United Airlines has officially launched “Polaris 2.0” with a focus on the sleep experience both on the ground and on the air and a new partnership with Therabody.
Polaris 2.0 Launches With New Bedding Amenities, Therabody Partnership
There is no new seat…yet. The meals are not changing…yet. But United is updating its bedding for the first time since Polaris launched in late 2016 and also introducing new amenities both in the air and on the ground with the express goal of helping you maximize your rest onboard.
Live And Let’s Fly was first to report on these changes, dubbed internally as Polaris 2.0, but now they have been officially revealed.
New Saks Fifth Avenue Bedding With Limited Edition Day Blanket
United introduced its Polaris product in late 2016 with bedding in partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue which quickly became known as one of the best business class bedding in the sky. Seven years later, United is moving to the next generation of bedding, which focuses on the Zeitgeist of sustainability, but thankfully maintains the same comfort (if not improves upon it).
The new bedding still includes a large pillow, duvet, and cool gel pillow. United tells me the cooling gel pillow is better than before, with cooling on both sides. The duvet is now an off-white color (and made in part using recycled plastic bottles) and now has a different texture on one side than the other, but still is quite comfortable (I did have a chance to try it on a flight this week). Bedding now comes in a reusable washable bag rather than in disposable plastic wrap.
Mattress pads, also made of plastic, will still be available:
Another cool temporary item is a limited-edition day blanket featuring a pattern by fashion designer Claude Kameni and also made from 100% recycled plastic (can someone explain the science to me?). Kameni is a self-taught, Cameroon-native designer who won a competition to design the new United Airlines – Saks Fifth Avenue day blanket, as part of Saks’ designer accelerator program, The New Wave. The limited-edition blanket will be available through early 2024… and likely pilfered often. I tried this too and it is extremely comfortable and a tremendous improvement over the old rather scratchy day blankets from Saks Fifth Avenue. While I did not swipe one, this is the sort of blanket I would curl around me on a cold morning at home.
United Moves Away From Sunday Riley + Away For New Partnership With Therabody
United’s Therabody collaboration includes wellness products on both the ground–in United Polaris lounges–and onboard United Polaris business class
Therabody Onboard
A new amenity kit, which also doubles as a fanny pack (which apparently are making a return…) features TheraFace skincare products that are designed to help passengers feel refreshed upon landing. Contents of the reusable “belt bag” made with recycled plastic include:
- TheraFace eye serum: Crafted with ingredients like niacinamide, caffeine, hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B5 and allantoin, the serum helps reduce puffiness, enhance hydration, soothe the delicate eye area and improve the skin’s barrier function.
- TheraFace face spray: Formulated to help soothe, hydrate and protect the skin, this spray features hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B5, calendula flower extract, aloe leaf juice and glycerin.
- TheraFace cleansing towelette: Wipe-off the travel day without drying the skin thanks to ingredients like Vitamin B5 and E, calendula flower extract, aloe leaf juice and glycerin.
- TheraFace hand cream: Avoid dreaded dry hands thanks to ingredients like niacinamide, shea butter, hyaluronic acid, sweet almond oil and Vitamin B5. Both the hand cream and face spray are available in the onboard lavatories as well.
- Other items: The kit also includes go-to amenities for arriving refreshed, including a bamboo toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask, ear plugs, socks, and a pen.
Passengers in all cabins can also access free wellness videos onboard from Therabody’s team of experts. The videos are tailored for passengers “looking to incorporate simple, effective wellness practices into their trip, like movement, breathwork and guided meditations that support relaxation and sleep.”
Therabody On Ground
United is also partnering with Therabody in its Polaris lounges by introducing a Therabody “Reset Suite” in each lounge. By the end of the year, every lounge will offer at least one semi-private room each outfitted with Therabody wellness technology, including one Therabody Lounger, which combines sound and vibration therapy for full body relaxation (think massage chair).
Additional amenities available through lounge valets include:
- Theragun
- RecoveryAir JetBoots (to support circulation, lymphatic drainage and muscle recovery and aid in decreased swelling and stiffness)
- SmartGoggles
Have you ever tried these? They are not gimmicky at all…they are certainly a bit bougie, but actually are quite helpful.
