When we booked this trip, United Polaris was still called BusinessFirst. Last summer United unveiled Polaris and our reservations eventually updated to reflect the new branding on our Houston to Frankfurt flight. We knew of course that United had only launched the Polaris soft product and that the new seats wouldn't start appearing for another…
Continue reading: Review: United “Polaris” Business Class 787 Houston To Frankfurt
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Last time I flew in a bulkhead "Polaris" seat, the seat seemed slightly shorter than the non-bulkhead seats. I could be wrong, but it was noticeable enough that I'll book away from bulkhead (it was a 767-400).
Travis are you sure those wine pics are from your flight? I see recliner seats and old school window shades...
It's rare you see a single product that is such a case study on the breadth of a company's failings. From the cups that require a base to stand, to the metric ton of bedding with no added storage space. Well done, United!
@Josh G is spot on. Those wine pictures aren't from your flight. The seats and windows are a dead giveaway that they weren't taken on a 787.
Good lord, a shameless plug for your wife's business interests? I hope Ben does not approve of this junk.
My husband and I just flew from SFO to CDG this past weekend on a 787 Polaris outfitted plane. I had the Asian chicken soup (going to CDG) and it was hands down the best entreé I've ever had on United (I am a 2MM'er). I was disappointed the soup wasn't offered on the return flight but my husband and I both had salmon, which was perfectly cooked and delicious.
For the arrival meal (both on outbound and return), I had tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich which are more to my taste than breakfast foods or wraps. The soup and sandwich are offered any time during the flight.
I was given a Polaris gel pillow! That was the best part of the new service. It is so soft and comfy as opposed to the polyester filled lumpy pillows.
The captain came around and thanked everyone plus provided his personal business card. I haven't seen that in years. I wrote to him to thank him for getting us to SFO an hour early which meant we could catch an earlier flight to PDX rather than spending 6 hours in the United Club.
Another GREAT thing about my recent trip is that our R/T UPGRADEABLE tickets PDX-SFO-CDG were only $433.06 each! I used four global upgrades that expired 1/31. We were upgraded immediately for the return when I bought the tickets on 11/22 and were upgraded on the outbound about a week before our flight. [Many thanks to my buddy Pat Mahoric who alerted me to the great fare.]
Some of your readers are mean spirited and dead wrong about your post. I can vouch for the validity of your photos. All of the pictures you took were just like what I saw this past week!
One thing I do NOT like about Polaris is their new linens. They are made of icky polyester and really slippery. They are probably cheaper to launder.
Travis, you obviously fly for "almost free" - as do most of the bloggers on here - so as a full paying (business class) individual....it's very hard to take your feedback/comments about products and service seriously.
I just wish you would all drop the "entitlement" attitudes when reporting ("the champagne was adequate/the champagne was fine"...What the heck? There are people dying in the world...) and simply give your neutral, valid, and respected feedback.
Thank you and best wishes
I'm sorry, but this is awful trip reporting. It was clear from the get go about your bias towards United, but then including pictures that weren't even from your flight, that's just awful. Any AvGeek is gonna notice the window shades and know that is NOT a 787. Please don't turn this blog into something where I have to go read multiple sources (like every major news outlet) just to get the complete story.
nighttime on the ground, but daytime an hour later when the wine cart is wheeled around?
where were you flying to?
@Sam sez: "The seats and windows are a dead giveaway that they weren’t taken on a 787."
You have never been on 787. Look at the window "dimmer" (little circular button) under the window (pictures 4 and 5 from top). That's a B787, which has no physical window shades...
What Travis just reported, including the pictured wine and three-glass wine tasting stand, is absolutely accurate because I flew in Polaris business (on a 777-300) from HKG to ORD just over 2 weeks ago and the same exact service shown and described here is what we got.
@DCS says: "You have never been on 787. Look at the window “dimmer” (little circular button) under the window (pictures 4 and 5 from top). That’s a B787, which has no physical window shades…"
They're talking about the pictures of the wine bottles. The ones that have window shades pulled down... which according to you, wouldn't be there if they were actually taken on a 787.
The pictures are real and not fake, albeit of a different plane, in particular the ones featuring the wine cart and wine bottles. Travis mentioned that he took a flight to ORD on the way back (definitely not 787), which is presumably a morning/afternoon flight which is probably why it's light outside. No need to persecute the OP, the pictures of the wine may be all he had and didn't notice the difference in hindsight. In the end he still got the same "Polaris" soft product.
