From San Francisco to Tapei I flew on a United Airlines 777-300ER, called the 77W for short, in Polaris Business Class. It was a solid flight with a lot of rest…after the initial drama at the gate.
United Airlines 77W Business Class Review (SFO-TPE)
I had quite an adventure at the gate before the flight even started. I showed up to check in for the flight about an hour before departure (since I had just been rebooked on it after missing my connection to Singapore) and was told that business class was full and that I had no seat.
Just a moment ago there were nine seats available…clearly, in my mind, the upgrade sweep had run and there may have even been non-revs cleared into business. I wasn’t worried as I waited for the gate agents to sort it out…but the lead gate agent said that no one had been upgraded at the gate, certainly not any non-revs, and business class was just oversold.
She was preparing to seat me in Premium Plus (United’s premium economy product) and issue me downgrade compensation in the form of future flight vouchers (we never reached the point of dickering over the exact amount), but someone no-showed and I got the last seat…2G…and was the last onboard.
I had pulled an all-nigher before in preparation for the long journey ahead and was very thankful to have a bed to rest on.
United Airlines 871
San Francisco (SFO) – Tapei (TPE)
Tuesday, March 21
Depart: 1:30 PM
Arrive: 6:45 PM+1
Duration: 13hr, 15min
Distance: 6,469 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (77L)
Seat: 2G (Polaris Business Class)
I’ve reviewed United’s 777-300ER many times, most recently to Manila (and due to my staggered trip reports, that flight took place after this one), but I do want to point out that United generally offers a consistent product of good service, great bedding, and mediocre food.
I’d say the food on this flight was actually above average and most importantly, I slept for about seven hours without interruption.
Seat
The 77W is United’s largest widebody aircraft, with 60 seats in Polaris Business Class. Polaris is divided into two cabins, with rows 1-8 in the forward cabin and 9-16 in the rear cabin. Seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration and odd-numbered A and L seats are “true” window seats and offer the most privacy. These seats are custom for United, but modeled on the Safran Optima platform.
The seats are 20 inches wide and convert into a lie-flat bed that is 78 inches long (6 foot, 6 inches). I always prefer bulkhead seats (row 1 and 9) when available due to the wider footwells, but on this flight I was happy to have any seat at all…though I would not choose 2G if I could avoid it because you are rather exposed to the aisle and it just feels more cramped than an odd-numbered window seat.
Each seat has a universal A/C outlet and two USB-A chargers, one above the A/C outlet and the other below the screen.
Saks Fifth Avenue bedding included a duvet, cooling foam gel pillow, and larger pillow. Mattress pads are (theoretically) available on request, but I was told they were not loaded on this flight. United has slightly modified its bedding since I took the flight, though only in terms of physical appearance.
Amenities
An amenity kit was placed at each seat as were slippers. Pajamas were available upon request (United offered pajamas on flights over 12 hours at the time…now a flight must be over 14 hours to be stocked with pajamas). I don’t like wasting amenity kits anymore, so I did not open it, but you can check out a standard United amenity kit here.
Tip: S/M pajamas are big enough…I’m a tall guy with long arms and find the L/XL pajamas far too big
Food + Drink
Lunch was served after takeoff and breakfast before landing.
Lunch
Service began with a hot towel, mixed nuts, and a choice of beverage. I had a glass of Champagne (Duval LeRoy).
The shrimp starter and green salad were acceptable and the steak was actually cooked a nice medium. No, it certainly was not Angus quality, but in terms of United meals, this was an above-average one.
Colorado flat iron steak
with Yukon potatoes, charred rapini mustard sauce, green onion, cherry tomatoes, and Fresno chili peppers
I ate it all…
The dessert cart rolled around and I had an ice cream sundae and an egg custard tart.
Mid-Flight Snack
I woke up with about 4.5 hours left on the flight. Feeling peckish, I grabbed some crisps from the snack cart and also ordered a pastrami sandwich and creamy onion soup. You can see the sandwiches on the snack cart, but I requested that mine be warmed up and that made it much better.
Breakfast
90 minutes before landing, breakfast was served (even though we were landing in Tapei in the evening). The choices were chicken congee or Belgian waffles. I did not feel like either one so I requested baked eggs from premium economy class (for some reason the choice was eggs or waffles in premium economy). My request was obliged…I found eggs (served with mushrooms and cooked cherry tomatoes) much better than either business class choice.
Yogurt, fruit, and a croissant were served on the side.
IFE + Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi worked well during the flight, at least at the beginning and end when I used it. A flight pass cost $29.99, but I just purchased a two-hour pass which allows you to “pause” it when not using it. That was more than enough for me.
United offers a generous IFE library in terms of movies and TV shows, though games are limited and audio is even more limited. Thertocaly, “Channel 9” (ATC) is available but was shut off.
I watched a movie called The Independent, a political thriller that was well done. Noise-cancelling headphones are offered to each passenger and this aircraft does not have Bluetooth connectivity if you are bringing your own headphones or earphones.
Lavatories
I did use the lavatories to change into and out of my pajamas and they were clean…even at the end of the flight. Business class has two lavatories in the front of the plane (shared by crewmembers) and two between the front and rear business class cabin.
Service
Great service onboard from the flight attendants, all of who were older Chinese-speaking ladies in my section. It felt like when I used to fly to Hong Kong with Hong Kong-based crews.