These amenities will first appear in the Newark and San Francisco Polaris Lounges starting this month and thereafter be available in all Polaris Lounges.
Additionally, TheraFace skin and body care products are also available in the United Polaris lounge restrooms and showers.
CONCLUSION
Polaris 2.0 might be anti-climatic in the sense that we mostly knew what was coming, but I am thankful to offer a first-hand report that the duvet and pillows remain superb and the current day blanket is better than ever.
@Matthew, a close friend of mine is a materials engineer and I recently asked him the same question but I too was curious how one makes recycled plastics into clothing material.
Essentially once the plastics are cleaned and broken down into little chips they are melted and like cotton candy they are spun into a “yarn” like material which can be used to make clothing.
After the yarn is spun, it is then weaved into material which can be used form anything from jackets to blankets.
That is fascinating. Thank you!
Spinning PET bottles into clothing sheds millions of plastic fibers into waste water and eventually the ocean on coastal cities. Probably entering the marine animal food chain.
Plastics are generally NOT recyclable in any way that is helpful to the environment. You can burn them at very high temp as fuel or you can bury them in responsibly chosen landfill (water table etc.). We have essentially endless capacity to bury things. Recycling is a marketing gimmick to get people to use products that have bad environmental consequences, like the dopey biofuel in airplanes. Metals and glass are obviously fairly recyclable but even they take a lot of energy and pollution to accomplish.
If you want to help the environment, use less-processed things, learn to cook, buy in bulk with less packaging per item, reuse things.
So it appears they have gotten rid of the thinner blanket and just the duvet is left? Not a fan of that… usually United planes are too warm for me to use the duvet (such as their 777-200’s with no individual air nozzles).
No, that blue blanket is the new thinner one.
@ Matthew — I wonder what the shrinkage rate is for these?
What a joke the “ongoing journey” on food
Did you notice this month hot Bistro items are only on 1500 mile flights now? Downgrade vs shorter distance before
Hemispheres says all flights over 1,190 miles.
Any further information on the mattress pad? It seems to be an afterthought (at least in this announcement) but can make an enormous difference in sleep quality.
The mattress pads are all new too. They have a Saks label this time around, and are also from recycled water bottles. They seem to be a tiny bit thicker than before, but nonetheless, they are good quality. You won’t be disappointed.
Crazy this warrants a press release. Nothing has really changed. They just repackaged what they were already giving…
I just got off a UA flight IAD-FRA in J, a couple hours ago, and it appears my flight already had the new bedding and amenity kit. Like you said, I did enjoy the new day blanket, as it was softer than the previous one (though surprisingly for a US airline, they had the heat pretty high and I was getting too warm). I personally prefer the previous duvet, but the new one isn’t bad. I requested a mattress pad and for as thin as it is, you wouldn’t think it would make a difference but it really does. Lastly, the new amenity kit is probably more useful to use after the flight than the old Away kits which I’ve given away to friends. (I haven’t used any of the skincare products yet but they’re sitting right next to me LOL). No change on the inflight catering. 🙁
I flew Polaris Den-LHR last week and love the Therabody products. Did not like the new duvet, not as breathable as the old one. Service was even miraculously good!
Very impressive. But then you have to put all this stuff somewhere after you sit down.
These have already been introduced on ultra long hauls, it seems. Flew one last week and saw all the “new” amenities described here, minus the mattress pad.
Polaris 2.0 sucks. Where’s the catering improvement? How about restoring the axed FA position in the business cabin for better service? No-one was complaining about the bedding nor amenity kits.
It’s true – they replaced the one thing that no one was complaining about!
I’m curious: why fly United (or any other carrier) if it ‘sucks?’ There have got to be mitigating factors (or benefits) if you’re still flying them. In this day and age, frequent-flyer programs are a shadow of what they were in their heyday, so I doubt it’s that. I’m not being snarky here, I’m just trying to understand. Full disclosure: I’m a former UA employee. I’m just as disappointed as you are to see how a once-great airline was dismantled by a decade or more of managers focused entirely on reducing costs and enriching shareholders, with near total disregard for the people who actually consume the product.
Experienced all of these about 9 days ago on a flight from SFO to MEL. All fine, including mattress pad.