Just booked EWR-HKG for November and it is indeed on a 77W. Hopefully it sticks this time.

This has happened to me on about 50% of the 8 HKG-ORD I have taken since they started the refits, guess since they are done in HKG this is a prime flight for them to sub them in on last minute (had one happen to me as close as T-2, talk about seat chaos)

Also happened with EWR-HKG in early January. I hope it sticks.

EWR to HKG Polaris Flight Review?
 

Seat: You get all-aisle access seats instead of having to climb over someone if you're in window seat. 777 seats are wide and spacious enough for a good sleep and offers good privacy.
Meal: Same as any other UA TPAC route, meal after take-off, then lights out until 1.5h before landing to serve breakfast. You can request a mid-flight snack if you're hungry.
Service: Typical UA service, consistently inconsistent

United downgraded EWR-HKG 77W to 772
 

Looks like United went back to the 772 with old business class non-Polaris seats for our flight in February due to all the unrest there. Too bad I was looking forward to the Polaris seating!

Not a completely lost cause, as mentioned elsewhere

Anyone notice where these 773s are going in lieu of HKG?

TLV/FRA?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...e-changes.html

I think the big story is GRU getting 77W

IIRC this is the first time 77W heads to LatAm on any scheduled basis

others have asked what UA will do to respond to 3x weekly DFW-TLV. Now we know.

According to "One Mile At A Time", EWR-HKG will be flown with 777-200 with the old business class seats from 12/3/19-3/27/19.

Wait and see... all the sUA 777s will be converted to Polaris by that time, as will more than half of the sCO 772s. People tend to get up in arms about advance seat maps, but they are rarely reliable.

True, but it's entirely caused by UA. On dedicated Polaris 772 routes, they show the Polaris seat map. SFO-HKG currently shows 2-2-2, which I'm taking as an indication that may well be what they fly. Interestingly, I can't remember the sCO 772 ever being regularly scheduled from SFO before.

I think it's true that they want to use the -224ERs, because the extra 8k of payload over the -222ER is meaningful on the HKG sectors. BUT, I don't take it to mean they are planning to operate the old configuration full-time on EWR/SFO-HKG, especially since we are about 3 months from the start of service. The truth is, high-yield international traffic disproportionately books closer to departure, certainly not this far in advance, so I can understand that it's not a priority (at this point) to accurately match the seat map with the product UA intends to offer in that market, on that day. Revenue management and pricing for the HKG market reflects the dynamic state of demand right now, so perhaps there's a wait-and-see approach.

Every year, around the time seasonal schedule changes begin to load, people get up in arms about a host of downgauges/configuration downgrades that often resolve in subsequent schedule revisions, or never materialize in service. I can understand why bloggers make semi-alarmist posts about it (it drives traffic) but a bit of patience might be advisable!

Except if one waits until December, there will be minimal alternative options available.

Not to mention how poorly UA handles seat assignments when they swap these aircraft back and forth. And of course good luck getting any relief from cs two days before travel when you get dumped into a bad seat.