United Airlines has just made a series of passenger experience announcements. I already covered how United will soon take delivery of Airbus A321XLRs, which will operate long haul, international flights, primarily to Europe and South America.
What’s interesting is that this isn’t the only premium A321 variant that United is introducing, as United is also planning a similar subfleet of Airbus A321neos, which will be used for premium transcontinental flights. While we unofficially learned about this several weeks ago thanks to a leak from JonNYC, we now have all the details of what to expect.
In this post:
United plans fleet of 161-seat Coastliner Airbus A321neos
United is acquiring a massive number of Airbus A321neos, as the airline eventually expects to have over 175 of these planes in its fleet. Up until now, these planes have all had a pretty standard domestic configuration, with 200 seats, including 20 first class seats and 180 economy class seats.
However, we’re soon going to see a new subfleet of these planes. United plans to introduce a special configuration on 50 A321neos, which will specifically be used for premium transcontinental routes, and will be branded as “Coastliners.” The first of these planes should be flying this summer, and the airline expects 40 of them to be delivered by early 2028.
The Coastliners will spot a new livery that “pays homage to the coastal destinations it serves,” so the planes will be easily identifiable.
These planes will feature 161 seats, including 20 Polaris (business class) seats in a 1-1 configuration, 12 Premium Plus (premium economy) seats in 2-2 configuration, and 129 economy class seats in a 3-3 configuration.
As a point of comparison, United’s A321XLRs will feature 150 seats, including 20 business class seats, 12 premium economy seats, and 118 economy class seats. In other words, United A321XLRs and A321neos will have very similar business class and premium economy cabins (except there will be no doors in business class on the A321neos), and the biggest difference is that economy will have an extra couple of rows of seats.
It’s logical that economy will be a bit denser on the A321neos, presumably with a bit less legroom, and smaller galleys, since there’s no need for hot meals in economy on those flights. Fortunately United will still have a little snack bar in the back of these planes.
United will offer Polaris Lounge access on transcon flights
It’s not just the hard product that will be changing on transcon flights, but also the soft product, to some extent. The forward cabin on Coastliner flights will be marketed as Polaris, and United will offer access to United Polaris Lounges when traveling on these flights, which is a first.
United has been the exception by not offering access to its more premium lounges on premium transcontinental flights, as transcon flights just got access to United Clubs. That contrasts to American Flagship Lounge access and Delta One Lounge access for premium transcontinental flights at the carrier’s two biggest competitors. So that’s a great development.
This is a smart, sensible direction for United to take
Going back almost a decade, United executives made it clear that they planned to configure some latest generation narrow body aircraft with flat beds.
At the time, the plan was for Boeing 737 MAX 10s to get these premium configurations, and to be used for transcontinental routes. However, with the plane still not certified, it seems that United has now just decided to do this on the A321neo, since the airline was tired of waiting.
These premium A321neos won’t just replace United’s aging Boeing 757-200s in some premium markets, but will also replace wide body aircraft that currently operate flights across the country (freeing them up for United to get even more of an edge with its long haul network).
A fleet of 50 planes is massive, and should easily cover around 75+ roundtrip coast-to-coast flights per day, conservatively. So of course these planes will fly from Newark (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO). Don’t be surprised to also eventually see these out of Boston (BOS), and also out of New York (JFK), given the deal between JetBlue and United (if that fully materializes).
Here’s the other thing I find interesting — I think it’s smart that United is actually creating a dedicated subfleet of premium transcontinental aircraft, as that’s quite a contrast to what’s happening at American. American is acquiring 40 Airbus A321XLRs, and plans to use those both for premium transcontinental and long haul international flights.
To me that seems like a strategic blunder. Using the carrier’s order of 40 A321XLRs for both domestic and international flights greatly limits American’s ability to grow, both in international markets (which is so overdue, given the premature aircraft retirements we saw at the airline at the start of the pandemic), and in premium transcontinental markets.
It’s another area where American is falling behind before it even starts with a strategy, and will lose more market share to United.
For what it’s worth, Delta is also planning a subfleet of Airbus A321neos with flat beds, which will also be used for premium transcontinental flights. Delta is only expected to operate a fleet of 21 of these planes, so that’s less than half the size of United’s fleet of premium aircraft. On top of that, Delta’s situation has been a bit of a mess, as the airline seemingly can’t get cabins certified, and some planes have now been parked for well over a year.
The situation at Delta is so bad that the airline plans to start flying these planes with 44 first class seats in other markets, since it’s not sure about the timeline with which seats can be certified.
Bottom line
United Airlines has unveiled its new “Coastliner” concept, with the idea being that there will be a special subfleet of Airbus A321neos, which will operate in premium transcontinental markets. The planes are expected to feature 161 seats, and much like the A321XLRs, will have 20 flat beds in business class, and 12 premium economy seats.
The first of these planes should enter service soon, and we can expect a total of 50 of these planes. To go along with this, United is also introducing Polaris Lounge access for those traveling in business class on Coastliner flights, which is great.
