EWR764

By the time the HKG downgauges start, more than half of the sCO 772s will be converted, so it’s plausible that UA can dedicate Polaris-configured equipment to the route. Hopefully things in Hong Kong are stabilized by then, but I’m not holding my breath.

Seat maps visible immediately after filing are hardly reliable. I wouldn’t be making any proclamations (much less firm plans) about 3-3-3 Y service to HKG.

oopl

Yea it's possible that the sCO 772s will have Polaris seats by then.

Kacee

I hope so. I'll be canceling if it's not Polaris seating.

SS255

I flew SFO-HKG on Thursday, and Polaris was like a non-rev shuttle. PP only had 4 booked, and the back of the plane was more than half empty. I don’t see how UA can sustain 2 daily flights out of SFO under current conditions, unless they want to run a free employee shuttle. That said, I would only book PP unless I could get PZ at booking, so I sincerely hope they dedicate reconfigured 772’s to this route.

Kacee

My December 26 flight SFO-HKG just updated to 2-2-2.

I'm looking for CX alternative itineraries. Not the easiest time of year to find TPAC seats at reasonable price. It's made more complicated because I've already booked an onward ticket from HKG to USM on PG, so would have to rearrange that as well. Thanks a bunch United.

HkCaGu

Suddenly there'll soon be no more PP for HKG. From 48+48 seats/day to zero. However, UA now partners with BR (instead of HX) to sell TPE-HKG. 871/872 SFO-TPE-SFO is 773. Earliest HKG-TPE/latest TPE-HKG can connect.

narvik

They're maybe going to use the Polarized versions for SFO-HKG? But who knows. There should be at least 10 (out of 22) converted by then.

I just know that EWR-PEK are remaining 77Y until the bitter end (unless some very rare event occurs).

Kacee

Yes it's a possibility but I'm not interested in playing aircraft roulette (at less than 50/50 odds) for a 15 hour flight.

narvik

Understood.
Almost embarrassingly, I actually like this plane in its old layout. Anything in D or E gets you 'direct' aisle access with no one stepping over you; bulkhead seats have nice footwells; and the large toilet must be just about one-of-kind nowadays.

jsloan

I agree with you, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed about it. I'll happily take the pmCO configuration over the Polaris configuration, provided that I can get a D/E seat.

Kacee

I've not flown the CO 772, but understand it's by far the best UA iteration of the B/E Diamond seat in terms of space.

That said, I really like the privacy of the Polaris seat. I understand others may differ, but to me this is a huge consideration.

The lack of air nozzles would be a somewhat lesser concern (I actually bought a nifty battery powered fan at HND after an unbearably warm JL flight).

StuckinITH

At least you are warned about this months in advance which most probably allows you to get a good seat (even in a configuration that you don't like). When my wife and I got a switch on the ORD-PVG route from the pmUA 772 (where we both had seats in the former First Class area) to the pmCO 772 it was 5 hours before the flight, just at the time that I had to close my phone in our connecting flight. So, we had to worry for 45 minutes that we would not be able to switch to acceptable seats. We managed to switch to somehow better seats but could not sit together.

I do hope that even with this annoyance you will enjoy your vacation in USM. OK, not at the airport but in a nice resort!

PsiFighter37

I have to think that UA has done some analysis to determine how much pain they can endure before considering going back to 1x. I highly doubt they completely cut either SFO-HKG or EWR-HKG - they are flagship routes for the airline.

HkCaGu

Not only that but HX is going away in 2-3 weeks, CX already announced cutbacks on this route, and faces very uncertain boycott pressure. And now back to 9 seats in Y there's quite a bit of "advantage" for UA...

quantumslip

Figured that this is the best place to post this...

I'm originally booked on HKG-SFO in PP (R class) as part of a larger trip. It was a good price (like $275 differential or so) vs regular economy. I've been wanting to try the new Polaris seat but it's usually out of my price range and not available a lot when I travel. Because of what's going on in HKG the front is wide open and I'm seeing PZ9, and Polaris upgrades for ~$2500 at this time.

Funny enough if I had stuck to economy, I would pay less to upgrade (30k miles + $600 co-pay, vs 30k miles + $450 co-pay from PP, but remember I paid like ~275 more to get into PP). I think they should charge less to upgrade to PP but I guess it only feels that way because of all that's going on.

If I was in economy, I probably would have jumped on this. But since I'm already in PP, because of the higher relative cost I'm leaning toward staying on it. I do think I'll have other opportunities to try out Polaris in the future. So what would you do?

Also I read that it does have an affect on instance upgrades (my connecting flight is currently booked in B class) and would eliminate the instance upgrade chance should something open up. Is that correct?