rumor] More Polaris "Enhancements" coming May 1, 2018? ...

Old Mar 25, 2018, 4:42 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Originally Posted by EWR764
Word is out on another site (not my post) regarding a company memo about the May 1 "enhancements".

POLARIS SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS
Frequently Asked Questions

1. When do the service updates go into effect?
A: The service updates are effective May 1, 2018, on all long-haul international flights.

2. Why are we making changes to our United Polaris service?
A: Customers have positively received our United Polaris lounge, and this year we are opening more United Polaris lounges beginning this summer in San Francisco, Houston and New York/Newark and in the fall, Los Angeles. As we continue to add more lounges, we want to take into account the feedback that customers have given us theyve emphasized their desire to rest and relax during their journey, especially onboard. The updates to the service flow will allow us to continue providing a premium product with high-quality food, wine, amenities and more, but itll be delivered in a more efficient way.

3. What is the new international United Polaris meal service flow?
A: The meal service flow for both first and business class will be the same:
Pre-departure
Pre-poured sparkling wine, orange juice and water offered from a silver tray, with other beverages available upon request.
Main meal service
Hot towels
Linen placement
Pre-meal beverage cart
Appetizer and salad cart
Bread and beverage refills
Entres
Bread and beverage refills
Dessert and pre-plated cheese cart
Individual water bottles with hang tags
Mid-flight service (when applicable)
Display mid-flight snacks on console, self-service unit, fold-down trays or galley countertop.
Heat and serve hot on-demand items (when applicable) upon customer request.
Pre-arrival service
Hot towels
Pre-arrival tray setup with entre and choice of beverage
Breads and pastries

4. Will we be able to offer other pre-departure beverages?
A: Yes, upon customer request fulfill other pre-departure beverages in accordance with each departure countrys pre-departure liquor procedures. Refer to the Flight Attendant Policies and Procedures Manual to determine if you are allowed to open beverage carts/carriers that contain alcohol on the ground.

5. Is there still a chocolate offered during pre-departure?
A: Pre-departure chocolates/dessert will be catered on the pre-arrival tray instead for customers to enjoy during or after their flight.

6. Whats changing with the Bloody Mary and wine specialty beverage carts?
A: Wines and Bloody Marys will continue to be available upon request, but the dedicated cart service will change. This was a common flight attendant suggestion for improvement. A new branded cart cover is being sourced to improve presentation in the aisle and will be available shortly after launch.

7. Can we still offer wine tastings?
A: Absolutely. Although the wine arches with the 3 tastings will not be boarded, we can continue to honor customers requests to sample select wines.

8. What about the United Polaris first class soup and salad course?
A: The salad and appetizer will be delivered at the same time on a tray setup, instead of having a soup course.

9. What about the turndown service?
A: We will continue to offer the turndown service upon request.

10. Will Express Dining continue to be offered?
A: Yes, Express Dining will continue to be offered and can be requested and delivered at any point during the flight.

11. Will we continue to offer the mini desserts and fruit and cheese?
A: The mini desserts will continue to be offered from the three-tier cart with the signature ice cream service. In addition, pre-plated cheese will be added to the dessert cart. To make room for the fruit and cheese on the dessert cart, the specialty tea box will be removed from the cart, although specialty teas will continue to be available from the galley.

12. Are there any updates to the mid-flight and pre-arrival services?
A: There will be a few updates to both the mid-flight and pre-arrival service.
Mid-flight service (when available) While well no longer have formal presentation of mid-flight snacks, snack provisioning levels will remain the same and will continue to be displayed near the galley as is done today. Hang tags advising the customers that mid-flight snacks are available will be added to the individual bottle waters distributed after the main meal service. Hot snack items, when available, will also be delivered upon request.
Pre-arrival service Were removing tray table linens to reduce trips through the aisle. The tray itself will continue to have a linen liner. The pre-departure chocolate/dessert will be catered on the pre-arrival tray for customers to enjoy during or after the flight.

