I was able to try United’s Polaris business class service from Washington Dulles to Paris (777-200) and had a mixed experience.
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Flight Details
As I covered in a prior post, this was part of a nightmare routing, the first leg of the journey. While I was glad to have found the unicorn of a confirmed upgrade from economy using Plus Points, the flight timing of this route was not to my preference. The Air France flight leaves an hour later which isn’t a dramatic difference, but for my body clock, a scheduled landing in Paris at 6:55 AM is just before 1 AM EDT and of course there’s no sleeping that last hour of the flight no matter what. If you’re capable of going to bed at 6:30 at night and sleeping for 5-6 hours, this is the flight for you.
Departure: 5:25 PM
Arrival: 6:55 AM (actual arrival 6:25 AM)
Equipment: Boeing 777-200 Polaris equipped
Seat: 11A
This flight boarded with facial recognition software, something I hadn’t seen before. I can understand that airlines are trying to find more secure ways to potentially speed up the boaridng process. I’m not sure if the driver here was security or efficiency (you did not have to remove your passport), but I don’t see this as being any faster than scanning a boarding pass and confirming the traveler’s identity on their passport.
Cabin
Matthew has a ton of great reviews of Polaris flights (searchable in the top right corner of the page), but I wanted to give my take because we have different opinions. He does a far more extensive job of snapping cabin photos on board, if you’d like more information on the cabin, please select one of his posts to review.
United Polaris offers a zig-zag configuation against the window in its 1-2-1 seating arrangement. For odd numbered rows, the seat is flush against the window with a storage space to the right near the aisle. Evens have the opposite setup, the seat being closer to the aisle, while the storage space is at the window. For my flight, I chose 11A because I find there to be more privacy at the window than on the aisle when sleeping.
The seat is fully-lie flat for rest and offers settings in between for passenger comfort. Travelers have two fans above them available for use at the window sides with a Saks Fifth Avenue comforter, full size pillow and smaller cool pillow. The airline appears to have discontinued its popular Saks blanket, likely too many of them were finding their way into passenger luggage.
Polaris is a really nice product, even in its reduced form since launch. However, there is a very odd, very real problem with the seat. The entry to the seat is so narrow that travelers can’t even roll in a European-sized rollaboard through the narrow opening. Even my backpack had to be lifted over the storage space to get into the seating area so I could change for the flight and prior to arrival. It’s kind of an odd design flaw and I forget about it every time until I get on board and am greeted with the problem again.
Amenities
United is distributing Away branded amenity kits in the style of their signature suitcases. I reviewed one of the first iterations of that bag years ago and while I think it’s come a long way from the first round, there was one noticeable concern with these kits. Inside you’ll find the standard amenities: lotion, tissues, pen, eye mask, socks, and a dental kit. The issue is that the zipper around this case is really, really bad, at least in the example I received. I have zero confidence that it will last more than this one roundtrip, and for those being introduced to the brand, I wonder if this helps or hurts. Will travelers wonder about the quality of Away luggage based on this novelty amenity kit? Maybe and maybe not.
Catering
I had already eaten at the lounge so I didn’t really want to have another meal, but the flight had already loaded a meal for me anyway so I thought I would try it anyway. I only intended to order Express Dining (everything comes on one tray at once as soon as possible) so that I could rest longer on the short flight.
I selected the Colorado flat iron steak with chateau potatoes, charred rapini, mustard sauce, green onion and Fresno chili peppers. The food was luke warm, some of which is to be expected given the quick turn. However, the potatoes and vegetables were in a rough state, and the ice cream sundar had freezer burn on the top.
That said, I’d rather a luke warm steak with that temperature than overcooked well done, but piping hot.
Breakfast was a better experience, though the berry sauce on the brioche french toast was clearly applied in advance. It’s these tiny little touches (just put the sauce on as you plate the food) that foreign carriers get right and US carriers do not. Chobani strawberry yogurt, and a fruit cup were highlights; the croissant was a disappointment (see my upcoming post about a coissant I had in Paris.)
Due to tremendous 120+ knot tail winds, we landed early, 6:25 AM or to my body clock – 12:25 AM. I am a night owl, usually getting to bed after this time so sleep was limited and made me reconsider whether I would fly this timetable again. It would be better to fly back to Houston to get a better arrival time and some more rest on the flight.
The sun rising over Charles De Gualle was a gorgeous mix of oranges, yellows, pinks, and blues and a gorgeous start to an exhausting day.
