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United Polaris - New Business Class seats & inflight service {Archive}

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Old Jan 17, 2020, 6:38 pm
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Archive thread -- Active thread is United Polaris - New Business Class seats & inflight service -- 3+ years after Intro

United website - Explore: http://view.ceros.com/united/polaris-business-class/p/1
from UA's Facebook stream
Only customers traveling in United Polaris business class or United Polaris Global First on international flights and customers in Star Alliance international first or business class cabins on flights longer than six hours will have access to the United Polaris Lounge.
Official Polaris Lounge Access Rules are here: Polaris Lounge Access Rules

United Polaris Business and Polaris First pax may access the Polaris lounge at connecting airports and their final destination within 24 hours of departure or arrival.

*A international J and F pax may only access the Polaris lounge at the departure airport. For purposes of Polaris lounge access, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and Guam are excluded from the definition of "international."

Seat Chart.

Press release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300278706.html

NEW YORK, June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With the aspiration of making weary business travel a relic of the past, United Airlines today unveiled its all-new United Polaris business class, the airline's most significant product transformation in more than a decade, featuring a reimagined, sleep-enhancing, departure-to-landing experience for intercontinental travelers.

Named after the North Star, United Polaris is the shining new star of business class travel that flyers can turn to for a tranquil and restful journey.

"United Polaris will change the game in international business travel with an exceptional level of relaxation and comfort throughout our customers' journeys," said Oscar Munoz, president and CEO of United. "This completely reconceived experience exemplifies the new spirit of United and the innovation, excitement and operational momentum across our airline."

Path-Breaking Design

In setting out to create a transformative business class experience, United chose to outfit its widebody fleet with a custom-designed, exclusive-to-United seat, rather than select an option already in the marketplace. Designed in partnership with Acumen Design Associates and PriestmanGoode and manufactured by Zodiac Seats United Kingdom, each United Polaris seat will offer direct access to the aisle, 180-degree flat-bed recline and up to 6 foot 6 inches of bed space.

Crafted as individual, forward-facing, suite-like pods, each customer's personal suite will feature a "Do Not Disturb" sign, mood lighting, one-touch lumbar support, several storage areas, multiple surfaces for simultaneous working and dining, a 16-inch high-definition entertainment screen and, for seats in the center of the cabin, electronic privacy dividers. Complementing the new seats, United and PriestmanGoode have also conceived an all-new look for the United Polaris cabins.

In rethinking the international business class experience, United conducted more than 12,000 hours of research, and sleep emerged as the single most important priority for international business class travelers. United Polaris' path-breaking design and sleep-enhancing focus was inspired and informed by insights from hundreds of customers and employees, inflight product simulations and more than 100 product evaluations.

Sleep-Enticing Amenities

In addition to the sleep-enticing United Polaris personal suites, several other amenities were designed with our customers' sleep in mind.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, United has worked with leading luxury specialty store Saks Fifth Avenue for custom-designed bedding. All designed to provide the best sleep in the sky, the new bedding collection will feature plush duvets, lightweight day-blankets and a large and small pillow for each United Polaris customer. In addition, mattress cushions will be available upon request.

Slippers will be available on all flights, and customized United Polaris pajamas will be available by request on flights longer than 12 hours**. Flyers will also be able to request a gel-cooled pillow. New amenity kits will feature ergonomically designed eye shades, calming lavender pillow mist and additional products from Soho House & Co.'s Cowshed Spa.

With the introduction of United Polaris, the airline intends to donate tens of thousands of pillows, blankets and other inflight service items to Fisher House Foundation, which United and its employees have long supported.

Elevated Dining Experience

Upon boarding their flight, each United Polaris customer will be welcomed with a pre-departure beverage of his or her choice and gourmet chocolate. While in the air, customers will enjoy regionally influenced in-flight menus updated seasonally, developed in partnership with The Trotter Project and its critically recognized chefs, including Bill Kim of acclaimed Chicago restaurants Urbanbelly, bellyQ and Belly Shack.

The airline will offer an upgraded wine experience, with the highest-quality options curated exclusively by United's Master Sommelier. Inflight service will also include made-to-order signature ice cream sundaes, a dessert cart with a variety of petit dessert options, chocolate truffles and wine flights. On daytime flights longer than eight hours and on all flights longer than 12 hours, hot mid-flight snacks such as lobster macaroni and cheese will be available.