13. Will there be any new service items introduced to support the new United Polaris service?
A: Yes, there are a few new elements that will be introduced, including:
Cart covers Similar to some of our competitors, branded cart covers for both the half and full carts will be boarded for use in the aisle on both the beverage and meal tray carts. Cart covers will be available shortly after launch.
Hang tags To be placed on individual bottle waters at the end of the main meal service to advise customers that mid-flight snacks are available.

14. Will we be changing the domestic meal service procedures to align with the new United Polaris service (e.g. pre-poured pre-departure beverages)?
A: We will continue listening to the feedback of our customers and our flight attendants and will adjust our processes where necessary to deliver the best service for our customers.
Some key points:

- Return of the salad/appetizer cart, although I suspect it's just going to be the meal cart with a fancy cover, to reduce the number of galley trips with hand-run trays
- Beverage carts coming back to the aisle (similar to DL and the former 3-cabin sUA business class service) with branded cart covers
- Soup is gone in Polaris First (so no more differentiation; the product isn't expected to last the full year, anyway)
- Wine tasting arches are gone
- No bloody mary carts (already announced)
- Hot bites will stay
- Bread refills to be offered (return of the bread basket?)
- Pre-departure chocolates returned to the pre-arrival tray

In many ways, this is going to look like the former three-cabin BusinessFirst service with nicer linens and serviceware. Overall, not the sweeping change (or depth of cuts) I was expecting. No word on provisioning of the other items (gel pillows, mattress pads, slippers, PJs, etc.)
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[Rumor] More Polaris "Enhancements" coming May 1, 2018? ...

Old Mar 26, 2018, 11:50 pm
  #436  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Originally Posted by cheltenhamflyer
We were on UA 901 a few days before you .Slippers were provisioned at every seat but we had to request PDB and a dinner wine refill both of which were delivered at last possible moment (in the case of dinner glass was refilled as desert service was underway!!). The inconsistency is disappointing as is the fact that after 16 flights we have yet to "enjoy" the full polaris experience and they are now cutting it back!!
Consider yourself fortunate the aircraft had any wine left to serve. I flew Polaris 777-300er AKL-SFO last November, and they ran out of red wine two hours into the flight. Seriously?
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Old Mar 27, 2018, 1:41 am
  #437  
 
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The slippers (per FA policy) should be provisioned at every seat for flights to Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan. All other Polaris flight have slippers catered at 60% and are available upon request. This has been since Polaris began and remains unchanged.
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Old Mar 27, 2018, 6:10 am
  #438  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
The way I read UAs (and AA, DL etc) offerings on short haul flights, it points to cost savings vs. being able to provision a full meal in a timely manner.
It is absolutely a cost savings. Not so much about food, but about labor. Youd need to double staffing on short flights in F to serve a full meal. While thats feasible in some countries, its not in the US with current pricing.
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Old Mar 27, 2018, 6:39 am
  #439  
 
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Originally Posted by UAinAUS
The slippers (per FA policy) should be provisioned at every seat for flights to Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan. All other Polaris flight have slippers catered at 60% and are available upon request. This has been since Polaris began and remains unchanged.
That makes some sense. I've only taken 6 polaris flights to/from FRA, LHR, ICN, TPE, AKL, SYD. The first 4 had slippers at my seat. The last two did not. However from SYD, when I requested my PJ's (for the second time), the FA brought me slippers as well. I don't care too much about slippers because they are a little too small for my feet.


At this rate, the eventual future of Polaris will be that all services (PJs, pillows, blankets, meals, snacks, drinks, headphones, turning on IFE and power ports, Safety Cards , list of available services, Getting an FA to come to your seat) will be on request.
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Old Mar 27, 2018, 7:57 am
  #440  
 
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Originally Posted by fly18725
It is absolutely a cost savings. Not so much about food, but about labor. You’d need to double staffing on short flights in F to serve a full meal. While that’s feasible in some countries, it’s not in the US with current pricing.
I don't think it's a matter of not being able to serve a full meal on shorter hauls; perhaps on smaller NB equipment staffed with a single FA in the premium cabin, but once there is a galley FA and at least one FA per aisle, it becomes much more realistic. Some carriers manage more comprehensive premium cabin meal services than UA with similar staffing.

