Weatherboy

I'm a fan of doors and I was disappointed that Polaris didn't include them at the start, even though DL said their future product would back then. At the EWR event where they unveiled Polaris, one of the more frequent comments was about a lacking door. Gimmick or not, I still wish they had it.

But more importantly, I wish they didn't diminish the soft product as much as they did -especially food quality. When launched, it was a great product. Remember wine flights? Bloody Mary carts? Hot midnight snacks on demand? I miss them all. Now you can't even get edible food on most UA flights. I'm a GS that pays for F/J and the poor food alone has me questioning whether I should have any relationship with UA moving forward.

My other complaint with Polaris at the start was that it is so tight. If the proportions were just spread out 1" in all directions, especially in the foot hole, it would really be a perfect seat. And them shrinking it a bit down from 773 to 787 made me seek out the old BusinessFirst lieflats when there were still enough of them out there.

When Polaris 2.0 comes out, I hope they figure out a way to get a little more space. But in the meantime, they better improve the soft product and especially the food quality. Otherwise I won't be around as a customer to try out the new product.

nycflyer222

The biggest issue with Polaris is the soft product. The seats/bedding/privacy are all up to par (in the new seating not on 752’s, etc.). The food is just awful. The service is hit or miss, sometimes amazing and sometimes awful. That can happen on most US-based airlines though.

I flew B6 premium transcon on their newer plane (20 or so J seats, all 1-1 config) and was very impressed. The seat, TV, and food were all wonderful!

trust77

Even more sad is that the decline in the soft product was not even gradual...the then Polaris soft product was launched in December of 2016, and was alive and well through 2017, 2018, and I think 2019? That is only four years ago. Today its a joke - it's ridiculous - its unfair. UA you should be ashamed of yourself.

cosflyer

Weatherboy,
If you are a true GS then you will stick around, no other carrier caters to the GS type folks like United does and that is a fact.

mh3265a

Tend to agree with the general sentiment that Polaris isn't irrelevant because of these upgrades. One could argue that AA is catching up to the Delta and UA hard product. Where Polaris continues to suffer is the soft product, meal etc... The hard product remains one of the best.

jpezaris

My wife experienced Polaris internationally for the first time over the summer and her first question was if there was a door! For my tastes, either way is fine, but the door provides and important potential surface for sound absorption when closed, and would block additional noise from the aisle. I'd like to see them.

You do know that the aisle-side arm rest can be lowered down to bed level, right? That gives you an additional 1 to 2 inches at the shoulders. I know I sometimes forget to lower it; maybe they can make it automatic when the seat gets switched to lay-flat mode when, eventually, Polaris is revised.

But I'd also like to see an additional inch in width at the feet, maybe even in height when in lay-flat configuration.

jp12687

My personal take is the seats are fine I do not need doors. What I want is product consistency so I get the same seat with same dimensions on all wife bodies.

What I want is for united to stop cutting soft product stuff-- the seat is fine but the general service offering as gone to $h!t.

JimInOhio

The seats used in 777s won't fit in a 787. That's why they are slightly narrower.

narvik

I can tell you from personal experience that not all wife bodies are created equally.
😂

dll

The current Polaris seat is pretty near perfect (for me, anyway). It has plenty of privacy already, and retains good legroom, foot space and storage. Based on the renderings, the new AA seat looks tighter and more claustrophobic. If United were to change anything it would be to improve the currently sub-par longhaul meal service! Be gone with the cabbage and edamame salad, and the crime against cauliflower for good.

Imstevek

Well said.

NA-Flyer

You don't have to wait that long. Just fly QR 787-9 and you will experience the same seat

Ghoulish

Obviously a "gimmick" if the AA anti-door crowd is to be believed 🙄.

Sykes

The real problem for me isn't the door, it's that Adient just made an overall worse seat that they happened to add a door to, and that's not worth the compromise. To me the older Super Diamond seat on QR's 787-8 is more comfortable than the Adient suite on the 787-9, no question about it. It's a shame that QR couldn't fit a version of the proper Qsuite on the 787.

dtremit

That definitely helps in bed mode, but not when the seat is upright. Looking at the overhead shot of the new AA seat in the linked post, it looks like the combination of the door and the larger video screen make for a seat that's fairly narrow at the shoulder in the seat position. With the old AA herringbones, you had some room to move your shoulder into the aisle at times as needed.