Conclusions
I love the Polaris product, especially the soft product (ground services.) The seat is great, but it does feel cramped. The catering experience on Polaris from launch and, frankly, once Scott Kirby took the helm, has really become run of the mill which was a sad deterioration in what was a marked distinction from other US carriers. The flight time on this route was terrible, and while I may fly it again, it won’t be my first choice.
What do you think? Have you flown this route? How was your experience?
“Run of the mill” catering in Polaris is being g generous in description. It’s simply horrid. Not that AA is any better. It’s reached the point of being completely insulting, both in product and as a culture. It’s like people in charge of catering at UA were recruited from a high school lunch facility.
On a long int’l. flt., why aren’t they serving dinner, course by course? they have plenty of time to do it. It’s
the experience, the little details.
He had the option for “course by course.” He chose express service. As he clearly stated in the review.
Yeah but these days you get served the salad and main at the same time, and then desert after…so it isn’t like you are saving that much time with the express meal.
If you take a look at recent photos of AA’s J catering, it looks vastly superior to what UA is offering.
Was there anything memorable about the service?
@Hammer – The memorable piece was simply that they were able to achieve temperature on the steak and that Express Dining was quick.
Think you meant to say “sundae” instead of “sundar”
But, yeah, United’s got to improve their catering. They have a decent hard product but the soft product ain’t that great.
Why haven’t they returned with the dessert cart of many choices? cheese plate, desserts, etc. ?
Because: 1) they are cheap; and 2) they are kowtowing to their FA union, which is (still) using COVID as an excuse to do less work.
Genuine question – are you dense? Our union has been actively asking the company to return our service back to prepandemic service, so that we can give our customers what they want. You are naive if you think that AFA is behind UNITED’s decision to keep the service the way that it is. United can’t even listen to the unions plight to improve 4-6 hour wait times for when flight attendants have to call scheduling, hotel accommodations, etc. and you think that the union is dictating how service will be done lol? Get a grip.
While Polaris is an improvement on what went before, what went before was dire. This is still not really of an international standard. It’s wbat a Asian carrier would offer on a regional service.
Your standard reverse herringbone was better & more spacious before Polaris came out, and is still a better all around seat.
The true windows seats are the only good ones, and that’s only 1/4 of the cabin. Even then you have the narrowness at entry along with a small foot area as well (and I have banged my shins on the stupid stored tray area more times than I can count).
At the price of Polaris TATL these days, if you want a Saks blanet they should give you one.
Delta One had better looking grub than this, and even that one paled in comparison to an Emirates meal.
The only positive thing I see in that catering is that the steak had a nice amount of pink in there. Other than that, meh.
I would fly that for the cool looking amenity kit, though.
With regards to the catering, its sad that they don’t even offer an appaetizer with lunch/dinner, while other airlines are now back to offering both.
On my LAX SYD Polaris flight last month the purser commented on how the bedding (I.e. cool pillow) sometimes find its way into a customer’s bag 😮
I agree on the small entryway but the privacy on the true window seat is worth it. Food was bad btw. Although service was great. Maybe up that was a result of the Godiva Truffles I brought for the FA 😉
Btw the purser might have served us on our first international award flight in Business on United in 1989 🙂
You guys all seem to have a weird soft spot for UA Polaris. Any miles/money spent on any US based business class (with the exception of Mint) is an opportunity lost to redirect those miles to Mid East or Asian airline with a competitive product.
…how would a Middle East or Asian airline get one from Washington DC to Paris?
I guess buying two separate tickets via HND, DOH or DXB. But that would be the long way.
That’s why I said opportunity lost…I assume a non infinite supply of miles and not and a non endless ability to fly business class..
If that is not your situation, then by all
means waste money/miles on UA/AA business class
But again, that still doesn’t answer tbe question of getting from IAD to CDG on an Asian or ME airline…
i’m not suggesting you get from IAD to CDG on a ME or asian airline. i’m suggesting instead of wasting money/miles on UA business fly that route economy and save those same miles to be used on future business travel on ME or asian airlines (for UA miles that could be Eva, Singapore or Turkish).
But if someone has no plans to travel on routes with those airlines, why save miles for a trip they may or may not take?
yeah i suppose if you’re not planning on flying those routes ever you can spend/waste your money/miles on United. given this is a travel blog i guess i’m making the assumption that the author/avg readers travel a fair amount and are likely to use those airlines which cover a wide array of destinations.
