If you’re flying to Japan on United Airlines in Polaris business class, here’s what you can expect onboard. This review highlights my recent flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo on a 787-9.
United Airlines Tokyo Business Class Review
This flight was part of my “lunch in Tokyo” trip earlier this year. I already wrote about the return flight, in which I was the only passenger in business class, but provide this review of the outbound flight (in which there were a whopping eight passengers in business class) to give you an idea of what to expect right now if flying to Tokyo (or any other Asian destination) on United Airlines.
Check-In
I checked in at LAX on a kiosk, which offered to check me in for both flights. An agent was very confused, especially when I mentioned I was going to Tokyo for lunch, but verified my COVID-19 test and I received boarding passes for both flights bearing the “Travel Ready” stamp.
This trip occurred just before the Polaris Lounge at LAX reopened, so I used the United Club before the flight. The food spread in the lounge is now very much like pre-COVID days, with most individually-packaged items swapped for a buffet-style service.
I enjoyed a croissant, bowl of berries, double espresso, and very unhealthy but very delicious egg and sausage sandwich on a buttermilk biscuit.
Boarding began 40 minutes prior to departure at 1o:00AM and with such light loads, I was among the last to board at 10:10AM.
United Airlines 32
Los Angeles (LAX) – Tokyo (NRT)
Friday, January 28
Depart: 10:40AM
Arrive: 03:45PM
Duration: 11hr, 05min
Distance: 5,451 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Seat: 7A (Business Class)
Onboard, I found my way to seat and settled in for what I hoped would be a very productive flight.
Seat
United has now retrofitted the majority of its Boeing 787-9 aircraft (all 787-8 aircraft have been retrofitted and all 787-10 were delivered with the latest Polaris seat) and I was glad to get a new seat, even if I would have had an empty seat next to me with the old configuration.
While not as spacious as a reverse herringbone seat, I find the Polaris seats quite comfortable and will always choose an odd-numbered A or K seat, when available, for the extra privacy (these are “true” window seats). Seats are 20.5 inches wide and 6’6″ (198 cm) when fully reclined. The 789-9 has 48 seats, including eight rows in the forward cabin and four rows in a rear mini cabin.
Bedding was provided, including a comforter, throw blanket, cooling gel pillow, and standard pillow. Mattress pads were available upon request. I would not sleep on this flight, though, preferring to get my work done for the next couple days so that I could relax during my layover in Narita and flight back to Los Angeles.
It was a beautiful day for flying.
Amenities
Prior to departure, slippers, pajamas, and an amenity kit were proactively offered. United typically only offers pajamas on flights over 12 hours, but apparently this route qualifies because I was even offered them on my return flight, which was under 10 hours.
I didn’t bother to open the amenity kits, the contents of which I’ve reviewed several times. If I fly United, I won’t touch the amenity kit any more, hoping that it can be reused.
Lavatory
The lavatory is a standard Dreamliner lavatory. United adds Sunday Riley hand cream and face mist along with garment groom from Hutchinson-Hume. A warning on the garment groom, though. I tired it out on a stain on my khaki trousers and it made the stain worse…
IFE + Wi-Fi
My primary objective on this flight was to catch up on some email, correspondence, and other work and that required wi-fi. Although wi-fi has been far more reliable lately on United, it’s always a gamble. Thankfully, internet was available and worked very well for the entire flight.
The flight pass cost $21.99, though note the odd pricing for two hours versus one hours…
Speeds were fast:
I took one break on the flight to watch Dune, which I thought was a great movie (I have not seen the original one).
A large library of movies and TV shows are available on your seatback screen or on your personal device (download the latest version of the United app prior to takeoff).
I know it sounds cliche for a travel blogger, but my favorite part of the flight was looking out the window. It was a beautiful day out and I thought the coolest part of the flight was when we flew over the Aleutian Islands.
Food + Drink
Lunch was served after takeoff, with choices including beef short ribs, salmon, or cheese ravioli. No menus were printed nor was an online menu available.