Raising The Bar With United Polaris Business Class Lounges

United will also open an exclusive portfolio of United Polaris business class lounges in nine locations around the world – the only lounge of its kind offered by a U.S. airline to business class customers – that will feature custom-designed chairs, private daybeds, spa-like showers and chef-inspired hot meals served in a boutique restaurant setting so customers can refresh and dine before boarding their planes. Premium sparkling wines and spirits, refreshing snacks and bottled water will also be offered.

The first new United Polaris lounge will open at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Dec. 1, 2016. Lounges in eight other locations – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, New York/Newark, Washington Dulles, Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong and London Heathrow – will follow in 2017.

United Polaris Introduction

United will begin to introduce United Polaris on Dec. 1, 2016, with the new inflight food and beverage experience, new custom bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue, new amenity kits and the new United Polaris lounge in Chicago. The United Polaris business class seat will first take flight in December on Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and subsequently on Boeing 787-10 and Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, as well as on Boeing 767-300 and 777-200 retrofits.

United Polaris will serve business class customers flying the U.S. airline industry's most global route network, reaching more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries.

More information on the United Polaris business class can be found at united.com/Polaris.

[From [email][email protected] 11/15/2016]
Starting December 1, 2016, United Polaris Business Class service will replace United BusinessFirst service on international flights, and United Polaris Global First service will replace the current United Global First service.

Between 2017 to 2019 eight additional United Polaris lounges will open at EWR, HKG, IAD, IAH, LAX, LHR, NRT and SFO. We do not have the exact opening dates at this time. A scheduling announcement will be forthcoming.
** Flights with pajama service (for both directions)
SFO - ICN, PEK, PVG, HGH, XIV, TPE, AKL, HKG, CTU, SYD, TLV, SIN
EWR - NRT, PEK, DEL, BOM, HKG, PVG
ORD - NRT, PEK PVG, HKG
LAX - PVG, SYD, MEL, SIN
IAD - NRT, PEK
IAH - NRT, SYD
(from United Twitter feed https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyjFHZLW...jpg&name=large

{Similar Threads:
Polaris Lounge Roadmap 2017-2018 (wiki) (thread)
Polaris lounge ORD - opened 01 Dec 2016 (wiki) (thread)
SFO Lounge changes? Which will become Polaris? Shower options?(wiki) (thread)
United Polaris-New Business Class seats & inflight service and new Polaris Lounges(wiki) (thread)}


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United Polaris - New Business Class seats & inflight service {Archive}

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Old Feb 20, 2017, 7:44 am
  #2791  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: UA-1K MM, AA-Gold, DL-Silver, AS-MVP
Posts: 2,509
Originally Posted by gumercindo
One more question: the EWR-BCN craft is a 767-400. Is this an old class 3 config or does it have the new Polaris seat? Tia.
This will be 2-class config with the current sCO business class seats. I don't think 764 are scheduled for reconfig until 2018.
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Old Feb 20, 2017, 7:58 pm
  #2792  
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Originally Posted by st530
On TPE-SFO right now in GF. Very nice crew but FA says no PJ's on this flight because of shorter flight time. Is she misinformed? Is flight mal-provisioned? Or is flight list in the Wiki inaccurate?
FA was wrong. I'd write to UA about it ... if they can't even get service right in First . UA is such an inconsistent mess.
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Old Feb 21, 2017, 1:39 am
  #2793  
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Originally Posted by CHOPCHOP767
First time in the Polaris Lounge in ORD this evening: wow, what an improvement!

Great snack options and love the sleep pods. Puts the old IFCL to shame. The lounge felt on par with some of the better European and Asian carriers' lounges. I also love the lighting:



Upgrade to Polaris First for ORD->MUC didn't clear, but here's hoping for the return flight.
FYI - the lighting fixture is actually a street map of Chicago that was custom made for the club. The ther Polaris clubs will have similar fixtures designed by the same artist modeled after their city's street map.
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Old Feb 21, 2017, 9:33 am
  #2794  
 
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
FYI - the lighting fixture is actually a street map of Chicago that was custom made for the club. The ther Polaris clubs will have similar fixtures designed by the same artist modeled after their city's street map.
Oh! Will EWR feature the county jail on theirs!?
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Old Feb 21, 2017, 10:47 am
  #2795  
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Originally Posted by JVPhoto
Oh! Will EWR feature the county jail on theirs!?
My guess is that the EWR one will (incops:rrectly) feature Manhattan.
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Old Feb 21, 2017, 11:17 am
  #2796  
 
