ezefllying

I wish United's leadership had a better sense of psychology. Adding $15 to the per-seat meal budget (which, by the looks of it, would double it) isn't just about providing a better entree or more ice cream. It's about customer perceptions of quality, service, and care.

That $15 is the difference between saying, "Okay, here's your food. Eat it quick and then go to sleep" and making a passenger feel like a guest in a premium product. You might never have ordered a sundae, but the fact that it was offered, with various options, in a rather elegant manner signaled, "This is something special." The mere novelty value of getting a hand-prepared desert on a modern flight makes the passenger feel valued. And the portions suggested you didn't have to worry about being hungry in five hours, with another three to five until landing.

Now, you get a Girl Scout cookie with a few other small items packed onto a tray, like some sort of final meal. It all says, "We're doing the bare minimum contractually required by your ticket. This is an arm's-length transaction, and we can't wait to fill your seat with the next revenue source."

That distinction—between being a guest and being a cost—may seem emotional and frivolous, but it matters to premium passengers. They feel it. Under various leaders, United has understood that, but now, they don't seem to.

findark

This. I already consider the Polaris seat to be among the best (maybe the best?) J seat in the sky. (Before you yell me, I really dislike herringbone layouts for having much inferior window views.)

The embarrassing part is the soft product that it's flying with. Instead of doors, let's improve that.

zombietooth

Biz seats have become a commodity to me. So long as there are longer seats that can be selected (i.e. bulkheads, etc.), and the seat is a lie-flat, I am not overly concerned with which configuration or seat I get. I shop only by price and routing (i.e. minimum possible total transit time) and will fly any carrier since elite status is of minimal value anymore.
Paid J as an elite = paid J as a prole.

jpezaris

I think there are two primary factors that limit the current Polaris seat experience (which, to be fair, is not bad at all): space when lying down, and amount of acoustic privacy. Both are related to sleeping, which is the most important aspect to me for flying up front. If I can get a good night's sleep while being whisked from A to B, and therefore be productive when I hit the ground, that's the whole deal. Everything else is icing.

Current Polaris seating does a good job of providing adequate space for being horizontal for me, a person of ordinary stature. I'd love to see the foot wells optimized if possible, and both arm rests being able to lower to give a couple of extra inches in width at the torso; those improvements would be nice. But the acoustic privacy leaves something to be desired. Not because I want to make noise, but because I don't want to hear the normal activity of people around me, including those walking up and down the aisle or having conversations. I usually use ear plugs when sleeping on a plane, but a fair bit of noise can still get through.

Doors would definitely help with that, as would improving the acoustic absorption of both surfaces within the immediate vicinity of the head area of the seat, but also the ceiling above.

narvik

Doors? Sheesh!

To create the ultimate privacy and to generate some extra revenue, United would probably add padlocks to the doors....and charge 10000 miles or 2 PlusPoints for the combination to the lock. 😎

uastarflyer

A half height door is faux privacy

If that is what is needed to keep up with the pack so be it

easier entry (the “aisle” in the seat is too narrow) and better space for a bag would be nice.

Turning it into a loveseat type thing might reduce capacity and make it harder to get (upgrades) so I’m not too fussed about that

O62

I agree with many previous posters. I think the Polaris hard product is very competitive and MILES better than the old product (like 4 across in J!). The soft product, i.e. consistent service standards and catering, is where they should focus on. It's easier to buy a new seat, however, than it is to roll out rigorous training, service standards, and new catering in the current employment market.

bmwe92fan

Agree with this -- but I think that UA isn't so much focused on buying more hard product features -- I think UA has some studies / strategies that dictate what appears to be their new strategy -- they aren't trying to be a globally competitive J class airline -- they can't win that battle ever -- they are going to be a US airline with captive customers and will offer a decent hard product and skimp on the soft -- because they don't think investments in soft product will ever pay out at all -- but do realize that when the majority of their US counterparts are offering a theoretically better hard product that people might switch -- and they are betting that most J class international customers aren't spending $5k for a filet to Europe -- it's the seat....

FLYMSY

IMHO, doors for the seats are neither needed, nor a necessity​​​​​​.

MDTyKe

Speak for yourself, as a Hawaii resident I'd be happy to have more Polaris seats for the red-eyes to the United States; I often fly through HNL just to snag those!

zombietooth

Yeah, all the redeye flights from Maui are the crappy domestic F configuration (except DEN), and are very unpleasant, especially the abysmal slimline seat configs on the 737 MAX. However, having to go back to HNL just to get a lie-flat seems like a big waste of time.

porciuscato

Thank you. To me, this is as eccentric as the bizarre obsession with pajamas often seen on this forum.

Wow! You have expressed this in such a succinct and compelling way. Bravo. I wish somebody would send a copy of this to some United execs.

wpcoe

Don't think the bean counters would go for that.

Say a plane only does one flight a day (I'm sure utilization is higher, but for this example let's aim low.) $70-$140 per week = $3,640 - $7,280 per year, every year. How much would a door be as a one-time cost?

I actually agree with your idea, but just don't think that UA's decision-makers would see it our way.

rajsbasi

I can see it now, "Whilst service is our passion, safety is our priority. Drinks will be limited to one per customer at a time and only whilst the door is open."

phkc070408

The real reason is to make it harder for the sleeping passenger to see the FA and flag him/her down for another drink, or to enable the FA to pretend that he/she didn't see the passenger about to ask for something, After all, a partial height door only blocks the view for e person lower to the ground.