United Polaris 777

United's schedule shows the San Francisco-Sydney flight UA863 moving up to the Polaris-equipped Boeing 777-300ER from Tuesday December 3, with the corresponding UA870 Sydney-San Francisco flight primed for Polaris from Thursday December 5. This continues through to Friday March 27, with UA870 bouncing back to a Boeing 787 as of Saturday March 28. United’s first Polaris aircraft will begin service between Newark and San Francisco on Thursday. It is one of 14 777-300s that United will add to the fleet this year. New United Polaris Business Class – Image United Airlines. While United’s 777-300ER and 787-10 aircraft all come equipped with true Polaris Business Class and while the airline is in the process of upgrading its 767-300 aircraft with the new seat too, most of United’s other long-haul aircraft offer a somewhat antiquated 2-2-2 Business.

1. United Polaris 777-300er Best Seats
2. United Polaris Planes

United Airlines Polaris class merges previously separate First and Business cabins into one upper class flight experience on most transatlantic and transpacific routes. Pros: Excellent award availability through United Mileage plus reward program, true 180 degrees lie flat bed, Wifi onboard. Cons: service average at best, run out of food choices during dinner, 19” wide seats in 2-4-2 configuration are one of the narrowest in the business. Bottom line: good choice when redeeming miles and looking for direct flights with lie flat bed, not so much if you want a memorable luxury flight experience.

Booking

For our return flight from touring Iberian peninsula, I chose Turkish Airlines Business class Booking through United Mileage plus reward site is a breeze and after deduction of 140000 miles and $106, my wife and I had a reservation taking us from Barcelona to Istanbul, Houston and Jacksonville.
About 1 month before our travel, United changed timing on the Houston connection, and rebooked us in Polaris cabin from Barcelona to Newark, NJ, lowering the cost of the tickets to 60,000 points per person and $48.16 in taxes. ( I had to wait till trip was completed to get back 20,000 United Rewards miles).

Full price

I wasn’t completely disappointed, since I did want to review Polaris Class, and it got us home few hours earlier.

Checking-in

Barcelona International airport is very well organized. Check in and security was as easy as it gets, and unlike some other airports that do double screening of travelers flying to US on American based airlines (Dublin, Toronto etc.), here everything was super smooth. In less than 30 min we were entering VIP lounge.

Lounge

VIP Lounge Barcelona

VIP lounge at Barcelona airport serves most Starwood Alliance flights as well as some other non-affiliated airlines. It is spacious, has a good choice of food and drinks, both alcoholic and non. I has a shower facilities and quiet are as well.

VIP Lounge Barcelona

Boarding

welcome drink

Boarding took place on time, and B777 has separate walkways for Polaris class and economy. This way boarding was completed relatively fast. Champagne, water and snacks were served upon seating. Flight attendants seemed stressed and overworked.

Seats

United_Airlines_Boeing_777-200

United Polaris Class on B777-200 utilizes 2-4-2 layout as comparing to 2-3-2 layout for airlines outside US and Great Britain. By squeezing an extra row, seat width is reduced to 19”. This can be narrow for a full size person these days, especially if you tend to sleep on your back. Seat cushion, however, was very comfortable and sleep quality once the bed was in full flat recline was great.

Polaris-B777-200-seats

As far as storage goes, these seats are not most generous. Fortunately there is plenty overhead bin space to use in the premium cabin, so for take-off and landing I just stored our things there. Seat controls are easily accessible and straight forward.

Entertainment

I’m not a big consumer of the in-flight entertainment opting instead for good book or audiobook. For the purposes of this review, I tested the system. Noise canceling headphones worked great. 19” tv screen provided plenty of viewing area, and choice of movies and TV shows was very good.

united-airlines-boeing-777-polaris-business-class-

Polaris-B777-200-seats

You can also use Wi-Fi for free in combination with United App for more in flight choices of entertainment. There are USB ports and electric plugs easily accessible.

Amenities

United-777-200-Business-Class-

The seats were stocked with a full-size pillow, a thick rolled-up blanket (from Saks Fifth Avenue) , an amenity kit and noise-cancelling headphones. The amenity kit contained a face mask, socks, a plastic-wrapped toothbrush and toothpaste, plastic-wrapped ear plugs, lip balm and face cream. No thrills.

Food and Service

As I stated before, during dinner service, flight attendant informed us that they run out some menu choices. Neither my wife nor I consider airline food a must have experience, even if it is a first class flight, however, this can be very annoying for most travelers paying full price for a business class seats and experience. Big no no. Flight attendants were also unfamiliar with their wine choices, again not a good “Polaris” experience.

salad

Food that was served, however, was very good. Nice touch was a dessert tray with cookies and ice cream as well as selection of cheeses passed with after dinner drinks.
Between meals a snack bar with serve serving drinks was set up in the front galley.

self-service-bar

Arrival

We arrived at Newark Liberty International airport ahead of schedule after little over 8.5 hrs in the air. Polaris class was first to disembark and thanks to our Global Entry Pass, we were through Immigration and Customs in no time, easily catching our connecting flight.