I think the company realizes (Oscar even this week acknowledged) that asking employees to do more for the same pay is not a long-term viable proposition, especially while simultaneously cutting positions on WB equipment.
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EWR764 is offline  
Old May 6, 2018, 11:51 am
  #441  
 
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Snack Removal from Polaris

Looks like its official that mid flight snacks are being severely cut back. As it was the offering and presentation had come down a long way and was inconsistently put out.

Now from the UA website

"

Removal of Midflight Snack Options

One last minor change appears when you scroll down to the midflight snack section sandwiches and wraps have been removed from the list of options:

Depending on the destination and length of your flight, we offer a selection of midflight snacks, including fresh fruit, packaged snacks, sandwiches and wrapsand a variety of hot bites.
"

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...s-first-class/
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Old May 6, 2018, 11:56 am
  #442  
glx
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
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Recently SFO-SIN I noticed there were ZERO hot snack options aside from 99c cup-o-ramen, which is hilariously sad for a 17 hour flight. Usually I feel like they over-feed you, but in this case, it was drastically the other way.

HKG-SFO they offered a small pork curry thing mid-flight, which was nice.
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Old May 6, 2018, 12:02 pm
  #443  
 
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Originally Posted by glx
Recently SFO-SIN I noticed there were ZERO hot snack options aside from 99c cup-o-ramen, which is hilariously sad for a 17 hour flight. Usually I feel like they over-feed you, but in this case, it was drastically the other way.

HKG-SFO they offered a small pork curry thing mid-flight, which was nice.
I hope you wrote in!

You have to ask for the hot snack options, they're not laid out on the counter with everything else. I find myself often ordering it on LAX-SIN; LAX-SYD flights as they're longer than the usual TPAC/TATL from the west coast.
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Old May 6, 2018, 12:31 pm
  #444  
 
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Had a grilled cheese and tomato soup a couple weeks ago on TPE-SFO. It was great! I will be super disappointed if they take this away. Is it as good as a sandwich I can make on my griddle at home? Of course not. But, it really hits the spot after a long trip to Asia.
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Old May 6, 2018, 12:34 pm
  #445  
 
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So this looks like part of the covert benefits, you need to ask about like the bedding and gel pillow. It is there, but you have to ask for it.
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Old May 6, 2018, 12:44 pm
  #446  
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Originally Posted by schley
So this looks like part of the covert benefits, you need to ask about like the bedding and gel pillow. It is there, but you have to ask for it.
Well there is that increasingly vague, noncommittal declaration on the menu. And occasionally FA's will proactively offer. But for the most part, yes, it is a stealth amenity.
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Old May 6, 2018, 1:23 pm
  #447  
 
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Originally Posted by schley
So this looks like part of the covert benefits, you need to ask about like the bedding and gel pillow. It is there, but you have to ask for it.
To be fair (and correct), everyone is getting a gel pillow starting July 1...so it will not be a covert benefit then.
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Old May 6, 2018, 1:35 pm
  #448  
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I was never a fan of the "sandwiches and wraps" as business class snacks. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned.

On LAX-SIN May 3, there were (in addition to the cup of noodles) two hot options: the grilled cheese and tomato soup, or a korean beef with rice.
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Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 6, 2018 at 9:39 pm Reason: cleanup after merge;thanks for the link
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Old May 6, 2018, 1:54 pm
  #449  
 
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Kacee, would you rather have the option for a sandwich instead of nothing?

My Polaris experience is that the FAs don't like dealing with the hot snacks. Making a sandwich and heating up soup, or heating up a bowl of fried rice isn't that big of a deal. Putting out the cold snacks for a 7-8 hour TATL is fine, but on a 14 hour TPAC, some hot snacks should happily provided.

This is just more proof that Polaris is just a marketing term, not a new level of service. Conited management is happy to finally get rid of First class, but instead of Polaris being a an upgrade from decent Business class to something approaching First, it's just another flavor of regular international Business.
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Old May 6, 2018, 2:02 pm
  #450  
 
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More great moves by Scott Kirby

Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 6, 2018 at 9:41 pm Reason: Using symbols, spaces or other methods to mask vulgarities is not allowed.
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