United Airlines is no longer flying a Boeing 787 Dreamliner with its older generation of business class seats, with the last aircraft now undergoing a Polaris retrofit. Furthermore, the carrier will shortly introduce its first retrofitted Boeing 767-400 into service. Each step marks another milestone in United’s fleet refresh plan.
Last United Airlines Boeing 787-9 Now Undergoing Polaris Retrofit
The last 787-9 aircraft without Polaris seating, N27958, has now arrived in Xiamen, China. There it will undergo a retrofit that will see the installation of new Polaris business class seats as well as a Premium Plus (premium economy) cabin. This marks an important milestone as the final Dreamliner in the United fleet to undergo such a retrofit.
The 787 has become the workhorse of the United longhaul fleet, with a fleet including:
- 787-8 – 12 jets
- 787-9 – 38 jets
- 787-10 – 14 jets (7 more ordered)
The 787-8 retrofit was completed last year while the 787-10 was delivered with the current-generation Polaris and Premium Plus seat.
While the 787-8 retrofit dropped the number of Polaris seats from 36 to 28, the 787-9 retrofit has kept the number of business class seats consistent at 48.
Some people prefer the older seats because the 2-2-2 configuration makes it easier to converse with your neighbor. But while these may be preferred by some couples or colleagues traveling together, the new seats are more spacious, offer more personal storage, and are more comfortable in the lie-flat mode.
First Polaris 767-400 Retrofit Complete
In another big step, the first 767-400 retrofit, N68061, is complete and will fly to Honolulu via Guam later today. United was unsure what it would do with the 767-400 during the pandemic, parked them, and consequently did not retrofit any.
But with travel picking up again with a vengeance, United will maintain the 767-400 in its fleet for many years to come and retrofit all 16 aircraft.
The new configuration will drop from 39 to 34 Polaris seats, but 24 Premium Plus seats will be added. This great premium cabin density comes at the expense of United’s Economy Plus (extra legroom economy class) seats, which will drop from 70 to 48.
By summer 2023, the 767-400 retrofits will be complete.
> Read More: United Airlines Will Retrofit 767-400 (Configuration Revealed)
CONCLUSION
United Airlines is making progress on its Polaris and Premium Plus retrofit program, having crossed two important milestones this week. By next summer, you will no longer have to wonder what kind of business class seat you will get when flying on a United longhaul flight. Furthermore, Premium Plus will also be available on every longhaul aircraft.
Hopefully, once the retrofits are complete United can put a little more focus onto the onboard soft product, but this is an important step toward offering guests a consistent product onboard.
Do you know why they moved Economy Plus to the back section of the plane? I’m guessing it’s to fit more economy seats in the front part behind premium plus. Also odd they make so many economy plus in the middle, if I had to pay I’d be less likely to pay for the middle seat than the window/aisle combo.
That is strange how how the E+ sears are in the back and in the middle. The placement of the lavatories is also really strange. None in the front or the back. A few other wide bodies don’t have any in the back, but I think this is the only one with none in the front.
If you are seated in PP, what lavatory do you use?
You use the Polaris lavatories. That’s what the “Plus” in Premium Plus stands for.
Actually the lavatories in Polaris are only for the Polaris cabin. There’s a curtain between to differentiate cabins. You use the economy lavs. That’s what the “economy” in economy plus stands for. The “plus” stands for more room.
I apologize, I mentioned economy plus. However, the number of lavatories located in business class are specific to the number of seats in the Polaris cabin, and are not meant to accommodate 20 or more Premium Plus passengers in addition to the business passengers. Premium Plus passengers use the economy lavatories.
Why UAL decided to keep only 2 lavs at door 2 on the 764 is mind boggling. Polaris pax will continue to compete with economy pax when they need the lav. Even the hi density 76L has 2 bathrooms at the front of the ac for Polaris pax.
Great milestone, no question about that. Matthew, it would be great if you could do a review of the new United Club at PHX and then compare it vis a vis to the new DCA AA admirals club.
The PHX club looks great, just like a smaller scale of the EWR one.
Can’t wait for the DEN one to open, it looks like there is still a lot of work to be done there though last time I walked by it.
Still a joke that Denver doesn’t have a Polaris lounge.
Hi Jared and thanks for responding. Yeah, I agree with you. Denver should definitely get a Polaris Lounge of its own. Too many international operations going on over there!!
Absolutely!
Before Covid, DEN had 1x FRA, LHR, and NRT on a 787-8.
By this March, DEN will have 2x LHR and 1x FRA, MUC, and NRT daily on a 787-9.
