No more aircraft with Polaris seats from IAD-LAX?
 

Last month I flew IAD to LAX on 787's with new Polaris seating. I was excited to find a decently priced lie-flat option as I will be flying the route pretty regularly for business. I went to book my trip for November and noticed that the 787s were replaced with 777, but same Polaris 1-2-1 so I was happy. However, I am looking to book my January trip and I am seeing almost no widebodies except 777 with old seat arrangements.

Is this typical for UA to have different offerings at different times of the year or is this permanent? If so does anybody have any recommendations for IAD - LAX lie flats with other airlines? It seems like United was the only airline that did that direct.

Hey welcome to FT! The brief answer to your question is YES. Some of the larger lie flat jets were put into use on domestic flights as international service was curtailed during the pandemic. I was even getting the occasional lie flat on my SFO-KOA flights and that basically NEVER happened pre pandemic.

Thanks for the response (and the welcome!) That's disappointing to hear but totally makes sense. It looks like my only lie-flat option then going forward for WAS region is Jet Blue through BOS.

Welcome to FT!, bloomintheair
Nothing is normal / traditional nowadays, the airlines are facing a vastly different marketplace and one that is still shifting.

Additional what you see a few months out is tentative and can change.

None of this is unique to UA, other airlines are doing the same. So check back regularly, things will likely change. How -- we don't know.

And the 772 2-2-2 aircraft is still a nice lie-flat ride

Book the 772s ... chances are high this will be a 1-2-1 config. Even if 2-2-2 that is still a nice ride. Don't think UA will bring the 2-4-2 772s back.

LAX-EWR-DCA/IAD will guarantee lie-flat seats on LAX-EWR, too.

Didn't realize the 2-2-2 were lie flats, that's good to hear. Thanks!

Don't think UA has any wide body planes that don't have lie flats in front. All the HD 772s used for domestic were converted to lie-flats a while back I thought.

They're loaded in right now for TCONs in early March. I am hoping for a schedule update, because I desperately do not want to travel on them (and unfortunately, they are scheduled for the optimal time to me to fly out and back).

I am good with that!

Last month was the first wide-body domestic I've ever flown, and so I assumed it was only the 1-2-1s that were lie-flat. Glad to be wrong!

Delta has been doing lie flat DCA-LAX for a while. It usually is overpriced since it is 2-2, but thought that might be a helpful potential option.

There's no pmCO 2-2-2 772ER's (22 aircraft) left in the fleet, they've all been converted to 1-2-1 Polaris in the same configuration as the pmUA 772ER's (29 aircraft). The only possible config you can get on a 772 that isn't Polaris is the dreaded 2-4-2 HD config (19x pmUA 772 and 4x pmUA 772ER), which are currently grounded due to the P&W engine issues. Not sure if they plan to eventually bring them back though. The only 772s currently flying are the fleet of 22 pmCO 772ER's, as they have the GE engines and are not grounded.

Appreciate the detailed info. I double checked, and it looks like starting in March UA2276 is showing a 772 with 2-4-2. How bad is it? Worse than 753 or 738/9 even with the lie-flat?

Welcome to FT bloomintheair