First, warmed mixed nuts were offered with choice of beverage. I had a glass of Champagne with lunch, which on today’s flight was Ayala (which sells for about $50/bottle). It’s a bit too sweet for me, but nice to see real Champagne versus sparkling wine.
The meal was served on a single tray, with salad and bread roll.
While United has restored more pre-pandemic elements to international business class meal service on flights to India and Israel, Japan has not made the cut yet and has such, a modified, one-tray service is presented for the meal service.
There’s little defense, at this point, for a single-tray service in business class. It’s time for United to bring back appetizers and its dessert choices on all longhaul routes. I think United realizes this too, but is struggling to balance cost concerns. Even so, it is something that must be done, especially as American and Delta offer far more substantial and more nicely presented meals on longhaul flights.
United’s new concept on India and Israel flights needs to expand systemwide. But for at least the next month and a half, you can expect something like this onboard.
The good news is that the food is generally pretty good. I found the ravioli, flavored with tomato sauce and pesto and topped with cheese very delicious. I don’t usually order pasta and did this to try something different. I’m glad I did.
The salad, with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing, was also good, as was the hot pretzel roll.
Vanilla ice cream from economy class was served for dessert and was at least at the proper temperature for eating (sometimes it is hard as a rock and other times melted like soup).
I concluded lunch with coffee.
11 hours is a long time and mid-flight I got hungry. A snack basket was available (and occasionally passed by flight attendants) with snacks like Cheez-Its and potato chips.
A “mezze sampler” (which United sells in economy class on domestic flights) was also available, which included a grain salad, hummus, pita bread, and falafael. It hit the spot.
About an hour before landing, breakfast was served. Interestingly, it was afternoon in Tokyo and evening in Los Angeles, but United always serves breakfast as a pre-arrival meal for flights departing from the USA.
I ordered a kale egg puff pastry, served with a spicy tomato sauce and chicken sausage (the other choice was French Toast). On the tray was yogurt, a hot croissant, and sliced fruit. I switched to decaf coffee (powdered, but still by illy) in hopes of preparing myself to sleep on the return flight.
This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes on United (probably my second favorite to the southwestern omelet) and I don’t mind breakfast no matter what time of day.
One other note. The water bottles onboard were from Australia…it made sense when I saw my aircraft had come in from Sydney earlier in the morning.
Service
As you might expect with only eight passengers in a 48-seat cabin, service was attentive and cheerful. I really didn’t need much during the flight, but flight attendants checked in often to see if was okay or needed a top-up on my beverage.
CONCLUSION
As we landed at Narita Airport, we taxied past a pair of ANA A380s, which I hope will fly again in the near future. The bottom line is that you will receive far better food and beverage options on ANA or JAL, but I did enjoy the comfortable seat, fast wi-fi, and kind service for my daytime journey to Tokyo.
Interestingly, the transit security is gone (at least for now) at NRT. I was able to walk directly into the departures area without a security check. I preceded to the ANA lounge for my layover (the United Club is still closed).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if United can spruce up the food and beverage menu, it really would offer a leading product: the other elements are already there.
Mask mandate struck down!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Florida for the win again!
Appeals coming no doubt. And feel free to keep wearing yours.
I just stepped off NRT-SFO and the flight was fairly full, completely full in Polaris I believe. My Asian Vegetarian meal was not onboard. A nice FA said that United has not actually started providing them out of Tokyo thus far. There were no printed menus but the choices were beef/fish only. Instead, I had the economy pasta tubes. Interestingly, dessert was a pre-packaged brownie. At the end of the flight, the FA proactively offered me a $250 future flight credit or 12,500 miles. She added that when I return SFO-NRT next week there should be a pasta offering. All in all, United needs to really step it up. A packaged brownie in Polaris is laughable.
The lack of dessert is really appalling.
Dessert in Polaris SYD-LAX yesterday was a prepackaged Australian supermarket cookie. Vegetarian dish was mostly dried up rice. Midflight snack options were the economy Tapas boxes. Breakfast was some kind of salty egg thing, unidentified as no menus were provided. All in all really weak, compared with pre-COVID Polaris (or what I Qantas was able to deliver in March).
