Jm0115

I am booked EWR-HKG nonstop in 2020. Currently it is 772 with the old seats. Is it possible that they will change to the new Polaris Seats for these flights prior to my trip? I saw that EWR-HKG was already Polaris seats but only see SFO to HKG as Polaris and only 773. I would really prefer the new Polaris seats!

WineCountryUA

A chance yes but not guaranteed.
All the 3-class 772 will be got by en of 2019
the 2-2-2 pmCO772 will be converted by end of 2020
And there is a chance the route with be switch to a different aircraft type.

If you in early 2020 on a 2-2-2 pmCO772 there is no way to know at this time except there is a chance -- which will improve as 2020 progresses

Jm0115

I see that United is flying the EWR HKG route currently (now) with the 773 and Polaris seats. Any idea why they would change back to the 772 and the old seats later in the year and into 2020?

764toHI

The 772 on the schedule later in the year and in 2020 is likely just a placeholder. When UA loads the W19/20 schedule onto the website, it's likely the 77W will reappear - EWR-HKG is a Premium Plus market so I doubt there will be a substitution.

deepakvalecha

When would United load/update the Winter 2019-20 schedules?

zoonil

hi,

I am looking at Honk Kong (UA 179) for Dec 20 and I see that the seat map has reverted back to the old 8-across business class on the 777-200.

Currently the Hong Kong flights have the new Polaris seating (4 across)

Question - why is United going back to the old 8-across business class to Hong Kong? Does anyone know?

swiftaw

WineCountryUA

By Dec 2019, there will be very, very few remaining 2-4-2 772, 3-class,
23 of the 33 have been converted and 1 is in process -- so this may just be a placeholder seatmap as protection against a delay in the conversion process

dkc192

IIRC EWR-HKG reverts to the pmCO 772 in the winter schedule, which has 2-2-2 Diamond seats and not 2-4-2 IPTE seats. Or at least that's what I'm seeing in mid-December and mid-January. I don't think the pmUA 772s (with IPTE seats) have the range to do EWR-HKG, especially in the winter.

As others say, there's a chance that the plane gets swapped out for a Polaris-equipped one at T-48h or so, but the chances of that would be fairly low, given that only a handful of pmCO 772s have been retrofitted.

mduell

HKG was one of the first markets for IPTE, and then late in the IPTE upgrade program, HKG went back to the barcaloungers while the last few planes were being retrofitted. UA could do the same thing with the Polaris upgrade, since HKG was an early market.

lhrsfo

Feather Man

My last few flights to HKG out of ORD have been on the pmCO 772 (March, May and July 2019). Prior to that, I was hit or miss on getting new Polaris out of ORD or the old 2-4-2

Rahul R Patel

Looking at award tickets in January...in the upcoming months, UA 180 is listed as 777-300 with the new Polaris seats, 4 across, what I would ideally want...now, in January, the aircraft is a retro-fitted 777-200, 6 across, which granted, is better than the old Business Class, BUT...does this actually make sense for them to switch the aircraft BACK to a retrofitted 777-200 for an important flight like EWR-HKG?

Of course, I tried to contact UA about this and got a really generic response about how much of their fleet has been upgraded...gee...real helpful. Is there any way to really confirm which aircraft they'd go with this far ahead, or is it just sort of a crapshoot...

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Too far ahead. You're not going to get any answer you can rely on by calling in. Waste of time. The middle seats are fine on the 6-across.

jsloan

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

I vastly prefer the 2-2-2 configuration to the 1-2-1, assuming I can get a seat in the center column. It's much more spacious, albeit less private.

Anyway: (a) the 2-2-2 is not the retrofit version, that's the pre-retrofit version; (b) there's no way to know what configuration you'll have until you land, although about three days before your flight, you'll get a preliminary indication; and (c), yes, they would really use that on an "important flight" like EWR-HKG. In fact, they used that configuration for years on that flight -- it's the pre-merger Continental configuration. Demand is generally lower in the winter than it is in the summer, so they will occasionally downsize a route. (In this case, they're also adding a second daily SFO-HKG flight, so they may expect to see a hit in EWR-HKG bookings anyway).

Good luck.