@DCS LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. I haven't stopped laughing. United doesn't own a 777-300. Never have, never will. They did take delivery of their first 777-300ER, but that hasn't even left the USA (yet let alone operated a revenue domestic flight).
The pictures of the wine bottles and the wine flight are either on a 763 or a 772. The alternating forward/rear facing biz seat is a give away. I'm leaning towards a 763 due to the window shade.
What is up with these alternative trip report facts?!
Travis has officially jumped the shark. I'm done reading his posts. Maybe his wife can give him some coaching? I hear she has a website.
I am liar because I did not put "ER" at the end of B777, and you are a savant for challenging a very accurate report and getting the plane wrong based on "windows", which clearly show a window "dimmer" that debuted with B787?
There are no window shades! The little circular button under the window darkens the window and is thus the "shade"!
I have in my hand the menu from Polaris that Travis pictured above, except that it is in English and Chinese since it was for a HKG-ORD flight, and not in English and German as his (supporting a menu for flight to or from a German speaking country).
I saved my menu, too, from our trip to Paris. It's just like the one pictured, but the menu on the right is in French. I thought Travis' post was about Polaris and not about any model of airplane. I don't think he meant to be misleading. Everything he wrote about Polaris was what I experienced.
Egads. No one is forcing people to read these posts. Those people who think the "news" is fake should just unsubscribe and reduce the stress in their little lives. I don't watch FOX News because I don't generally agree with what they have to say. It is my choice.
@Sam -- I read the other comments and yours and stand by my assertions. You still have not told us where you see window "shades"...
As @Maja just correctly pointed out, whatever plane this might have been on is completely beside the point because the Polaris business service -- the point of the post -- I got was on a B777-"ER" and it was virtually identical what Travis just reported on here.
G'day.
As far as the wine photos (the wine cart in particular), I don't know much about window shades on a plane but there is some seats facing the wrong way (as in the old style of business class seating United had). According to your own seat map up top Travis, they shouldn't be like that. And didn't Polaris remove the backward facing business class seats? Wasn't that the old set up?
Maybe I am wrong, who knows...
@Jodi -- Aha! The pictures with the fuzzy windows in the background and not the ones with the windows in the foreground that are clearly from a B787. I see it now. However, that still does not change the accuracy of the central point of the post.
@Ben/Lucky - I believe your blogger, Travis, is not doing your blog/website any good, or validity, at this point in time.
I can imagine many of us are not interested in hearing about a family of five travelling and a wife/husband "plugging and pushing" her website.
Only valid, factual, helpful and detailed reports/articles are truly wanted (for most, I believe).
Happy flying 🙂
Let's now throw Travis under bus for a little "artistic license"!
Wikipedia:
"Artistic license (also known as art license, historical license, dramatic license, poetic license, narrative license, licentia poetica, or simply license) is a colloquial term, sometimes an euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist in the name of art.
Writers adapting a work for another medium (e.g., a film screenplay from a book) often make significant changes, additions to, or omissions from the original plot in the book, on the grounds that these changes were necessary to make a good film."
🙂
Why is everyone freaking out about this being a "fake" review? Jesus, he obviously didn't fly back on a 787 but it was still the "Polaris" soft product. He clearly didn't do the wine tasting on his 787 flight out to FRA so is condensing both flights to provide an overall review of what they offer in Polaris. Settle down people, who cares! He also didn't present this as one of Lucky's typical meticulously detailed trip reports which includes the plane type, flight number, departure/arrival time etc, in which case yes, that would be strange for Lucky to be including pictures of a plane he is not supposed to be on.
Thanks Travis, I thought this was a great review and the most detailed one I've seen of the new Polaris product! I was just wondering your thoughts on the crew? Did the service seem at all improved, as I would consider FA's service as part of the "soft product". Thanks!
I agree with the commenter above. Including photos of the same soft product on a different flight is fine, though ideally the captions would mention it. I thought the report as a whole was excellent and balanced. Thanks for reporting, Travis.
The crew from the captain to the "purser" to the FAs were excellent on my Polaris flight. They could not have been better. I emailed the captain when I returned home (he thanked each passenger and provided his personal business card). On my flight, we all had slippers waiting at our seats and were offered gel pillows.
