sanfran767

BA EC Gold here for a number of years; visiting Puerto Rico this week for family reasons and decided to give United another chance after getting so fed up with them several years ago that I took a long break.

What a huge mistake!

Booked SFO-EWR-SJU for the 4 of us several weeks ago, with first leg on UA2097 (dep. 13 Jun 9:00PM). In the interest of arriving somewhat refreshed, paid a significant premium for Polaris transcon on the first leg.

Received a last minute notification this morning that the equipment was changed to non-Polaris metal (recliners, no lie down in J). Upon further research, was able to find that the tail was changed from N793UA to N773UA, and that the original equipment was moved to an EWR-LAX-EWR flight plan.

Called United this morning and they are not committed to helping move us to a later Polaris flight. Extremely disappointed, and effectively confirms that their customer service remains in the toilet. Any pointers on anything I can do to ensure we don't arrive completely wrecked from getting no sleep and/or recovering any funds from being crammed into a seat that's inferior to the one I paid for?

Should have flown JetBlue instead!

jsloan

UA does not operate any 777s without lie-flat seating.

Yes, you’ll be getting the older-style 2-4-2 seats, but they do lie flat, and if you’re intending to sleep, I find them perfectly comfortable.

WineCountryUA

While not the Polaris lay-flat, this 772HD is lay flat seats. The previous generation. It is not recliners.

UA has been doing a massive amount of reshuffling of equipment due to the return of the grounded 772 including these 772HD. Generally aimed at domestic flights

Many consider these lay flat more sleepable and better for family groups

JALsnipe

UA2097 on 6/13 _does_ have lie flat J, just the old seats (772HD). While frustrating, UA had no obligation to move you to a Polaris equipped aircraft.

I have had some luck when asking nicely as a one time exception but that’s rare.

sanfran767

OK, well thank you for clarifying--I'm less concerned with branding, more with being able to sleep; glad that the old transcon equipment is also lie flat, thank you!

akflyguy

All of the United premium transcon flights have lie-flat seating, so as long as you haven't been downgraded from business, you will have a lie-flat seat. The IPTE seats on these are certainly worse than the Polaris suite, but you'll be able to sleep just fine.

gokeeper

N773UA is a PW 772HD, the front cabin seats are lie flat, tho the middle section is not very attractive.

WineCountryUA

perhaps a better fit for the OP's family of 4

For individual privacy, yes. For others, not so much

IAH-OIL-TRASH

You bought a Business Class ticket, not a Polaris ticket. It's a bit confusing, because Polaris-configured hard product a/c are sometimes used on the route. The route is run by a variety of aircraft, all (except in extreme IRROPS cases) of which have lie-flat seats (752s, 772HDs - the one you're ve re-assigned on, Polaris a/c, and a few a/c with old-style lie-flat seats in line for Polaris seat conversion). A Polaris ticket is long-haul int'l and includes Polaris Lounge access. You bought a business ticket, which does not include Polaris soft product or Polaris Lounge access. It does promise a lie-flat seat, which you still have. It's a bit confusing to non-UA frequent flyers.

And, as pointed out above, the lie-flat seat between the armrests is fine for sleeping, but the armrests between seats are pretty narrow to fit 8-across, so there is a sense of "sardine packing". And you do get United Club access.

emcampbe

Equipment is #2473 (N773UA), but these are indeed still lieflat, just not the long haul version but the domestic, 2-4-2 version. The seats themselves are still lieflat, and given there are about half as many as the international version, I’d say if you are still in J, that’s probably a good thing - unless they were holding back inventory to only fill as many J seats as the domestic version holds, it could have been much worse.

that said, it is indeed not the same seats as your original aircraft. I suspect these types of switches will be fairly common on domestic widebody routes as the domestic 777s return to the fleet over the coming weeks, and they are inserted into the schedule. Semantics, maybe, but none of these SFO-EWR flights are ‘Polaris’ - the seat configuration might be different, but it’s the domestic PS offering.

as to solutions, you are asking UA to put you on a later flight, but both later redeyes are full in premium cabin on Monday. And in fact, all UA flights I see on Monday are full in J. And you’ve got a connection, which doesn’t give you a ton of flexibility. I mean, you can call and ask them to move both flights, I guess, say, go a day later if there is space. But honestly, sounds like the best available solution at the moment is to take the domestic lieflats. Some people don’t like how narrow they are - I’ve flown in them a few times, and I think the seats are fine - a bit crowded with 4 in the center section, for sure.

rittenhousesq

+1 on this. While of course the new Polaris seats are overall superior to the older lie flat seats, especially in terms of privacy and personal space, the padding on the older seats is softer and better for sleeping in my opinion.

notquiteaff

Premium compared to what? Economy? Other airline? Other UA metal on same route?

RichieMc

Surely you must be aware that BA is particularly prone to swap equipment, which can be a pain when you go from the new Club Suites to old style Club World seats. But no bait and switch here.

cfischer

OP, make sure you still have assigned seats. The HD 772 has a lot less seats in the front.

rankourabu

As a BA flyer, the OP should be very familiar with terrible 8 across J configurations