Can you really not access a VPN on the wifi? That throws a wrench in to productivity for a lot of business travelers.
Despite the disclaimer, you can access your VPN.
Flew IAD – ACC in Polaris this morning. Looks identical to what we had except it was a 788. Hard to imagine door’s on those seats.
Couple of observations. Last two flights here and home the mask mandate is not enforced unless it’s a blatant violation. And how refreshing, no COVID test before flying and upon arrival. No masks needed in the airport either. I took mine off the second I stepped off the plane. The Africans are way ahead of Bradon and Fauci.
How much did you end up paying for the itinerary?
Under $600 r/t.
Okay but you Matthew are the ultimate FF customer. The listed price for LAX-NRT return must be in the thousands and with that crummy catering it’s not worth it compared to the Japanese carriers.
I just checked the UA website. A “refundable” Polaris return ticket in June is in the $16,000 neighborhood. With the coach class ice cream you mentioned, that really is appalling!
Well, the key is not price (ANA and JAL were also under $600 for coach), but the ability to upgrade, which is impossible for on JAL and much harder on ANA (I have to buy a much pricier fare class).
I just flew ORD>LAX>NRT>HAN / SGN>NRT>LAX>ORD w/ the LAX>NRT and NRT>LAX legs in Polaris for under $850. I upgraded using Pluspoints.
I have flown LOT, Lufthansa, THAI, ANA, EVA, Singapore and Korean in business class. As a loyal United flyer I would put United at the bottom of the list. The two most glaring issues I had were meals service and general overall attitude of the crew. Little things like lack of menu and one tray service takes away from the ambiance. While the FA’s were by no means rude or bad, they just lacked the upbeat, happy personalities of the FA’s on those other carriers mentioned. One other thing about the FA’s, United needs to decide on a uniform and stick with it. It looks sloppy with half the crew wearing the old dark blue uniform and half wearing the new light blue uniform and they appear off the rack. I connected to an ANA flight and it was immediately noticeable how much more professional the ANA FA’s looked. Their jackets and skirts all matched and their uniforms appeared tailored. I got more attention in ANA economy than I did in United Polaris. Overall ANA’s FA seam like a lot happier bunch. United is moving in the right direction. United’s hard product and metal are on par with any carrier out there. In fact I like United’s hard product a little better, because they include individual air vents on the 787-9’s wear as ANA did not. The other thing United is doing well in the Polaris lounge. I am a United Club, Priority Pass member and have had access to other airlines first class lounges. I like to explore all lounges at my disposal when traveling. Sometimes visiting 3-4 on one layover and the Polaris Lounges are far and away the best. I would like to see them follow through with the originally planned NRT Polaris lounge though. If they focus on those few small details they can be on par with the Asian and ME carriers. Small details matter!
Agree – good points.
That level of catering and food service is pure garbage, plain and simple. Nothing but a slap in the face. Unacceptable in Polaris, AA is now light years ahead in their Flagship catering. Not even an 8 year old would consider this “luxurious “ . Disgusting to put it mildly!
I don’t know who is making the final decisions (could be Kirby himself), but I know the SVP of Inflight Services realizes that the current product is not competitive. I hope he will be able to convince others that this must change sooner rather than later. The presentation is poor, but the food is good…the same food UA has always served. It shows how important presentation is…
I do have to wonder if United is running out a contract.
I think the ice cream could have been at least served with a cookie just to dizz it up. The pasta actually looks very yummy, but the mezze, hmmmm, the presentation is a little lacking. Nice report!
I’m just off an ANA flight from Tokyo to New York, which was nearly full in business. Delicious meals served beautifully; a fantastically comfortable seat in its own partitioned space; gracious and enthusiastic flight attendants. Is it really more cost effective for United to offer school cafeteria meals in an empty cabin, rather than interesting, attractive meals in a full one? I could have traveled United for the same price, but why in the world would I have done that? Who does do that? And how can United possibly succeed when it doesn’t even try?
Thank You!!!