Bottom line:

United Airlines Polaris (B777-200) class is a good option when redeeming reward miles and looking for most direct flight. No thrills upper class experience with comfortable lie flat bed.

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We've put together a list of all United Airlines Polaris new Business Class routes.

Introduction

United Airlines introduced their new business class product in December 2016.

Many people prefer of course to fly with this product rather than in the old business class cabin. Therefore, it is helpful to know on which planes and routes this product is operated.

Here on our page premium-flights.com, we publish new business class deals every day, from North America and from Europe, and from time to time those with United Airlines and the new Polaris seats as well, when good deals are available.

Images by Untied

Images by United

A little warning, the following information is not binding in any way. United Airlines can change flight equipment at any given time without further notice, for example if an aircraft is out of service or for any other reason. Furthermore, they change the routes quite often for the summer or winter schedule. As you booked a business class flight you will of course be in business class, but without the new POLARIS cabin. You usually won't be able to change or cancel your flight free of charge.

(Last update 01 January 2020)

New Polaris Business Class routes:

To EUROPE

From Chicago (ORD)

• London (LHR) – on selected flights only
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• Munich (MUC)
• Zurich (ZRH)

From Newark (EWR)

• London (LHR)
• Brussels (BRU)
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• Nice (NCE)
• Zurich (ZRH)

From San Francisco (SFO)

• Frankfurt (FRA)
• London (LHR) – on selected flights only

From Washington DC (IAD)

• Brussels (BRU)
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• Zurich (ZRH)

To ASIA

From Newark (EWR)

• Hong Kong (HKG)
• Tokyo (NRT)
• Mumbai (BOM)

From San Francisco (SFO)

• Hong Kong (HKG)
• Taipei (TPE)
• Tokyo (NRT)
• Beijing (PEK)
• Shanghai (PVG)

To the MIDDLE EAST

• Newark (EWR) to Tel Aviv (TLV)
• San Francisco (SFO) to Tel Aviv (TLV)

To OCEANIA

From San Francisco (SFO)

United Polaris 777-300er Best Seats

• Auckland (AKL)

To SOUTH AMERICA

• Houston (IAH) to Buenos Aires (EZE)
• Houston (IAH) to Santiago (SCL)
• Washington Dulles (IAD) to São Paulo (GRU)

Within the UNITED STATES

• Newark (EWR) to San Francisco (SFO) – on selected flights only
• Newark (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX) – on selected flights only

There are a few other routes who sometimes get flown as well with the new Polaris seats, but that's too hard to predict and the reason why we didn't put it in the list.

Overview Polaris destinations on world map

Asia

Europe

United Polaris Planes

Oceania

Middle East

How to check if a United Airlines flight offers the new Polaris seats?

All of United AirlinesB777-300er and B787-10 offer the new Polaris Business Class product. More and more Boeing 767-300ER and 777-200ER offer the seats as well. View list below for exact numbers.

The way you can tell if an aircraft has the new polaris cabin is from the seat map. We use ExpertFlyer, but you can as well use Seatguru to check the seat maps, here is what you need to look out for.

An example for a 777-300ER: If the seat map is showing a 1-2-1 cabin layout, like this….

…then the flight will be operated with the new Polaris cabin.

For the B767-300ER the new Polaris cabin will look like this, in a 1-1-1 configuration due to the smaller fuselage

On the other hand if the seat map is showing a 2-2-2 cabin layout like this….

…then you’re looking at an older model Business Class cabin and NOT the new Polaris cabin. Other aircraft with old seats show even more seats in a row.

Overview of how many United Airlines planes are equipped with new Polaris seats

• Boeing 777-300ER: 21 of 21
• Boeing 767-300ER: 29 of 38 (during 2021 all should be retrofitted)
• Boeing 777-200ER: 41 of 51
• Boeing 787-8: 1 of 12
• Boeing 787-9: 3 of 27
• Boeing 787-10: 12 of 12

The New Polaris Experience

For United Airlines it was more than just introducing new seats, it was a whole new Polaris experience. You get better seats, better food, better amenity kits and better lounges, called Polaris Lounge.

Airports with Polaris Lounge

These airports have a Polaris Lounge at the moment.

• Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
• Houston (IAH)
• Newark (EWR)
• Los Angeles (LAX)
• San Francisco (SFO)

And these airports will open a Polaris Lounge in the future

• Hong Kong (HKG)
• London Heathrow (LHR)
• Tokyo Narita (NRT)
• Washington Dulles (IAD)

Below you may find All Qatar Airways Qsuite, BA new Club World Suite and Delta One suite routes:

Frequently Asked Question

How many United Airlines planes are equipped with new Polaris seats?

In total 107 airplanes are currently equipped with the new Polaris cabin. All Boeing 777-300ER; 12 Boeing 787-10; 3 Boeing 787-9; 1 Boeing 787-8; 29 of 38 Boeing 767-300ER and 41 of 51 Boeing 777-200ER

How many destinations are operated by the new United Polaris cabin?

Over 20 destinations in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Middle East and Oceania are operated by the airplanes with new Polaris seats installed.