Flew SFO to LHR in Polaris on 2/1. Was anticipating quality new service, based upon the strong marketing campaign. Will hit 1M miles this year and honestly think this was the least responsive service I can remember over the last 2 years. Too many flaws to list, but the overall experience was incredibly different from what United has put forth. Flight attendants did not understand Polaris service and seemed almost resentful of customers. Not impressed with the enormous gap between marketing platform and actual service. In short, off the mark in almost every category.
Yep, the wine tasting was from the daytime flight home, LHR-ORD on a 767 but was the same. I meant to state that but forgot. My apologizes. Sincerely sorry for the confusion.
As I said, the flight home was very similar so I didn't do a review. I dropped the pictures into this one so you'd have the entire Polaris experience in one place.
My reviews aren't Ben's. I have kids. They fly with me. It's kind of a different ballgame.
Two things:
1. WTF was United thinking a couple years back launching the 787 with 2x2x2 business-class? That's when Polaris should have been launched. Polaris looks great but it's not a game-changer because United has said it will be 2021 before a MAJORITY of its fleet has the "new" business-class seats. That's a long, long time for a "majority" of the fleet.
2. The food looks better but it's kind of odd because United says that its market research shows business-class travelers value sleep over food. I'd rather have champagne and a much, much better meal experience in the lounge than on the plane. While the Polaris standalone lounges are a much-needed improvement, the dining off the menu is kind of disappointing, based on what I've read in various reviews. Notwithstanding, the food on this flight looks better than Delta. However, on Delta you would get the courses served individually. Delta doesn't, however, offer wine tasting experiences. Heck, most of the time the Delta flight attendants can't even tell you what kind of wine they have--let alone the cheese.
Kids DO NOT! belong in Business or First class. PERIOD.
Keep those rug rats in the back PLEASE!!!!
He specifically noted that the photos of the wine service were from a different flight.
He also stated that his family had requested expedited dining, so all courses were served together.
It would help if his readers knew how to read!
I thought it was an informative report.
Wonderful report! and congrats to Wifey for the milestone.
Nice to see that United is taking steps for a better service, I always do my best to support the local economy. The meals indeed look nice.
Off topic but:
As for the bunch of liberals proliferating in the audiencie.. OMG the are reproducing like the plague, my hopes for this new generation are lower everyday.. I think I can smell a liberal from across the country.
I found this trip report informative and helpful. Travis thank you for sharing this. To all those who are posting by attacking such minor points as, (wine photos, including a reference to his wife's business, traveling with his family), you do nothing to benefit readers of this free blog. If I were to make one suggestion for this blog it would be to moderate the comments, so only comments the blog authors find informative for readers are displayed. Ben, Travis, Tiffany, Ford and all the blog writers do any excellent job should be thanked for their efforts not berated with nit picking.
Give DCS a break - he has mastered "alternative facts" when it comes to Hilton and competing loyalty programs, but is a bit rusty in doing it for United
First thought on the menu: "good for them, they have Tito's Vodka now". It's my usual brand.
Second thought on the menu: "Wow, they managed to misspell 'vodka'. That's really, really sad. Doesn't anyone proofread any more?"
And I don't know if Travis edited the post to add the note on the wine tasting picture, but when I read it it clearly indicated the picture was from a different flight with the same service. He didn't note that it was a different aircraft type, which apparently to some commenters here is a death-penalty offence. Sheesh. The commenters on this site have really gotten nasty lately.
@Bobbie Dooley - What are you on about? That is not Ben's report...did you actually read it?
Thanks Mama, and the few others who did it, for your positive, constructive and informative comments. They were a pleasure to read. But more and more this blog's comment section is filled with nitpicking, hateful, homophobic and/or just plain ignorant comments. Everyone here CHOOSES to type the onemileatatime URL into their browsers and the CHOOSES which reviews or articles to read. If the experience is so painful and off-putting then STOP.
I enjoy all the reviewers and their various perspectives. Not every part of every review, article or story pertains to me, but it's not written for me alone--so I'm fine with that. What is becoming tiresome are all the complaining critics I have to sort through when reading the comment section. Sure they're entitles to their opinions, but it's an annoying seeing the same names popping up day after day with nothing positive to add.
One thing more. This site is a business. It's expensive keeping these web pages up, and all the archives in place. We are not paying a penny to receive all the information stored here, so I don't begrudge anyone for their self-promotions. How someone gets their flights, or what they're paid for them is nice to know, but it did change what I do when I travel. As in all parts of life it's up to the consumer to choose what they will accept and what they won't.
