SPN Lifer

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As for the difference between various UA lie-flat seats, the consensus seems to be that it is a matter of opinion -- often depending at least somewhat on whether flying as a solo traveller.

boolean64

I was just on this aircraft type on monday and slept like a baby. Add another vote for these being more comfortable for sleep than the actual Polaris seats.

Atxtrav

Just checked in for our flight. We are are a family of four and booked in Polaris months ago 1-2-1. United changed this to an 8 across configuration. On top of that they distributed 3 our family seats all over the cabin. This puts our kids next to strangers. Additionally, my seat bought with points is unassigned and no seats are available.

We texted. We called. United says basically too bad for you.
Nothing they can do.

We paid for the premium Polaris product. Now we are in polaris lite. Yeah yeah. I know. They can change equipment on a whim.
What a crummy configuration for a 9 hour flight.

Aussienarelle

Your family actually seems like the ideal candidate for the four seats in the middle.

Were you all on separate reservations? I can see you would be on a separate reservation as points were used.

At this stage I would try to ensure those with seats have aisle access so someone in a middle seat would swap with you - middle for aisle. Trade up for most folks. Sorry to read your post.

Atxtrav

We tried suggesting that on the phone and on the chat. Both agents said they cannot change a thing. They cannot even guarantee me a seat on the plane.

This is beyond disappointing. The 2-4-2 stink. If I wanted premium economy I would have booked it!

marks88

Not much consolation, but I had this happen on FCO-EWR (albeit between 1-2-1 and 2-2-2). I got $75 or $150 which... I guess better than nothing.

Atxtrav

Sorry that happened to you, too.
What's frustrating too is there is another flight, same day, but none of United reservations can see it. BUT it is available online and in the app. The agents didn't believe me. They have been unwilling to change us.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

If you attempt a dummy booking on that flight (all the way through payment) can you book it? My guess is you can't and the agent is correct. On rare occasions flights show up that one cannot actually book. The reasons varies - outright cancellation pending, down-gauge pending, or substitute by the flight you are actually now booked on. You might not want to push an agent to take you off a flight that exists and onto one that doesn't

As a solo passenger, I prefer the Polaris pods, but consensus is the 4-across seats are better for sleeping. And the other passengers might prefer that a family with kids be in a 4-across, where the kids can be managed properly in a premium cabin.

There's a big difference between the 772HD lie-flat w/ Polaris soft product and premium economy - you lose a bit of credibility there. Those who thought they were in Premium economy on your flight are now in E+ - that's a bigger drop in flight experience than yours.

Atxtrav

I can take a dummy booking all the way to a payment screen.

It went from a config with 50 polaris to 28 if seatguru is correct. Since I don't have an assigned seat, I'm pretty upset.
Now. We purposely booked me on the points reservation rather than our teenager just in case United blew up the trip. And whaddya know... They did.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

4 seats? And actually make the payment? That's where the breakdown usually is. You can refund if it goes through. Would you mind sharing date? That provides no personal info.

Atxtrav

Yes. Four seats. 19.7k total. June 21.

jp12687

ive flown this product a lot on 10-12 hours flights (GUM-HNL). It is by far better then premium economy. The seats are actually more plush than new Polaris seats. When you add the mattress pad they are actually a dream to sleep on. Width feels similar to the Polaris seat on a 787. There is more storage for sure in a pod but seat quality is pretty good. You still get the soft product.

I’d be much more upset if I booked premium economy and now ended up in e+.

the lack of seat for you on points is not great and most likely will be assigned closer in.

id try to book that other flight- you have 24 hours to cancel. If it actually books and ticket take that to united. But I bet it doesn’t- or I bet it’s actually on a partner and not UA metal or something weird.

colpuck

Today's FCO-IAD flight was canceled, that flight you're looking at is probably the REPO flight for the A/C back to IAD.

uastarflyer

I like the IPTE seats but this is a downgrade plain and simple. I can’t believe they are putting domestic oriented planes on such international routes

Should be due compensation

Lux Flyer

You're on an international flight that was sold as Polaris, you can absolutely request a reroute or change to a flight with the Polaris cabin departing +/- 7 days without any fare difference (as long as the routing is valid for the fare rules), or write in to get compensation for this change. What you're experiencing is far different than what this topic was originally about where the change was from the Polaris cabin to IPTE seats on a domestic business/premium transcontinental routes which does not guarantee the Polaris cabin.

Additionally, this wasn't something done weeks ago. The plane was equipment swapped ~6 hours ago, so while you first noticed the change during check in, it was an operational swap to make sure the flight still operated, as opposed to some advanced change to intentionally downgrade the Polaris cabin.

Well when your options are cancel the flight or substitute in the domestic oriented plane, I know what I would prefer, what the airline would prefer, and what the majority of passengers who planned to have the flight operate would prefer. It should be noted, this isn't being applied across the schedule for the route. This is a single aircraft swap on a single day, it just so happens the poster is on that flight.

Presumably you mean UA 3040? The 3000 series of flight numbers are for recovery flights (not routinely scheduled), so they probably can't do anything with this flight in reservations and/or you got to them before it loaded into their system. Flt 6/21 UA 3040 is likely the recovery flight for the cancelled 6/20 UA 885.

For your flight, it is unlikely they've finished processing the equipment swap, as we discussed earlier in this thread, with a significant swap like this the standard procedure is for the flight to be cancelled under the original flight number and then operate with a recovery number (which occur as independent events, ie. the equipment swap may precede the cancellation and rebooking on a new flight number by several hours). Currently it's still showing as operating as UA885 on 6/21, which shouldn't be the case if they are truly equipment swapping this. There is also a recovery flt loaded on 6/22 as UA 3039, but it's unclear what that is recovering at this point as there isn't another UA885 cancellation posted yet.