United Polaris: Delays, Delays, Delays, And More Delays

I hope the lounge is open in time for my SQ flight out of SFO in mid Februrary.

I just flew United "Polaris" EWR to Hong Kong. The United Club in EWR is horrible as I am sure you all know. United operates a 777-200 with 2-2-2 "polaris" seating in business on this route. Thankfully I booked early and had a middle aisle seat so no one would have to walk over me for any reason. No "Polaris" features were ever offered to me...you had to be smart and request them such as a gel filled seat mattress pad and pillow and these were in limited supply. During boarding a passenger cut through the middle aisle I was sitting in and he was promptly yelled at by the FA. She was a HK national so maybe she was used to passengers be more respectful of this but I think she went a bit overboard and made everything awkward by creating a situation. Food was tolerable as well as service so the 16 hour slog to HK was okay. United does not have nice premium headphones for "polaris." I am used to AA's nice Bose headphones. United had a horrible headphone that reminds me of US Airways 767 Envoy acoustic "cupping" devices that were worth $1 or less. Good thing I brought my Sony NC headphones with me. It was a great use of 80K United miles for sure but real Polaris would obviously be preferred.

Well, its United. What else do you expect?

The seat delays are sorta forgivable since it isn't their fault they are delayed, but it isn't like zodiac had a clean track record. Construction is less forgivable. I don't see how it takes multiple years to create a new lounge if you actually want to create it quickly. It'll just cost a bit more money, and not a lot relative to what they've spent on marketing, seats, etc.

I guess, I should lower my expectations for my flight in Polaris business from Newark to Paris next month. No lounge and no seats 🙁

"During boarding a passenger cut through the middle aisle I was sitting in and he was promptly yelled at by the FA. She was a HK national so maybe she was used to passengers be more respectful of this but I think she went a bit overboard and made everything awkward by creating a situation"

I would have taken down the FAs name and sent united the longest complimentary letter of my life

@captainobvious Permitting and Municipal Code compliance can create delays in a construction timeline, not saying this is the issue, but possible.

Actions Speak louder Than Words
-Oscar Munoz

United has begun reconfiguring 767s, and the first 767 with Polaris seats should enter service next month.

Well they've at least pulled their Polaris ads, which were blanketing the TV airways over the holidays. No sense in advertising how great something is when you aren't providing it. :/

Sitting in Polaris as I read this. Oddly enough ORD to SFO brought in to accommodate massive weather delay passengers.

So no Polaris soft product but I can report the hard product is significantly better then old United business but also better then any of the big three business. It is competitive with international business such as ANA and far better then BA.

The cabin is stylish and my true window seat is very private.

Fun to fly on relatively short domestic flight and massively better then previous product.

Still had typical UA issues at various points with ground crew and overcrowded though nice-ish looking lounge. Flight crew nice thus far.

Btw. 7 delays and flight leaving 6 hours late!

Actually, Lucky is wrong. United said only a "majority" of the long-haul fleet will have the "new" seat by 2021.

The phrase I can think of whenever this Polaris/United situation comes up: "It is what it is".
They don't seem to be making any extra effort to improve their planes and lounges. Whenever I say extra I mean the same thing that American did when they started to get their planes delayed because of Zodiac. I think they got a quick active response and managed to get a great business class seat (albeit a different one). So I think by now pretty much most of their 777-200 has been retrofitted.

Recall the last United reconfiguration of the "new" Business Class took years as well. Nothing new here. As usual.

The UA lounges at SFO are ALWAYS overcrowded. It's a regular feature of visiting there. Several times I've just forgone the lounge to find a quiet space in the airport and use my own hotspot to hook up.

I was just at the Star Alliance Lounge in the International Terminal at LAX and that is a nice experience. Even an outdoor area with fire pits and rock wall waterfall. Completely different from ANY UA lounge I've experienced anywhere. So much better.

And in the next post Qatar Airways CEO is berated for taking about "crap' US carriers. Surely this totally proves his point!

I flew nonstop sfo to lhr and specifically got the Polaris. Trouble was, it was an old 747, and there was nothing from the Polaris ads that made it to the 747. I had an aisle seat, and when you extended it, the interior seat on my side had to leap over my legs to go to the bathroom. Also, no power outlet or charging outlet, and the space for my feet was designed for a very small person. Definitely not the true Polaris experience.

For the near-future, I would avoid UA and AA from the constant construction across the network for their lounges.

By the time all of their retrofits and renovations are complete, JetBlue will already be taking delivery of European-bound Mint planes.

United suuuuuccckssss

I thought Zodiac was the manufacturer, not designer. Isn't the designer Acumen? Either way, as someone who works in the construction industry it's extremely difficult to build ANYTHING let alone at an airport, while still providing existing services. Mainly due to codes and regulations and things of that type. Maybe they were optimistic to start, but it's kind of out of their hands. Same with the seats, it's Zodiac's fault.

Rome was not built in one day. It is easy to pontificate from one's high chair as a self-anointed travel guru who does not have to deal with the Zodiacs or other third-party companies that must deliver in order for Polaris to become a reality. So just chill! We'll get Polaris when we get Polaris, and I suspect that it'll be transformative.

G'day.

It's still United...and most likely always will be.

Even if United ran all A380s for all routes, with each seat being a queen bed, it'd still be United with crews that hate their jobs, hate management, and take it out on the passengers.

I'm thinking the only solution is to scrap the entire operation and sell its assets off to another airline. and when I say assets, I refer to the physical property. Their employees are more often than not liabilities.

Polaris and United. Lipstick on a pig.

As a 1K, who has been in the Polaris Lounge in ORD 11 times since it opened, I can share it is an excellent lounge that had been working out the issues of overcrowding, especially during the late afternoon and early banking of flights.

I have also experienced the new Polaris 777-300ER hard product on a routing from HKG to SFO. The only element of the hard product I noticed an improvement in was the privacy and all aisle access. The seat however; is less comfortable than the Dreamliner and old United 2-4-2 product. The seat does not have as many personalization settings for recline and positioning of footrest. If you are lucky enough to get a window seat, as I did, do not plan on having the ability to stand anywhere close to upright as you slide through the narrow alley the access the aisle. If you are on the aisle, you will get bumped by something during the flight.

Meh, who wants to fly an American carrier premium class service anyway?

I've been a United 1K flyer for many years. I've had a love/hate relationship with UA. Living in Denver, CO I decided to stick with UA due to the many options for flights. When I first saw the ads for Polaris I was truly excited. I would literally go out of my way to book flights where I had an aisle seat in Business/First. I would do everything possible to avoid the 2-4-2 configuration (ugh). I finally experienced the all aisle flight from San Francisco to Singapore. I've experienced the (double ugh) SFO lounge many times. It seems to be getting more and more crowded. I loved the thought of all aisle seating but then I experienced it and I don't know about you, but I felt a bit claustrophobic. The seats were not as comfortable as I thought they'd be, especially trying to get the footrest to extend without having to lie down. Quite the disappointment to say the least. As to the best lounge I've been to... Omigosh, I LOVE the ANA lounge in Narita!

Ok, so can someone shed some light, then...on what my lounge options will be in August at SFO? I will be a first class passenger. Is the old Global First lounge still open? Am I getting stuck in a United Club?

Boeing getting sick of waiting on seats for their planes. Screwing up their order logs.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boeing-adient-launch-new-company-to-design-and-build-airplane-seats-300583513.html

Boeing Creates Seat-Making Venture to Cope With Tardy Suppliers https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-16/boeing-creates-seat-making-venture-to-cope-with-tardy-suppliers