I appreciated the willingness to get me the eggs from Premium Economy…that was greatly appreciated.
CONCLUSION
We landed early in Taipei. There, a United ground staffer offered me a hotel voucher for the night at the Plaza Premium inside the terminal, since the overnight connection was caused by the earlier delay in SFO.
Overall, United offers a consistent product. This was a better flight with very friendly service and good food, but one thing that makes me loyal to United is that I know I can sleep well in the seat, the cabin is kept cool, and the bedding is excellent. That is certainly a huge factor when making a decision about which carrier to fly.
This is part of my Asia trip report.
@ Matthew — I thought you had a TMobile plan with unlimited free in-flight wifi?
I do – but sometimes I need my laptop to connect to wi-fi.
@ Matthew — You can make your phone into a Hotspot and share the wifi with your laptop. You can also change the settings in your laptop to make it look like a phone to the wifi system. You can perform a Google search on a HowTo for this last item.
Matthew, probably splitting hairs, but would you prefer the 777-300 or 787-9 on a UA TPAC flight?
787-9. I believe the lower pressurisation humidity makes a genuine difference.
Thanks, flew the 10 last week from Europe and it was nice. Really wish they would have put ATC on the 787s. Of course TPAC not much chatter anyway. That was my reason for leaning to the 777. Probably go with the 787.
You mean higher pressurization on the 789, right?
60 seats in Polaris Business Class? Wow! That’s a lot of people and I wonder how FAs can even provide a consistent service with so many people expecting a lot from them.
Just off of UA 950 IAD – BRU with the same configuration. Polaris is nice but at 6′ 3″ I find the space a bit restricted. Service was fine.
I agree; they jammed in too many narrow seats in that cabin; the seats are just too narrow; restrooms are way too narrow as well, compared to other airlines; no mattress pads? hard to believe. The shrimp appetizer looked so small; for breakfast, when are they going to start specialty coffees? at least, latte with foam milk; they really need to improve their catering food service to compete with other carriers. I thought there was more indiv. space on a 777, compared to their 787, but doesn’t look like it.
Would you ever consider relocating to SFO or another (true) United hub given your United loyalty? Obvious deterring factors (your wife’s job, moving the kids to a new school) aside, which make it a clear No. LOL
I love the Bay Area. If my wife went to school or got a job up there (or perhaps I did one day), I would be very happy to be SFO-based.
@ Matthew — You better have lots of money if you plan to buy a house in the SF area…
As an SFO-based UA Premier though… good luck with CPUs clearing up here. Even when I was a 1K, I rarely cleared any upgrades into First when flying domestically.
Great report. People like to dig on United… but I appreciate their consistency, generally good handling of IROPs, I’m generally pleased with the food, and the seat is a good one. Usually uneventful and that’s generally what we hope for these days I guess.
Maybe I am noticing it more since it happened to me, but UA seems to be overbooking business class more lately.
I find 20″ wide seats in business to be pretty narrow, particularly in the shoulders but then again I’m generally the biggest, widest, and tallest person on a given flight. Do you find the Polaris seats to be constraining?
You mention role 1 or 9 due to large footwells. Does that apply to the center seats too? Would you take 1 or 9 center over and even window?
Hi Matthew! Another awesome review!
Question: How soon will I receive a reply to my Award Expert request? I submitted the request last night and have not received an email notification indicating that it was received.
Thanks!
Ken
Is this an older trip review series? Just curious since there was no choice in appetizer.
Why fly United instead of SQ on a flight to Singapore?
Because I can upgrade the United flight to business class.
There is such a big difference in seat width ; United is a narrow 20″, while SQ on their A350 offers a 26″ or
28″ width ; real comfort on a 16 hr. long, long flight.
I’ve flown both UA and SQ long-haul J. Personally, I think it’s a matter of what you value more.
I prefer UA’s seat for sleeping. I find the bed more comfortable (esp with the bedding) and the cabins are cooler and often have a personal air vent. Even when in seat mode, I like the increased legroom over SQ’s wider seat. SQ shines in the soft product: consistently good service, extensive and delicious menu.
SQ has the better overall product, but if I know I need to sleep well, I’ll take UA over SQ. Add in that if I am paying for the ticket on my own dime… I can use PlusPoints to upgrade a United economy ticket, whereas I’d have to pay outright (in cash or miles) for SQ (and still earn a small fraction of PQPs).
I like that the cabin is cool as so many carriers are too hot to be able to sleep..
I find it funny that you can find the catering pretty good by comparing it to the normal very sub-par United offering. We just flew BA, from LHR to SAN and found the catering 10x better (and the service) than United. We arrive in the afternoon and they served a lunch before landing vs. United’s you get breakfast before landing no matter what time we arrive.
I also find service sub-par down to stupidity. Why make someone ask for a mattress pad. They make the bed so much more comfortable. Doesn’t United want an unknowing, first time passenger to have the most comfortable experience possible so that they may be a returning customer. Also even Fiji Airlines offered to make my bed after dinner, while I went to the bathroom. That level of service is off United’s radar and it isn’t like they are less expensive.
This food looks horrible. A cheap meal all served on a single tray on a 13.5 hour flight in international business class. You predictably include a picture of the ice cream sundae, as if it mitigates the dismal meal you were served.
With all due respect, I enjoy your reviews, but you are somewhat of a stooge for United. I have never understood why.