Which pair of honeymoon seats would you recommend for two people traveling together? Booked in J in June to Australia and cabin is wide open. I have sat in the back mini cabin before but feel like the service may not be as good back there? Is it worth booking row 3 or row 7? Thoughts?
Bulkhead of mini cabin. Service will be fine.
Thank you, Matthew for another excellent review.
I have this same exact flight to NRT coming up this June arrival at 14:25, with a transiting flight to MNL at 17:15. Do you think this is “cutting close” or ample time to make the flight to MNL?
Thanks!
Tommy
I forgot to add the flight to MNL is with ANA.
-Tommy
I would say you are good. As long as your departure is on time and is good weather, you should arrive early. I arrived 30+mins early. In years past they required transit screening, but in March they did not require transit screening coming from the US. On my return coming from Vietnam they did but it was quick. You will have to go to ANA customer service by Gate 52 which is a little bit of a walk from the United gates when you arrive at NRT so they can verify your COVID documents requirements for your final destination. Get over there as quickly as you can cause a line will grow as more passengers from you plane head there. Pro Tip: Print everything out. I had digital copies so it slowed me down as they wanted to print them out and couldn’t get there printer to work.
Thank you Michael! ***** Five Star “reply”!
NRT and HND got rid of transit security before the pandemic, I believe it applies to all inbound US flights. I’ve done transit there on UA and JL and did not require transit screening. Similar to the transit setup at FRA, MUC and VIE.
Was not aware of it. I like that very much.
A great review of how the plane works.
Thanks. I wish you would spend a few more minutes proofreading (or have a friend scan it before posting). When it becomes difficult to understand because the typo’s are so odd (and not easy to figure out the meaning) it becomes pointless for me to continue to subscribe. This article was actually an improvement over the last one I read from you, but please do better.
“On the wide was yogurt, a hot croissant, and slicked fruit.” HUH?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Aleutians in many, many TPACs – very cool!
Maybe a minor point, but UA’s food presentation is terrible. They really need to ditch those casserole plates for something more modern and appealing. It looks like something decades out of date….
Delta’s food may not be actually be better, but it’s sure presented a lot better vs, the cheap and mismatched dishware that UA uses.
I 100% agree. The casserole dishes are nasty and must go.
I recalled that those ANA 380s were the “flying honu/seat turtle” flights that went to Hawaii, configured for max seating for leisure travel. I thought that they had continued to fly to HNL, but maybe more for peak season.
Correct – these are for Hawaii.
My first class review:
https://liveandletsfly.com/ana-a380-first-class-review/
For what it’s worth, I loved the photos of the Aleutians.
About “Lavatory”: I used to make 10 to 15 international trips a year before COVID, and I was fortunately enough to fly different airlines (EVA, ANA, Japan Airlines, China Airlines, Air China, Asiana, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, etc.) In general, when I flew with EVA or ANA, every time I visited the lavatories, they were so clean as if I was the first passenger to use them. So many times I spotted a crew walked into a lavatory to clean it right after people came out from it. On the other hand, United’s lavatories are war zones — waters, trash, unidentifiable objects. Once I visited the bathroom when the airplane was still loading passengers, that lavatory was still trashed and not clean!! (how is that event possible??) The only exception was on one United flight the crew team was from Singapore and that trip all lavatories were kept at very high clean standard.
Viz. garment groom. Shout With Gel, my man! Apply it, let it soak in overnight. Wash it. You’ll thank me.
Flying LAX NRT next week in Business – any updates to the service?
Sadly, no change. Dine in Polaris Lounge before flight.
Thanks for the update Matthew
Well, your experience paralleled mine. The flight was nearly full. In talking with the FA normally they have 11 FAs but have reduced it to 8. Although they added one for a total of 9 on my flight. The FA had no idea when the service would return.
The single tray meal service was disappointing. Although, the beef tips were good.
The LAX Polaris lounge was a very nice experience.
The pajamas were unavailable or forgotten to put on board for my flight. I wanted to reach out to UA about that as it was very disappointing. What’s the best way to do that? Just call customer service?
Overall, I won’t use UA again for travel to NRT.
Better to email United and specify whether you want miles or a voucher.