helvetic

There are 39 birds in the sky with Polaris seats and 7 more on the way (one 77W to be delivered, one 772 to be retrofit, and 5 767s).

United has a much larger fleet than AC.

prestonh

yes, and the pasta from the sit-down and some of the noodles. (we were there nearly 4 hours) None of the food was served or kept at proper temp IMO

nexusCFX

Larger fleet yes, but we're talking about turnaround time for retrofits. I didn't say I'm surprised that United took more than ten months to do all their retrofits; they have to retrofit over a hundred planes! However, they've only retrofitted the same number of planes as AC in two years, so I just pointed it out in response to the question of other retrofit examples from the past.

raiachat

For the small amount of true Polaris equipment that is flown out of EWR I think that the product has met my expectations. I would like to see larger planes - not the 767's - for EWR/LHR route. The 767s on that route have not been re-fitted and they are always packed - why not use a larger plane on this route?
EWR Polaris lounge is great. Would like to see a separate Polaris lounge at LHR. Regular lounge is always crowded.
Food on the Polaris flights have been ok. I think a bit better than in past for BF.
Heard the Pilot announce last week on flight back from LHR that Channel 9 was once again available but as usual it didnt work. Hear from a United Express pilot friend that they are bringing Channel 9 back.

LC757

I've only gotten the full Polaris experience (seats + lounge) on one roundtrip so far (SFO-TPE). Otherwise, my primary INTL route is either SFO-PVG or EWR-PVG, neither of which have the seats yet. ORD-PVG is 50/50 whether it's Polaris or the dreaded 2-4-2, and I book away from that at all costs.

If I had access to more of the Polaris seats on my routes, then my opinion of Polaris would drastically increase. The soft product is nothing to write home about.

mellon

however they still have not changed the 330s or the 767s. they will dispose of the 767 to Rouge and perhaps redo the 330 next year.

Zorak

Better management of expectations/messaging perhaps? I think it helped that "D1" as a marketing name/brand/whatever was already somewhat established, before they introduced Suites, and for a while I think people just equated Suites == A350 only, until they announced that they would be rolling it out to the entire widebody fleet (glacially, yes -- I think by 2021 was announced at one point).

Or maybe we're just used to not having nice things

travelinmanS

helvetic

UA flies Polaris 77W to PEK, I fly it semi-regularly ex-SFO. PVG options are crap, but that's just Shanghai.

Kacee

And PVG-LAX is a DL 350 route. Most DL TPACs from the west coast are their awful 767 via SEA. So PVG-LAX is one of the few west coast TPACs where DL has a hard product advantage.

spin88

+1. Or a brand new 787 dreamliner with short/narrow non-direct aisle access seats. The Polaris seat (on the 777 anyway) is fine, and the windows are nice and private. Something to jump for joy over no, but a nice seat. But the branding is not associate with that seat, its associated with the old seats, and subpar food and beverage, and (in many places) the old lounges, which are not so hot.

Delta by and large serves different markets. The 767s serve shorter range Europe destinations. The DL equipment serving longer flights is either 777 or 330s, both of which have seats that are substantially better and a generation later than either the IPTE or sCO seats. None of these DL seats (on the 330/777) have the length of width issues the pre-Polaris seats have on UA. [In fairness, some people don't like the 777 seats, which are being replaced, they have lots of length (no footwell issue) and are direct aisle access so I am fine with them. Biggest issue I would ID with them is the smaller screen size]

And while I like the new DL Thompson Vintage XL seat (I think its slightly better than the new Polaris seat, because its bigger) it is not a massive upgrade on what is currently on the 777/330.

The issue as you ID is the DL 763 seats, and I think DL will just stick with those until the planes are retired. The issue with the Thompson Vintage is the seat's length (due to the footbox being small, other than on the first row). My issue with DL is how long they are taking to roll out their PE product. That is a bigger one IMHO. Delta is being squeezed because he deferred some of the A359 deliveries and as a result probably has too small of a fleet to be able to take 777s out of service for retrofits at an appropriate rate.

But when Delta rolled out their new seat on the A359 they did not do a rebranding of the entire service, nor did they pretend to the same extent that it was somehow revolutionary, which is was not. But then neither was Polaris. The difference was that the expectations were high for Polaris.

kirkwoodj

skidooman

I had the chance to fly true Polaris only once from ORD. It was good. Not superb, not living up to the hype. But the hard product was on par with the good ones out there: AC (if the cushion stops deflating), MU, BA...

The main problem, as many have mentioned, is the time it takes to deploy it across the fleet. Seems to take a long time to get the 772 retrofitted. The lounges were similarly delayed. That certainly took off some of the initial shine.

I don't hate the other hard products - sure, 2X4X2 is cramped, but I spent years in Y, so I don't complain too much anytime I have a bed - but these are definitely not ranking with the best options out there. They are really in the lower tier. While true Polaris is probably in the high middle tier from a hard product perspective.

For the food and service, I reserve judgment. The fact is that I did not fly much United in the second half of the year, as United was significantly more expensive than AC, LH and others. Based on what I am reading, it seems the situation may not have evolved for the best. But I try to keep an open mind.

764toHI

A couple of reasons:
- NYC-LHR market has placed an importance on frequency
- UA needs to offer frequencies to maintain its LHR slots
- Larger aircraft would provide too much Y capacity - the Y cabin seems to be a ghost town this time of the year through mid-April.

elCheapoDeluxe

I had two non-Polaris 787 trips and a Polaris 777 trip this month. 787 SFO-HND and 777 NRT-SFO. Yes - the new seat is nicer. But... not enough nicer that I'd pick NRT over HND.