That enough is enough to justify a Polaris lounge. LAX had 5 (LHR, PVG, MEL, SYD, NRT) back when they built the lounge there.
In addition to that, UA has a ton of DEN based flyers who are connecting on to ORD, IAD, or EWR for Europe flights, IAH for South America, and LAX or SFO for Asia. All the connecting Polaris passengers would have access, so there is EASILY enough demand to justify a Polaris lounge in Denver.
Hi Jared!, yes agreed. If they were to open up a new Polaris Lounge, the originating experience out of DEN will increase tenfold. BTW, did you know they have effectively reopened It’s Classified atEWR!! I thought that to be great news!!
Agreed that DEN should have a Polaris lounge, but where do you put it? Upper level at the center of the concourse? That may be about the only room left in DEN. And don’t say retrofit one of the United Clubs. Both of them are experiencing Delta-like levels of overcrowding.
It’s good that United is finally getting the Polaris seats that they have been advertising for years, but it is unfortunate that the company is showing such disregard for American workers. The seats are being installed in China, so American workers don’t get the jobs. This has been going on for years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, so it isn’t just one political party or the other that doesn’t care enough about American workers. This sounds like a petty gripe to everyone, it seems, other than the American workers who won’t get the work. We have millions of people who can’t get good manufacturing jobs in the country anymore because they have been outsourced to other countries, especially China. This should be a concern of all Americans.
I don’t trust our country to build quality products. American made isn’t always better. I could care less where the seats are made, as long as they are comfortable.
Will the dreadful 2-5(?)-2 dorm style business on the 7/200 be retro’d too? During covid, they only flew planes fitted with Polaris to HI-West coast. Now, just, less mostly dorm style.
No, the high density 777-200s will not be retrofitted. They will continue to be used on hub to hub and Hawaii.
For hub to hub I think they’re great, and getting a lie flat seat on a 2 hour LAX to DEN flight is always a treat. However, I dislike that they use these on Hawaii. Maybe if they want to use them on LAX/SFO to Hawaii that is fine, but IAH or DEN to Hawaii in these seats is too long in my opinion.
Those planes need a refresh, even if they don’t include Polaris (maybe a new medium-haul business/first product?). With the narrow-body refresh coming, the domestic 777s will be the most out of date planes in the fleet, flying what should be considering premium routes.
Super exciting news!
Honestly I don’t know why but I am so excited about the 767-400 getting Polaris. It really looked like these planes were going to be retired back in 2020, so it is great to see them get a much needed facelift and be staying around in the fleet!
Will the 764s get mood lighting?
Yes they are!
Just flew ZRH – ORD – MCO and the first leg was in a high-J 767 with the updated product (which I sleep so well in) and the second leg was on a 767 in the old 2-2-2 seats. Was a nice reminder of how much better business class has become over the last decade or so. 🙂
Don’t mind me I’ll just be over here paying $2,000 so my wife and I can fly from Denver to Hawaii on an old Continental 2-4-2 “first class” 777-200
Those outdated 2-4-2 777s are not from Continental. They were from United, the airline that had the Tulip. I guess UA had to cater to the people that scream “Long Live The Tulip”
Yeah, that’s definitely not an old Continental configuration. That’s legacy UA at its finest. Continental had a 2x2x2 business class on its 777s. The Tulip people can bask in that 4-across section all they want, but count me out!
Any reason you haven’t done an article on why Expert Mode/inventory is blocked currently on United? I don’t mean this as a rude comment, just seems like something you would have reported on as it’s been mostly unavailable for over a month now.
I use the mobile app. Still shows up there.
Thank you for the clarification. I had read that others didn’t see availability on the app, however, I do. I tend to not use the app when booking flights because I feel it doesn’t show you the best-priced options even when filtering and the website is better, that said, I will use it when looking for inventory. Thanks
What happens if you book an economy plus seat in the bulk head or first few rows of economy plus on a non-retrofitted 767-400, but then the final plane flying the route is retrofitted? Do you get lucky and get premium plus seats or still keep the economy plus? We are flying to Dublin early June and debating booking United 767-400 and hoping we get lucky or just booking premium plus on American even though it’s a 2 hour longer flight from where we are flying from.
No, you’ll likely be booted to a middle seat in the rear. I would avoid that seat.
Unfortunately this project is still not complete. I have the high honor of flying these old, non-retrofitted 767-400 aircraft between Munich and EWR. checking tickets to fly in 2 weeks and it United’s website is still showing layouts for the old seats! Ugh…