DominicB

I have to visit Poland on business in the coming weeks, flying out of ORD. I'm a British ex-pat and in normal times my life revolves around visits to London and Tel Aviv, and I do most of my flying on BA. But with my status extended by a year, and being more than disillusioned by its lamentable standard of service during the pandemic, I'm looking at getting better acquainted with Star Alliance.

So before too many weeks pass, I have to visit both Warsaw and Krakow, then briefly visit London, and back to ORD. One routing I was looking at was UA to FRA, but I could do with advice about 'real' Polaris, as compared to what some blogs call 'Fauxlaris' using the old pairs of business class seats on some 787s.

I would welcome advice on a) how to find Atlantic routes that have the real, new Polaris, and b) suggestions on the current likely best inflight experience ORD/WAW or KRK, whether on UA or another Star carrier.

Many thanks in advance.

fly747first

LHR is almost guaranteed to have the new Polaris on 763... just look at the seat map and it will show a 1x1x1 configuration. Be advised however, that unlike the 77W and 788/789s, even the new 763 Polaris seats don't have personal air vents.

If you are looking to maximize your Polaris experience, I would strongly recommend FRA - SFO which is assigned a 77W guaranteed to have the new product and you will get two meals plus an inflight snack.

cfischer

A lot of TATL is new Polaris right now. 781 and 773 as well as 763 are pretty much sure bet Polaris. 788/789/772 can be YMMV with substitutions. They have been doing muss less aircraft swaps recently so if you book just a few weeks out I'd say you are pretty safe with what you see on the seat map.

DominicB

YMMV?

JimInOhio

Your Mileage May Vary... an American phrase referring to car fuel mileage claims.

As far as Star Alliance, LO flies ORD-WAW daily with 787-9.

Back to UA, 787-10 and 777-300 have the real Polaris setup. 787-8 and -9 plus 777-200 are currently a mix of configurations. Most of the 767-300 aircraft to Europe have the new Polaris as well.

bocastephen

The only "Polaris" product you would have is the seat - if you're looking for "real Polaris" to mean a full service business class product, it won't be on UA in any form. Look for another airline.

AirbusFan2B

LH/OS are superior to UA TATL in every instance (save for UA’s extra legroom E+) so that covers ORD-FRA/MUC/VIE. Intra-EU, LH has among the best product of *A carriers. UA Club at LHR T2 is very good, just a notch below LH Senator in FRA/MUC.

GoSh4rks

I'd take Polaris every single time over 2-2-2.

WineCountryUA

Especially with shared foot space on LH and less padding

UA_Flyer

Flying in the current Covid-19 period, trying different airlines/alliance won’t provide a fair comparison to OP’s usual BA experience.

There is no such thing as Polaris experience at the moment. No Polaris Lounge and No Polaris onboard services.

WineCountryUA

OP specific mentions the seat as the focus of their query.

cesco.g

With current very light J-loads you're very likely get an empty seat next to you.

As mentioned above, not a real issue at the time OP expects to travel.

artvandalay

OP also focused on service: "I would welcome advice on a) how to find Atlantic routes that have the real, new Polaris, and b) suggestions on the current likely best inflight experience ORD/WAW or KRK, whether on UA or another Star carrier."
As bocastephen andUA_Flyer pointed out, "Polaris" as a generally understood business class experience on UA does not exist; for now, it's just a seat.

bocastephen

...and the seat you book, or expect, may or may not be the seat you actually fly on - coupled with their cheapskate crippled inflight service, it's not a risk I would take with my money. Unfortunately since the OP is going to Europe, and not Asia, the non-UA *A options are not fantastic in the seat department, so it might be worth looking at a non *A option if the overall experience is critical.

jpezaris

I'd consider LO to fly a 787 ORD-WAW (assuming they're still running the 787 on that route), which, although isn't a Polaris hard product, appears to offer a pretty good lie-flat seat equivalent to the pre-Polaris international UA seat, and carries the benefit of being scheduled at 8h55 so that you can get a decent six hours of sleep if you take the dinner and breakfast service.