To each their own i suppose. i’m not spending my miles on US based business class products.
Easily. And you will arrive less fatigued than taking the short nonstop from DC (or any other NE US city)
I totally don’t have one of those cool pillows on my bed. I seriously love united bedding, it is pretty darn good bedding. For reference did business on swiss, and united bedding blew it out of the water. (The food on swiss those was so much [redacted by admin] better).
My experience with the IAD-CDG route is that it was good when I had a full day of business on the departure and arrival day. Just a quick hop to Arrivals for a shower and change and good to go.
Sorry to put it this way but the whole product is just plain garbage. Plain and simple. From the food served at the lounges to the entire onboard product. Pathetic. From Kirby’s lies about new planes, to the supposed United Next upgrades. Just a pathetic bunch of lies. Kirby has to go!!!
Glad you mentioned that!
Matthew takes way too many photos.
Darned smart phones with their film less cameras!
I hope you didn’t change your clothes at your seat!
I’ve had the good fortune to upgrade most of my Y class flights to Polaris in the last two years so from that standpoint it’s great. But if I had to pay for business class, Polaris would in no way be one of my top choices. My wife is handicapped. We have to get her an even number seat or she can’t make it through that narrow entrance.
Ah, entitled snobs complaining about their free stuff LOL!
And it is free stuff. Points are a rebate to a ticket/credit card/shopping portal purchase etc.that you were going to buy anyway so that % of spending you were going to do anyway (uh, did I mention that already?)
And for people who do “mileage runs?” You sick cretins. You’re destroying the environment for your kicks.
I understand the mantra in business is “grow or die.”
But increasing polluting industries is NOT a good thing. Many of you are returning to your homes from your whimsical trips (hope you had a great time!) to face extreme water shortages or extreme heat.
Climate change/Global warming is real people. You are seeing it in your neighborhood.
Anyways, airlines. There needs to be less, more expensive flights. Sorry ULCC’s! This gluttonous party needs to end.
But zero emissions bio fuel is on the way! Too late. Game over…..
I’ll just say it once, here: You should get out of here while you can, because no one really cares about your diatribe.
I’m sure there’s a “Live and Let’s Plant a Tree” blog somewhere; I think you should find that, while the rest of us figures out our next free stuff through credit card points via manufactured spend.
Flew Polaris EWR – CDG last month – underwhelmed. Was offered no pre flight beverage, the spoon on the floor near the aisle leftover from a previous flight (flights?) may still be there, half of the cabin didn’t receive headphones at their seat, the FAs did the least work that they could, and they ran out of my meal choice before they got to row 5. I was traveling with my wife so we selected the paired seats in the middle. Why doesn’t the divider go down all the way (all but an inch or so)? Those seats also don’t don’t even allow one to see a window – let alone look out. The return (MUC – IAD) wasn’t much better – the cabin was in better shape but the FAs (with the exception of the intl purser) were straight out of McDonald’s. And why do the Polaris seats have to have shoulder belts??? I’d rather spend my miles on magazine subscriptions…
I understand you were desperate but agree that flight time is tough. I always push for post 830pm and that’s from chicago. Even with kids. Not sure I can stomach the earlier ones (noting again out of desperation that I’ve done 350pm to Munich).
Landing for holidays after 9am makes the day that much shorter too for kids. Ie landing st 6am and trying to make it till 6/7pm is pretty brutal after 3 hours sleep.
I agree with you on the timing and how hard it is to keep the kids going when the plane gets in at 6AM. My best advice is candy, a trip to a playground, and ice-cream.
I too like a later departure time from the US. This summer though, with the cancellations and staffing issues, the downside of the later time was exposed to me– fewer (if any) options if your late departure gets cancelled. Ending up on the early fight 1 day later isn’t any fun.
Playgrounds and ice cream 1000% the key to that first day on the ground in Europe
I notice you were not connecting on. Since Terminal 1 and the *A lounge (and other lounges, including LH) there remain closed, one of the downsides of flying *A either departing CDG or connecting is the lack of good lounge access. Maple Leaf is available to *A business class, I understand, but that is definitely a notch or two below the AF lounges. Makes the choice to fly Skyteam in and out of CDG much easier.
Never mind the carbon footprint. In business / first, you have a high plastic footprint and high food footprint.
One simple comment. Many of your negative comments could have been reconciled through asking the flight attendant to correct it, ie, cold meal.
Listing that option would remind passengers that upon request, some issues can be corrected.