This will be my last post on this subject. No one is perfect and everyone has choices. I have to say that over the years I have benefitted by posts on this blog from a financial standpoint and tips about travel. Had it not been for the info on Chase Sapphire Reserve, my husband and I would be 400,000 United/Hyatt/etc. points "poorer"! Those points are worth several thousands of dollars to me and we've only had the cards maybe 6 months. I usually PERSONALLY pay for business class fares just to keep my United 1K status, which I value a lot, and we use points sometimes to pay for my husband's travel as he gets to tag onto my "status." [This is NOT a paid service announcement! LOL]
Looking at the photos of the menu pages, may I recommend YouCam Snap app for taking photos of documents, signs, presentation slides, etc. it auto crops and straightens for you and does a wonderful job.
Had the short ribs IAH-GRU last month. SO AMAZING (I want more grits, United!). At least, the apple pie was kinda warm.
The champagne glasses are gross. I predict they are broken and gone within the year...
I am so sick of the current "outrage" culture in the US now, where people/media/politicians troll around looking for some minor thing to scream bloody murder about. So Travis included a link for his wife's business, no one had to click on it. Since the post starts out telling us it is about the Polaris soft product, not the plane itself, what does it matter if some of the photos are from the outbound on one type of plane, and others from the return on a different type of plane. They are all showing the Polaris soft product, which is the topic of the post.
If you are one of the folks who already know you don't like the type of posts that Travis writes, just ignore them. No need to come on and tell us about your superior intellect.
As for the ignoramus who thinks that only "wolves" live in Denver: the Denver Metro area has a population of over 2.8 Million. You need to get out of Manhattan for at least a couple of hours each year, dude.
@ DCS – Scroll down until pictures 21-23 and until then say no more.
Those aren't buttons.
Can you share the sleeping arrangement for the one year old? Considering bringing my nine month old on a TransAtlantic business class flight.
Two aspects of the service that are weak/disappointing:
A) the pajamas only being issued for 12 hour + flights...and not long transatlantic ones that are say 9-11 hours.
B) stash tea is nothing to get excited about...vey low end and used a lot in the food service industry as it's inexpensive. Not that much better than Bigelow and Lipton served in economy. They could have done better here.
Obviously, United needs some improvements: Hand-made, silk thong pajamas on all flights regardless of duration, crystal (keeper) Tiffany champagne flutes, tea plants in the cockpit that can be picked and dried for the freshest of teas, hourly wine tastings with Wine Spectator ratings of 97 or higher, all-you-can eat Argentine beef (aged in the cockpit) served by a gaucho, a noise-proof holding area for all children suspended about Polaris seats, and a spell/grammar checker for all blogs that mention "United.".
I have been on several Polaris flights since inception (all "soft" changes). The main entree and salads (not that I eat it) are better. The bedding is better although I haven't sampled the gel pillow and mattress, which I have overlooked. On short flights like from ORD to LHR I tend to sleep with a pill right after take-off, so I don't eat dinner. I have been surprised several times by the lack of a cooked breakfast on arrival in Europe--pastries, cereal, fruit and yogurt on display instead, which are fine. I miss the omelettes and most times I can't face soup and a melted cheese sandwich for breakfast. I haven't seen the service change that much. Always a mixture of some great FAs, who I thank personally and others who are not so great.
I don't use upgrades on flights to Asia or Australia much since the last time I ended not getting upgraded from LAX to MEL and spent 16.5 hours in an econ+ seat, and got woken up mid flight just as I was finally dropping off to sleep for FAs to provide a midflight snack; why UA can't just keep snacks at the back all the time for economy passengers is beyond me. I have had good luck being upgraded on flights to Europe provided I book ahead enough but I often book in business in summer and shoulder months to avoid the uncertainty of whether I will end up being upgraded at the last minute, which seems very common these days. For me sleeping is more important and given I already go through DEN from BIL, I tend to fly through IAH if it's available--but this seems to be a random thing depending on the time one does one's booking. One time I was routed through LAX for the same price as via ORD, and which turned out to be just as quick, in terms of DtD block time even though it broke my rule of flying over the same real estate twice.
My verdict is that flights in business have improved a bit over the last few years and that Polaris is a step in the right direction but Polaris including the hard product has been a marketing disaster. Six abreast in a 767 is really behind the times I assume we'll be flying those planes for a very long time to come.
I'll stick with Emirates First and Business for my long-haul international flights thank you.