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Silly, naive question..... Of the mattress pads, pillows, duvets... Are any of these brand new when they distribute, or do they clean them all and redistribute? A few yrs ago a FA on US Airways told me that they simply fold and re-use most of the time. I assume that is not the case, but the germaphobe in me is curious about the procedure for the bedding.
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Old Feb 21, 2017, 11:20 am
  #2797  
 
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
FYI - the lighting fixture is actually a street map of Chicago that was custom made for the club. The ther Polaris clubs will have similar fixtures designed by the same artist modeled after their city's street map.
I didn't know that; thanks! I thought I had read that each of the ornamental lightings in the lobby would be different, but was unaware of that design choice. If that's the case, EWR and IAD will be kind of boring

That said, after a r/t to MUC last week-end, J going over, F coming back, despite excellent service on both legs, the disparity between the lounge experience and the onboard experience is rather staggering, especially on the 767.

Nevertheless, I am very much looking forward to a Polaris experience on the new 777s.
CHOPCHOP767 is offline  
Old Feb 21, 2017, 12:12 pm
  #2798  
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Wayne, NJ USA
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
My guess is that the EWR one will (incops:rrectly) feature Manhattan.
First the "NY" Giants, now this. I tell ya, NJ gets no respect. No respect.
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Old Feb 21, 2017, 12:29 pm
  #2799  
 
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Originally Posted by gold23
Silly, naive question..... Of the mattress pads, pillows, duvets... Are any of these brand new when they distribute, or do they clean them all and redistribute? A few yrs ago a FA on US Airways told me that they simply fold and re-use most of the time. I assume that is not the case, but the germaphobe in me is curious about the procedure for the bedding.
I think than they must clean the bedding at certain trigger points:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...procedure.html
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Old Feb 22, 2017, 3:02 pm
  #2800  
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
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Is anyone keeping a running list of routes that currently fly with the Polaris cabin configuration, or is this not trackable by flight # and just random?
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Old Feb 22, 2017, 3:18 pm
  #2801  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by elitefreak
Is anyone keeping a running list of routes that currently fly with the Polaris cabin configuration, or is this not trackable by flight # and just random?
Right now it's only EWR-SFO-EWR, first flight will be SFO-HKG. Theres a thread here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...re-routes.html
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Old Feb 22, 2017, 3:19 pm
  #2802  
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Originally Posted by elitefreak
Is anyone keeping a running list of routes that currently fly with the Polaris cabin configuration, or is this not trackable by flight # and just random?
At the present there is only 1 operating 777-300ER with the new seats, doing EWR<>SFO . Mid-March SFO<>HKG will start operating.

You can track using
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...re-routes.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-schedule.html
WineCountryUA is offline  
Old Feb 22, 2017, 3:50 pm
  #2803  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
At the present there is only 1 operating 777-300ER with the new seats, doing EWR<>SFO . Mid-March SFO<>HKG will start operating.

You can track using
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...re-routes.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-schedule.html
There are at least two of them in circulation now (#2131 and #2132). UA 233 (0830) and UA 443 (1250) were both operated by 777-300ER's today on SFO-EWR.
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Old Feb 22, 2017, 5:56 pm
  #2804  
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 82
Originally Posted by dmurphynj
Well, if the crew on my current PolariP.S. (SFO-EWR on the 773) flight is reflective of the New Sprit of United... we're in good shape indeed.

They've been utterly fantastic. Super excited about this plane, top notch service, friendly when I want them to be, out of sight when I don't. Can't ask for any better of a flight.

Spent some time chatting with the first officer too - incredibly pleasant gentleman - gave me some neat facts on the 773 and just super great to talk to. This is what United needs to be. They absolutely can kick butt - this is everything gone right here. Great day for United.
so, after reading quite a few reviews on Polaris, in this thread and in others, if you wind up on the 77W you are very likely to have a great experience. If you happen to wind up on any other UA Polaris flight, you will have the sub-standard UA experience that most of us have come to expect.
KeepItReal is offline  
Old Feb 23, 2017, 9:29 am
  #2805  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Titanium, National Exec Elite
Posts: 32
I will be traveling to India for business soon on Polaris Business Class. I was wondering what the best option to fly would be if I wanted to experience the Polaris Lounge in ORD. I am based out of IAH.

Would I get Polaris lounge access if I was to fly IAH-ORD-EWR-BOM? Or would I have to do a IAH-ORD-FRA-BOM with a codeshare from Lufthansa to BOM?

I would prefer to take the direct EWR-BOM to get the Pajamas and full Polaris in flight experience but would also like to check out the Polaris lounge.

Thanks in advance
raheeezy is offline  


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