While I think this is a logical development, in terms of hard product, this is probably better than the 757s, but not as good as the 787s you’ll find in many transcon markets.
What do you make of United’s “Coastliner” A321neo plans?
AA and UA are pretty much mirroring the LOPAs at this point (789, A321XLR). I wish UA kept the purple. The white is not going to hold up well.
If even one of these replaces a widebody flight (of any configuration), it's a downgrade.
And who would pay extra to lay in a coffin like that? Unless they're dead, of course...
Absolutely right. I won’t fly that herringbone nonsense on virgin and I won’t fly it on these new united airbuses either.
Arrived in SFO from Tahiti last Friday only to find no available seats in the Polaris Lounge and now they want to allow domestic Polaris passengers access to this lounge??? They can’t even accommodate the international customers now!!!!
Subfleets are something marketing people love and operational people hate. If all of AA’s XLRs have the same seating configuration and are certified for ETOPs operations, it will give them a lot more flexibility when things go wrong, as they often do at American.
WTFs up with the herringbone seats??? You couldn't survive economically if -- say for example -- they took one row out and pointed the rest of the seats *towards* the windows?
Is United going to stop flying widebodies on the transcon routes and transition to using these exclusively? If so, that's a massive downgrade -- this herringbone arrangement sucks.
For an overnight flight, the herringbone isn't terrible. Yeah, you crawl into bed from the foot, but even in reverse herringbone it's not exactly like you just swing your legs around and get out. And if it's nighttime, looking out the window doesn't have much ROI. VS gets lot of hate, and does NZ on the herringbone. But if you just want to sleep and have a light snack, it's really not that huge a...
For an overnight flight, the herringbone isn't terrible. Yeah, you crawl into bed from the foot, but even in reverse herringbone it's not exactly like you just swing your legs around and get out. And if it's nighttime, looking out the window doesn't have much ROI. VS gets lot of hate, and does NZ on the herringbone. But if you just want to sleep and have a light snack, it's really not that huge a difference. And I'd rather have a lie flat in any herringbone variation than a "normal" F seat.
Where and how many bathrooms will there be? Will there be a single bathroom for Polaris and the other 3 in the rear or will there be 2 up front and 2 in the back?
Probably *exactly* the same as the AA 321XLR. So yep, not enough bathrooms. Also Lucky's take that UA is doing it right and AA is doing it wrong is odd. AA is for once giving themselves some more operational freedom.
I'm guessing these are going to replace the current 757s flying LAX/SFO EWR, usually in the middle of the day. I would like to see UA add these to EWR SNA/SAN/SEA, as well as LAX/SFO MIA/BOS/IAD and maybe some Hawaii routes.
I assume that passengers on the current 787s that fly LAX/SFO EWR will also be eligible for Polaris lounge access. That being said, the United Clubs at LAX and EWR are both pretty...
I'm guessing these are going to replace the current 757s flying LAX/SFO EWR, usually in the middle of the day. I would like to see UA add these to EWR SNA/SAN/SEA, as well as LAX/SFO MIA/BOS/IAD and maybe some Hawaii routes.
I assume that passengers on the current 787s that fly LAX/SFO EWR will also be eligible for Polaris lounge access. That being said, the United Clubs at LAX and EWR are both pretty nice (at least one at EWR is, not sure if the other one has been renovated), and I assume SFO also has a nice United Club, so Polaris Lounge access has never been a pain point (but still a welcome upgrade). Hopefully the lounge can handle the crowds.
Did anyone else feel the music at the beginning and end of the ad was in slight homage to their old PS music they had on their ads and website in early/mid 2000’s when they had the drawn people in the sky with hands holding them up. If it’s a subtle nod to that, then hat tip.
https://youtu.be/QPQGijfpdvQ
It's Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, I think. That was UA's signature song for a long time. Since the days of the Tulip and the Business Grey/Blue livery.
That's right, written by the Gershwin Brothers and traditionally associated with NYC. Woody Allen used it as the opening theme of his film "Manhattan", for example. Funny, I originally saw that film on a United PS flight out of New York. Anyone else remember United's PS?
They've used it in a bunch of their recent ads and announcements.
https://open.spotify.com/track/73msxdESZSHroNLrXVTa2H?si=1FeWNMpzR_-n_WzyBEJDKQ
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNnyZXdueu_/?igsh=MXNodGd2ZzQwZXdsbw==
Anyone else notice how the new livery looks 'coincidentally' like it borrowed JetBlue's color scheme?
Sure, but Jetblue uses the entire spectrum of blue (except probably the dark Delta blue), so pretty much any blue will overlap with Jetblue. The only reason the new Alaska 787 livery doesn't overlap with Jetblue is because they have a green tint to their blue.
United should get moving on that acquisition if they want to push it through during the Trump administration. A normal DOJ likely won't approve a UA-B6 merger.
I wonder if DCA - SFO, IAD - SFO & IAD - LAX are on the list of routes that the Coastliner will fly.
