United introduced Polaris on December 1, 2016, which is the name for their new first & business class experience. This includes new airport lounges, improved food & beverages, better bedding, and also new seats.
The catch is that United’s new business class seat is so far only available on 777-300ER aircraft. United ordered a total of 18 of these — nine of these planes have already been delivered to United, while another nine will be delivered in the coming months.
As a result, the number of United routes being operated by 777-300ER aircraft is increasing quickly:
- United began flying 777-300ERs between San Francisco and Hong Kong as of March 25, 2017
- United began flying 777-300ERs between Newark and Tel Aviv as of May 5, 2017
- United began flying 777-300ERs between San Francisco and Tokyo Narita as of June 14, 2017
United has now announced their next three 777-300ER routes, which will launch in September and October. United will begin flying 777-300ERs daily between:
- San Francisco and Beijing as of September 6, 2017 (replacing a 747-400)
- San Francisco and Frankfurt as of October 6, 2017 (replacing a 747-400)
- Newark and Tokyo Narita as of October 28, 2017 (replacing a 777-200)
United just updated their schedules last night, so the seatmaps for these flights should now reflect the new aircraft.
The route choices aren’t at all a surprise:
- United is basing their 777-300ERs primarily out of San Francisco, with Newark being a secondary hub for them
- United is primarily using 777-300ERs to replace existing 747-400 routes (they’re retiring them in the coming months), and all the San Francisco routes to get 777-300ERs were previously operated by 747-400s
For routes where the 777-300ER is replacing the 747-400, we’re seeing:
- A capacity reduction of 12 first class seats
- A capacity increase of 8 business class seats
- A capacity decrease of 4 economy class seats
So if you have some upcoming premium cabin international travel on United this fall, I’d certainly recommend doing what you can to get on one of the new 777-300ERs. I flew United 777-300ER Polaris between San Francisco and Hong Kong a couple of months ago, and had a good experience.
Originally United’s plan was to reconfigure some 777-200 aircraft with the new seats this year, though they’ve been having significant issues with Zodiac, their seat manufacturer. So unfortunately I wouldn’t count on any other planes having the new Polaris seats anytime soon.
I’m trying to fly United 777 SFO-OGG.
Can’t find the flight. Can anybody help. Thx much
I'm trying to fly United 777 SFO-OGG.
Can't find the flight. Can anybody help. Thx much
File this under who cares. People shouldn't be flying United anyway.
Why SFO tho? Thats so annoying...they should at least share their planes and give some routes over to LAX!!! Although a short flight to from LA to the Bay isnt that bad....but still.
Just flew it from SFO-EWR in lieu of the 777-200 on a previous leg. Economy is the same-slim line seats and seat back on-demand entertainment. The "mini" economy plus cabin behind Polaris was good for it's proximity to the lavatory. The Polaris cabin looks nice but after I was walking by it (I was in E+) my observation was it sure looked snug and tight.
BYW, the aircraft ODE audio only featured spoken podcasts...
Just flew it from SFO-EWR in lieu of the 777-200 on a previous leg. Economy is the same-slim line seats and seat back on-demand entertainment. The "mini" economy plus cabin behind Polaris was good for it's proximity to the lavatory. The Polaris cabin looks nice but after I was walking by it (I was in E+) my observation was it sure looked snug and tight.
BYW, the aircraft ODE audio only featured spoken podcasts and no music mixes. Noticed this also on my other 777-200 flight as well. Have they pulled out of the music feature now??? The flight attendant didn't know for sure but seeing they are pulling seat back screens off of planes (my 757 from SFO-EWR had them removed), she assumed it was a cut back. Anyone else noticed this?
So there's still hope for 9 across economy to stick around a bit on the 772.
Amazing you can switch from 747-400 to 777-300 and only lose 8 sets overall. They must really be packing the Y seats in.
This just proves that UA is losing the battle at LAX and doesn't GAF.
@Tyler - there most likely will not be an equipment swap unless there is some sudden problem with the plane, and there should be pajamas, assuming the flight is longer than 10 hours.
I'm booked in Polaris SFO-NRT on Friday and am really looking forward to trying the new seat! If there was an aircraft swap, do you think it would be for a 747? Also, are there pyjamas on this route similar to HKG?
For the aircraft nerds out there , there have been many last minute aircraft swaps domestically. So no int'l experience but still fun to ride on. Saw IAH-EWR 77W fly overhead in BNA. Noticed EWR -SJU picking up the 777W as well as IAD-SFO.
By luck both good and bad (as was 4 1/2hrs late) flew one on its first day yesterday from DEN to SFO. Impressive set up in C. Flying one SFO-HND later this month.
The 777-300ER is also serving the SFO-TPE-SFO route from some point this summer.