I would fully expect those to be considered once UA gets the full subfleet in place and also sees how many JFK roundtrip slots it actually ends up getting from B6.
So this is the worst Polaris seat ever?
Major fan of this upgrade. We should see more and more lie-flat on narrowbodies. If United is including Polaris lounge access for transcon (like DeltaOne and Flagship), that'd be swell, too.
I agree. I actually didn't hate the alternating 2-2 / 1-1 lie-flat that FlyDubai had on its narrowbodies. Obviously direct aisle access is preferred for solo and business travelers, but for domestic flights its tolerable as long as its not the 2-4-2 that United once had (still has?) on its legacy 777s.
United clearly takes a shot at AA when they say that their Suites have more shoulder and elbow space than the competition.
The 757s are on balance 30+ years old (the -200s). All are ex-Continental planes, delivered from 1994 to 1997, 41 in total. The A321 isn't a direct replacement for the 757 in terms of size and performance, but it is the only option and a lot of this makes sense. Curious how these "coastliner" branded planes will work on trunk routes like EWR and IAD to LAX/SFO where there are wide bodies mixed in for positioning and for volume.
There really ought to be more domestic aircraft like this for transcons. There are so many abysmally long flights that are upwards of 6 hours with extremely poor domestic F products.
LAX to DCA (only Delta's old product), BOS to SFO (only Mint), LAX to MIA (inconsistent with the widebodies), SEA to JFK/BOS (had D1 and Mint at one point) to name a few.
Quite frankly, I think most airlines should have premium transcon on...
There really ought to be more domestic aircraft like this for transcons. There are so many abysmally long flights that are upwards of 6 hours with extremely poor domestic F products.
LAX to DCA (only Delta's old product), BOS to SFO (only Mint), LAX to MIA (inconsistent with the widebodies), SEA to JFK/BOS (had D1 and Mint at one point) to name a few.
Quite frankly, I think most airlines should have premium transcon on their East to West Coast hubs, Delta should do ATL to LAX on more frequencies and SEA. AA should be doing DCA to LAX and maybe PHL to LAX. UA should have SFO and LAX to IAD.
Agree but also United isn't dumb -- they must have done some analysis that there isn't a market for premium transcon on their California IAD flights, or at least there wasn't before the Silicon Valley-DC lovefest since 2025. I'm guessing Pelosi and Feinstein flew private.
There have been widebody premium transcon SFO-IAD flights on United for years. I always fly that when I go SF to DC. It is not every flight on that route, but it's at least a couple a day, every day.
@shza those are not premium transcon. Those are just domestic F flights that happen to use widebody equipment, often for repositioning widebodies for longhaul flights.
The full package is United marketing them as United Business/Polaris, so there is a guarantee of equipment, and all the associated perks like lounge access.
Question: So - will transcon EWR - LAX/SFO flights on the 787 or 757 (while the 757s last) be branded as Polaris as well? Giving all these transcon passengers access to the lounge? That will be great for early or late night flights - but in late afternoon - the Polaris lounge at EWR will be packed - with the bank of flights headed over the Atlantic. It is kind of strange - domestic transcon...
Question: So - will transcon EWR - LAX/SFO flights on the 787 or 757 (while the 757s last) be branded as Polaris as well? Giving all these transcon passengers access to the lounge? That will be great for early or late night flights - but in late afternoon - the Polaris lounge at EWR will be packed - with the bank of flights headed over the Atlantic. It is kind of strange - domestic transcon Polaris travelers can access the Polaris lounge but not - from my understanding - be granted automatic access to the regular United Club.
I would expect it to be the case. Although fwiw, there are also tons of connecting passengers on these flights connecting onto Polaris flights from either side to Europe or Pacific, so the increase in capacity shouldn't be that drastic. This seems to be a response to Delta offering D1 access on transcons since when AA offered Flagship, UA didn't feel motivated to change their lounge policies.
I also wonder if this means HNL widebody...
I would expect it to be the case. Although fwiw, there are also tons of connecting passengers on these flights connecting onto Polaris flights from either side to Europe or Pacific, so the increase in capacity shouldn't be that drastic. This seems to be a response to Delta offering D1 access on transcons since when AA offered Flagship, UA didn't feel motivated to change their lounge policies.
I also wonder if this means HNL widebody flights might get upgraded to even United Club access.
Using the XLR for transcon services is a no-brainer, because they can make it from the east coast to the west coast against the fiercest winter jetstream winds without taking a load penalty. That’s exactly the reason that Qantas is replacing its 738s with XLRs. It’s the only narrow-body aircraft in service that’s a genuine 757 replacement in that regard.
Ugh. The A321 has brought a plague of herringbone.
Be prepared against accusation from AeroB13a saying that you're an ignorant American whose intelligence is not enough to realize the superiority Airbus has, ImmortanSynn claiming that this confined space is somehow offering better experience to fliers thus you're making things up, etc.